PHIL318C

Swears like 'd*mn' are unique in many ways when compared to ordinary expressions like 'blue.' A speaker expresses more emotive information th 'I forgot the d*mn chair' than she does with 'I forgot the blue chair;' relatedly, use of 'd*mn' is more likely to cause offense. In this course, we investigate the meanings of swears, lurs, and other expressive terms, and we ask how their use relates to that of other, less expressive terms. We approach such questions in interdisciplinary fashion, making use of speech act theory, formal semantics, psychology, and neuroscience.