| Abstract [eng] |
Profanity: Usage and Attitudes Among Lithuanian Youth SUMMARY Profanity can be defined as words and phrases that have a strong emotional impact, together with their surrounding context, and that are semantically closely linked to taboo topics such as religion, body parts, excretions and functions, diseases, sexuality, etc. The aim of this paper is to analyse how and what kind of uncensored lexis is used by the young Lithuanians, and what are their attitudes towards profane language. This research uses a mixed-methods approach – a quantitative survey and qualitative, semi-structured, in-depth interviews. 183 respondents took part in the survey and interviews were collected from 9 informants. The study used frequentist quantitative analysis and content analysis method. The results of the study revealed that young people in Lithuania tend to say that they swear often. The most frequent swearing is in foreign languages, with Slavic languages being the most popular. The use of non-censorious language is associated with both negative and positive emotions. However, when it comes to positive emotions, opinions are slightly more divided. Most often, respondents are indifferent to swearing at others, and their assessment often depends on the context and situation. |
