Abstract

BASTOS-GEE, Ana C.. A descriptive study of brazilian offensive phrases. Diacrítica [online]. 2013, vol.27, n.1, pp.39-67. ISSN 0807-8967.

In this paper I describe aspects of the grammar of DP-of-DP offensive phrases in Brazilian Portuguese, classifying the offensive words in three morphosemantic classes. The first part of the paper focuses on characteristics that unify the offensive words into one single class of expressive content constructions. I discuss properties such as: speaker orientation, impossibility of modification by a degree adverb, headedness of the phrases, reversibility, and strength of the determiners. The second part of the paper focuses on characteristics that support a classification of these offensive words in three classes: expressive abstract nouns, epithets, and swear words. I discuss properties such as: morphosemantic characteristics, gender agreement, and number agreement.

Keywords : Brazilian Portuguese; descriptive grammar; offensive phrases; expressive abstract nouns; epithets; swearwords.

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