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Reclamation is the phenomenon of an oppressed group repurposing language to its own ends. A case study is reclamation of slur words. Popa-Wyatt and Wyatt (2018) argued that a slurring utterance is a speech act which performs a discourse role assignment. It assigns a subordinate role to the target, while the speaker assumes a dominant role. This pair of role assignments is used to oppress the target. Here the author focuses on how reclamation works and under what conditions its benefits can stabilise. She starts by reviewing the data and describing preconditions and motivations for reclamation. Can reclamation be explained in the same basic framework as regular slurring utterances? She argues that it can. The author also identifies some features that must be a prediction of any theory of reclamation. She concludes that reclamation is an instance of a much broader class of acts we do with words to change the distribution of power: it begets power, but it also requires it.
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Anon. Queers Read This!/I Hate Straights! New York: n. p., 1990.
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Austin , J. A. 1962. How to Do Things with Words . Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
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Anderson , Luvell 2018. “Calling, Addressing, and Appropriation.” In: Bad Words: Philosophical Perspectives on Slurs , edited by David Sosa . Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 15–37.
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Anderson , Luvell & Lepore , Ernie 2013. “Slurring Words”. Noûs 47 (1), 25–48.
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Bolinger , Renée Jorgensen 2017. “The Pragmatics of Slurs”. Noûs 51 (3), 439–462.
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Burnett , Heather 2020. “A Persona-based Semantics of Slurs.” In: Special Issue on Non-Derogatory Uses of Slurs , edited by Bianca Cepollaro & Dan Zeman . Grazer Philosophische Studien97 (1), 31–62.
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Brontsema , Robin 2004. “A Queer Revolution: Reconceptualizing the Debate Over Linguistic Reclamation.” Colorado Research in Linguistics 17 (1), 1–17.
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Bianchi , Claudia 2014. “Slurs and Appropriation: An Echoic Account.” Journal of Pragmatics 66 (5), 1–62.
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Camp , Elisabeth 2013. “Slurring Perspectives.” Analytic Philosophy 54 (3): 330–349.
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Cepollaro , Bianca 2017a. “Let’s Not Worry about the Reclamation Worry.” Croatian Journal of Philosophy 17 (50), 181–193.
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Cepollaro , Bianca 2017b. “When Evaluation Changes: an Echoic account of Appropriation and Variability.” Journal of Pragmatics 117, 29–40.
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Croom , Adam M. 2015. “Slurs and Stereotypes for Italian Americans: A Context-sensitive Account of Derogation and Appropriation.” Journal of Pragmatics 81, 36–51.
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Croom , Adam M. 2018. “Asian Slurs and Stereotypes in the usa: A Context-sensitive Account of Derogation and Appropriation.” Pragmatics and Society 9 (4), 495–517.
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Gabbat , A. 2013. “Black woman wins civil case against black manager who used the N-word.” The Guardian, Wednesday 4 September. www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/04/black-woman-n-word-court-case.
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Galinsky , Adam D. , Wang , Cynthia S. , Whitson , Jennifer A. , Anicich , Eric M. , Hugenberg , Kurt & Bodenhausen , Galen V. 2013. “The Reappropriation of Stigmatizing Labels: The Reciprocal Relationship between Power and Self-Labeling.” Psychological Science 24 (10), 2020–2029.
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Galinsky , Adam D. , Hugenberg , Kurt , Groom , C. & Bodenhausen , Galen V. 2003. “The Reapprorpiation of stigmatising labels: implications for social identity. Identity Issues in Groups: Research Managing Groups and Teams, Vol 5, 221–256.
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Herbert , Cassie 2015. “Precarious Projects: the Performative Structure of Appropriation.” Language Sciences 52, 131–138.
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Hess , Leopold 2020. “Practices of Slur Use.” In: Special Issue on Non-Derogatory Uses of Slurs, edited by Bianca Cepollaro & Dan Zeman . Grazer Philosophische Studien97 (1), 86–105.
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Hom , Christopher 2008. “The Semantics of Racial Epithets”. Journal of Philosophy 105 (8), 416–440.
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Jeshion , Robin 2020. “Pride and Prejudiced: On the Reclamation of Slurs.” In: Special Issue on Non-Derogatory Uses of Slurs , edited by Bianca Cepollaro & Dan Zeman . Grazer Philosophische Studien97 (1), 106–137.
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Jeshion , Robin 2018. “Slurs, Dehumanization, and the Expression of Contempt.” In: Bad Words: Philosophical Perspectives on Slurs , edited by David Sosa . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 77–107.
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Jeshion , Robin 2013. “Expressivism and the Offensiveness of Slurs.” Philosophical Perspectives 27, 231–259.
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Popa-Wyatt , Mihaela & Wyatt , Jeremy L. 2018. “Slurs, Roles and Power.” Philosophical Studies 175, 2879–2906.
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Wang , Cynthia S. , Whitson , Jennifer A. , Anicich , Eric M. , Kray , Laura J. & Galinsky , Adam D. 2017. “Challenge Your Stigma: How to Reframe and Revalue Negative Stereotypes and Slurs.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 26 (1), 75–80.
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Search for other papers by Mihaela Popa-Wyatt in
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Reclamation is the phenomenon of an oppressed group repurposing language to its own ends. A case study is reclamation of slur words. Popa-Wyatt and Wyatt (2018) argued that a slurring utterance is a speech act which performs a discourse role assignment. It assigns a subordinate role to the target, while the speaker assumes a dominant role. This pair of role assignments is used to oppress the target. Here the author focuses on how reclamation works and under what conditions its benefits can stabilise. She starts by reviewing the data and describing preconditions and motivations for reclamation. Can reclamation be explained in the same basic framework as regular slurring utterances? She argues that it can. The author also identifies some features that must be a prediction of any theory of reclamation. She concludes that reclamation is an instance of a much broader class of acts we do with words to change the distribution of power: it begets power, but it also requires it.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2546 | 952 | 112 |
| Full Text Views | 395 | 113 | 16 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 796 | 245 | 28 |