Four words that are not allowed (part 2)
At the request of Habrachan, we continue to publish publications on the study of obscene vocabulary. (If someone has not read the first part, then you can familiarize yourself ).
Let's start right away with the pictures.
So, the first picture.
Fig. 1. Distribution of obscene vocabulary by source.
Here you can not comment, from the caption to the picture everything is clear. Although not. It is necessary to explain where and what kind of data:
For four days (from May 9 to 14) about 710 thousand Russian-language messages were collected (this is about 400 thousand authors) containing the subject of the study - obscene vocabulary. More precisely, not any, but the top of the frequency dictionary of foul language, which is about 70% of the total mass. Basically, this is enough for a little research. Data collected and processed by Brand Analytics.
The analysis showed not only the distribution of the absolute use of this vocabulary by region and city and region (see Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, respectively),
Fig. 2. Distribution of obscene vocabulary in Russian cities.
Fig. 3. Distribution of obscene vocabulary among Russian regions.
But also the distribution by gender and age (see Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, respectively).
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img src = " habrastorage.org/files/389/e9f/263/389e9f2638ae48ebacb5160f6c8297df.png " />
Fig. 4. Distribution of obscene vocabulary by age.
Fig. 5. Distribution of obscene language by gender.
But I will not upset readers: gender data are not entirely correct. I looked at the authors' tops - the most obscene young ladies turned out to be sex service advertisements, simply put - spam (and, apparently, robots that cut off the stream, unfortunately, simply fail: publications constantly change vocabulary, publish periodically, have friends and the normal number of reposts, i.e. behave like people). Or disguised boys. That is, in fact, the percentage of ladies is less.
I foresee the readers' question: well, with an absolute distribution by geo, it seems to be more or less clear, but as with relative. Who we got into swearing. Let's try to make a picture:
Fig. 6. Distribution of obscene vocabulary in Russia.
A little clarification: redness indicates a more frequent use of obscene vocabulary relative to green areas.
Some areas with a very low number of messages (for example, Chukotka - less than 0.02% of the total) do not very correctly reflect the actual situation (they slightly distort the picture).
Nevertheless, here are a dozen leaders who do not disdain indecent words:
And here, so to speak, outsiders:
In general, it is clear that the North Caucasian republics and the Leningrad region use the least of these bad words (apparently, all the Petersburg intelligentsia went to the cottage in May). I do not want to offend anyone, but I have doubts with the Tyumen region, since I had to go there. Although it has long been ...
What conclusions can be drawn by looking at all this beauty? We see redness to the east of Russia and part of the north of Russia (Murmansk region, Nenets Autonomous Okrug). In part, this suggests that it’s not so much that they swear, but simply speak it. General obscene vocabulary has several functions. I think it’s even worthwhile to dwell on this and make a small linguistic excursion.
The famous American linguist Steve Pinker, in his recently published book “Substance of Thinking: Language as a Window into Human Nature” in our translation, identified five functions or five methods of profanity:
In Soviet times, large and not very large bosses enjoyed an emphatic function: if the boss began to swear, then special attention should be paid to this. In principle, even now some managers are actively exploiting this method of managing the team, but its effectiveness is weakening from year to year. The reason for this is the spread of obscene vocabulary in the media, cinema, music, etc., as well as among young people, which removes from it (from this vocabulary) the element of tabooing - if earlier it was considered indecent for girls to express themselves, now it is almost a colloquial norm. Therefore, we can say that now an aggressive function works more.
The emphatic function most strongly shifts the semantic meaning of the word in the diachronic aspect. You don’t have to go far for examples: even 30–40 years ago the word “fuck” made sense “hit hard with something” or “make a sharp loud sound”, usually in a conversational context, now this word is almost always used as a synonym for the verb group E (see the first part ). Another story with the quite normal verbs “peel off” and “peel off - peel off” (“paint peeled off”), which practically ceased to be used (not a single entry into the NKRJ ) due to an obscene obscene companion.
Everyone uses the cathartic function, without exception, replacing rude words with euphemisms, without essentially giving them a certain meaning (“damn”, “hell”, “eprst”, etc.). This is a kind of “reconciliation” with reality: it cursed and became easier.
Creative individuals use the idiomatic function more to emphasize their exclusivity, but sometimes simply because “you cannot erase a word from a song”. In addition, in our time, texts do not need to be littered - the Internet video virus also uploaded - has become a celebrity.
Well, the last thing I would like to mention. Some modern cognitive neuroscientists have again begun to turn to Darwin's hypothesis that emotional cries were one of the main connecting links between animal language and human language. Such a turn of events assigns a special role to obscene vocabulary not only in the evolution of human speech formation, but allows a different look at the processes of human communication.
Let's start right away with the pictures.
So, the first picture.
Fig. 1. Distribution of obscene vocabulary by source.
Here you can not comment, from the caption to the picture everything is clear. Although not. It is necessary to explain where and what kind of data:
For four days (from May 9 to 14) about 710 thousand Russian-language messages were collected (this is about 400 thousand authors) containing the subject of the study - obscene vocabulary. More precisely, not any, but the top of the frequency dictionary of foul language, which is about 70% of the total mass. Basically, this is enough for a little research. Data collected and processed by Brand Analytics.
The analysis showed not only the distribution of the absolute use of this vocabulary by region and city and region (see Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, respectively),
Fig. 2. Distribution of obscene vocabulary in Russian cities.
Fig. 3. Distribution of obscene vocabulary among Russian regions.
But also the distribution by gender and age (see Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, respectively).
<
img src = " habrastorage.org/files/389/e9f/263/389e9f2638ae48ebacb5160f6c8297df.png " />
Fig. 4. Distribution of obscene vocabulary by age.
Fig. 5. Distribution of obscene language by gender.
But I will not upset readers: gender data are not entirely correct. I looked at the authors' tops - the most obscene young ladies turned out to be sex service advertisements, simply put - spam (and, apparently, robots that cut off the stream, unfortunately, simply fail: publications constantly change vocabulary, publish periodically, have friends and the normal number of reposts, i.e. behave like people). Or disguised boys. That is, in fact, the percentage of ladies is less.
I foresee the readers' question: well, with an absolute distribution by geo, it seems to be more or less clear, but as with relative. Who we got into swearing. Let's try to make a picture:
Fig. 6. Distribution of obscene vocabulary in Russia.
A little clarification: redness indicates a more frequent use of obscene vocabulary relative to green areas.
Some areas with a very low number of messages (for example, Chukotka - less than 0.02% of the total) do not very correctly reflect the actual situation (they slightly distort the picture).
Nevertheless, here are a dozen leaders who do not disdain indecent words:
- Khabarovsk region
- Primorsky Krai
- The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
- Magadan Region
- Kamchatka Krai
- Jewish Autonomous Region
- Murmansk region
- Transbaikal region
- Amurskaya Oblast
- Altai region
And here, so to speak, outsiders:
- Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia
- Leningrad region
- The Republic of Ingushetia
- Kabardino-Balkarian Republic
- Komi Republic
- Tyumen region
- Republic of North Ossetia
- Tyva Republic
- Chechen Republic
- Vologda Region
In general, it is clear that the North Caucasian republics and the Leningrad region use the least of these bad words (apparently, all the Petersburg intelligentsia went to the cottage in May). I do not want to offend anyone, but I have doubts with the Tyumen region, since I had to go there. Although it has long been ...
What conclusions can be drawn by looking at all this beauty? We see redness to the east of Russia and part of the north of Russia (Murmansk region, Nenets Autonomous Okrug). In part, this suggests that it’s not so much that they swear, but simply speak it. General obscene vocabulary has several functions. I think it’s even worthwhile to dwell on this and make a small linguistic excursion.
Functions of obscene vocabulary
The famous American linguist Steve Pinker, in his recently published book “Substance of Thinking: Language as a Window into Human Nature” in our translation, identified five functions or five methods of profanity:
- Descriptive (the meaning of the word correlates with its subject of reference);
- Idiomatic (or allegorical);
- Aggressive (expression of his assessment of what is happening);
- Emphatic (coarsening of semantics in order to highlight things that are significant for the speaker)
- Cathartic (do not believe it: scientific studies have been conducted that say that curses relieve pain!)
In Soviet times, large and not very large bosses enjoyed an emphatic function: if the boss began to swear, then special attention should be paid to this. In principle, even now some managers are actively exploiting this method of managing the team, but its effectiveness is weakening from year to year. The reason for this is the spread of obscene vocabulary in the media, cinema, music, etc., as well as among young people, which removes from it (from this vocabulary) the element of tabooing - if earlier it was considered indecent for girls to express themselves, now it is almost a colloquial norm. Therefore, we can say that now an aggressive function works more.
The emphatic function most strongly shifts the semantic meaning of the word in the diachronic aspect. You don’t have to go far for examples: even 30–40 years ago the word “fuck” made sense “hit hard with something” or “make a sharp loud sound”, usually in a conversational context, now this word is almost always used as a synonym for the verb group E (see the first part ). Another story with the quite normal verbs “peel off” and “peel off - peel off” (“paint peeled off”), which practically ceased to be used (not a single entry into the NKRJ ) due to an obscene obscene companion.
Everyone uses the cathartic function, without exception, replacing rude words with euphemisms, without essentially giving them a certain meaning (“damn”, “hell”, “eprst”, etc.). This is a kind of “reconciliation” with reality: it cursed and became easier.
Creative individuals use the idiomatic function more to emphasize their exclusivity, but sometimes simply because “you cannot erase a word from a song”. In addition, in our time, texts do not need to be littered - the Internet video virus also uploaded - has become a celebrity.
Well, the last thing I would like to mention. Some modern cognitive neuroscientists have again begun to turn to Darwin's hypothesis that emotional cries were one of the main connecting links between animal language and human language. Such a turn of events assigns a special role to obscene vocabulary not only in the evolution of human speech formation, but allows a different look at the processes of human communication.