The euphemism treadmill is a linguistic mechanism proposed to explain the continual replacement of formerly benign expressions that become pejorative, with new terms that eventually meet the same fate. Advocacy by the political correctness movement accounts for much of this cyclical euphemism generation and substitution. Researchers have sought analogies from other academic disciplines to elucidate the euphemism treadmill. This paper identifies and compares two abstractions from the science of economics that may be applicable to such an elucidation. The paper compares the abstractions in terms of their individual applicability to the euphemism treadmill firstly, in terms of identifying changes in connotations and secondly, in their potential
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Of the two abstractions studied, quantitative analysis based on the principle of diminishing marginal utility offered the most applicable and extensible abstraction solution.
Keywords: diminishing marginal utility, euphemisms, euphemism treadmill,
Gresham’s law, semantic change, political correctness
Analysis of the euphemism treadmill: comparison with abstractions from economics
The vocabulary of Modern English is constantly evolving not only through the acquisition of new words from foreign or even ancient languages but increasingly from within itself by assigning new meaning to existing words (Slunecko & Hengl, 2007).
Contributing to this dynamic process is the euphemism treadmill - a linguistic phenomenon described by Pinker (1994) in which new words are continually sought to replace those considered taboo or having negative connotations only to eventually fall out of favor through their association with the subject, and suffer the same fate as their antecedents. Consequently, euphemisms that permit polite discourse of taboo and other negative semantics differ for each generation.
A significant contemporary force driving the euphemism treadmill is the …show more content…
The model demonstrates that in a transaction where one side has an influential role, the value of their advice to the recipient will decline with time in accordance with the principle of diminishing marginal utility. In secondary language acquisition (SLA) fossilization or permanent stabilization frequently occurs in interlanguage development that prevents the learner from attaining native fluency no matter how motivated they may be (Han, 2004). In the abstract of a more recent paper, Bai (2009) suggests that because language acquisition follows the principle of diminishing marginal utility, fossilization may be regarded as a measurable endpoint that can be anticipated and possibly remedied.
MPA, through its inherent properties can extend to the quantitative determination of responses to other parameters that could mediate or be mediated by the euphemism treadmill. The changes in responses can be determined over a time.
Furthermore, marginal utility is a function of the independent exposure variable and when elucidated can be extrapolated for predictive
Of the two abstractions studied, quantitative analysis based on the principle of diminishing marginal utility offered the most applicable and extensible abstraction solution.
Keywords: diminishing marginal utility, euphemisms, euphemism treadmill,
Gresham’s law, semantic change, political correctness
Analysis of the euphemism treadmill: comparison with abstractions from economics
The vocabulary of Modern English is constantly evolving not only through the acquisition of new words from foreign or even ancient languages but increasingly from within itself by assigning new meaning to existing words (Slunecko & Hengl, 2007).
Contributing to this dynamic process is the euphemism treadmill - a linguistic phenomenon described by Pinker (1994) in which new words are continually sought to replace those considered taboo or having negative connotations only to eventually fall out of favor through their association with the subject, and suffer the same fate as their antecedents. Consequently, euphemisms that permit polite discourse of taboo and other negative semantics differ for each generation.
A significant contemporary force driving the euphemism treadmill is the …show more content…
The model demonstrates that in a transaction where one side has an influential role, the value of their advice to the recipient will decline with time in accordance with the principle of diminishing marginal utility. In secondary language acquisition (SLA) fossilization or permanent stabilization frequently occurs in interlanguage development that prevents the learner from attaining native fluency no matter how motivated they may be (Han, 2004). In the abstract of a more recent paper, Bai (2009) suggests that because language acquisition follows the principle of diminishing marginal utility, fossilization may be regarded as a measurable endpoint that can be anticipated and possibly remedied.
MPA, through its inherent properties can extend to the quantitative determination of responses to other parameters that could mediate or be mediated by the euphemism treadmill. The changes in responses can be determined over a time.
Furthermore, marginal utility is a function of the independent exposure variable and when elucidated can be extrapolated for predictive