Principles of describing obscene idioms

What is it about?

In the present article, we put forward the principles of research and description of Russian idioms that include an obscene component. Since there is no wide tradition of describing obscene idioms (and also some obscene words as a part of vocabulary) in Russian studies, there is a need to develop research methods for this layer of vocabulary that would reflect the specifics of its functioning. We put forward the following principles. Firstly, there are unwritten rules in using obscene lexical units, i. e. this type of discourse has its own norm, which is associated, among other things, with restrictions on the use of euphemisms. Secondly, there are different communicative modes of using obscene idioms and single words. We distinguish, at least, four communicative modes: the propositional mode (figurnoe upotreblenie), the non-propositional or background mode (fonovoe upotreblenie), the substituting use (zameščajuščee upotreblenie), and the wordplay mode (igrovoe upotreblenie). Thirdly, we discuss the lexicographic representation of idioms with obscene components. Since obscene discourse exists, mostly, in oral form, and since this part of the lexicon is hardly available for linguistic research, every reasonable approach to this phenomenon is highly significant for studying all levels of Russian. The allocation of norms in non-codified usages is necessary to identify trends in the functioning of obscene discourse and to reveal speech failures violating the unwritten rules. Communicative modes influence the semantics and pragmatics of obscene idioms as well as obscene words. As for the communicative modes we distinguish, they can be defined as follows. The background mode is characterized by the fact that the removal of obscene forms does not lead to a change in the propositional content of the text. In contrast to the background mode, words and idioms used in the propositional mode are part of the proposition of the utterance. In the substituting use, obscene forms replace the standard ones. The wordplay mode allows the speaker to draw attention to the features of the form and content of speech, enriching it with additional meanings and removing the taboo of obscene lexical units (idioms and words) to a certain extent. The speaker can combine some communicative modes. When studying the semantics and pragmatics of this layer of vocabulary, the substituting use of obscene idioms should be excluded, whereas the wordplay mode can be taken into account under certain conditions.

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