Gender and Social Status Differences in Using Taboo Words in Fast and Furious 1 & Fast and Furious 7

Rahayu Nurazizah

Abstract

This article examined the types of taboo words employed by the male and female characters in Fast and Furious 1 & Fast and Furious 7, and explained how social class can affect the use of taboo words. This article employed descriptive qualitative with Fast and Furious 1 & Fast and Furious 7 as the sources of the data. All of the utterances containing taboo words employed by the characters were used as the data of this article, with 102 data totals in 72 dialogues. This study applied purposive sampling technique. This article found out that (1) there were four types of taboo words used by the characters: epithets, profanity, vulgarity, and obscenity –as the dominant taboo word used–; (2) both male and female characters used taboo words even though the male characters used more often than female characters; and (3) there were only two social classes using taboo words in conversations: middle class and working class, in which middle class members uttered taboo words more frequently.

Keywords

taboo words; male-female differences' social class; film; Fast and Furious 1; Fast and Furious 7

Full Text:

PDF

References

Anderesson, L., & Trudgill, P. (1990). Bad language. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Batistella, E.L. (2005). Bad language: Are some words better than others?. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bayard, D., & Krishnaya, S. (2001). Gender, expletive use, and context: Male and female expletive use in structured and unstructured conversation among New Zealand university students. Women and Language, 26(1), 1-15.

Chaika, E. (1998). Dangerous English 2000 (3rd ed.). USA: Delta Publishing Company.

De Klerk, V. (1992). How taboo are taboo words for girls?. Language in Society, 21, 277-289. doi: 10.1017/S0047404500015293

Ekstrom, A. (2008). Taboo language in sex and the city. Sweden: Kristianstad University.

Gao, C. (2013). A sociolinguistic Study of English Taboo Language. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(12), 2310-2314. Doi: 10.4304/tpls.3.12.2310-2314

Gilbert, D. (2005). The American class structure: In an age of growing inequality (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Jay, T. (1992). Cursing in America. Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co.

Keturi, S., & Lehmonen, T. (2012). Thou shalt not write about: A study of taboo content in finnish efl textbooks for upper secondary school. Finland: University of Jyvaskyla.

Ling, T.H., & Talley, P.C. (2012). The Influence of gender differences in proscribed language use in Taiwan. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(2), 167-172.

Mbaya, N. (2002). Linguistic taboo in African marriage context: A study of oromo laguu. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 11, 224-235. http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf files/vol11num2/mbaya.pdf.

Mohammad, J.M., Roumiani, M., & Tabari, B.H. (2014). Gender tendency towards using taboo words among university students. Journal of Advances in Linguistics, 3(2), 203-207.

Soori, A., & Sherafat, Z. (2015). Iranian efl learners' perception of english taboo words. International Journal of English and Education, 4(2), 67-74.

Stapleton, K. (2003). Gender and swearing: A community practice. Women Language. 26 (2).

Surakhmad, W. (1994). Metode penelitian kualitatif: Dasar teori dan penerapannya dalam penelitian. Surakarta: UNS Press.

Talbot, M. (2010). Language and gender (2nd ed.). Cambridge: MA. Polity Press.

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.