Cited by 5Swearing, Euphemism, MultilingualismLinguistic Variation and MorphologyLinguistic and Sociocultural Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 3 of the 69 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Swear(ING) ain't play(ING): The interaction of taboo language and the sociolinguistic variable

Open access
Hunt, Matthew, Cotter, Colleen, Pearson, Hazel, Stockall, Linnaea·2023·Journal of Sociolinguistics

Abstract

Swearwords influence social evaluation of a speaker in a variety of ways depending on social context (Jay & Janschewitz (2008), The pragmatics of swearing. Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture, 4(2), 267–288). Little attention has been paid to the role of linguistic variation in social perceptions of swearing, however. This paper presents two experiments that test the role of sociolinguistic variation in the social evaluation of swearing. Experiment 1 is a variant categorization task, in which participants categorized acoustically ambiguous swearwords and phonetically matching neutral and nonwords as ending in either “-ing” or “-in.” Results suggest that swearwords led participants to hear “-ing” on ambiguous items. Experiment 2 is a matched-guise task in which listeners heard a passage featuring a mix of swearwords and neutral “-ing” words in one of four conditions: fully velar (All-ing), fully alveolar (All-in), only swearwords as velar (Swear-ing), or only neutral words as velar (Swear-in). Participants rated speakers on Likert scales (Schleef et al. (2017), Regional diversity in social perceptions of (ING). Language Variation and Change, 29(1), 29–56). Participants again displayed a tendency towards hearing “-ing” on swearwords. As a result, responses to the Swear-in guises were similar to those for the All-ing guises. The consequences for our understanding of swearing, sociolinguistic perception and cognition, and style, are discussed.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

Two experiments test whether variable (ING) interacts with swearwords in speech perception and social evaluation. Contrary to prediction, swearwords biased listeners toward velar “-ing,” and in matched-guise ratings Swear-in guises patterned like All-ing while Swear-ing guises patterned like All-in on several traits.

Key findings

  • Experiment 1 found swearwords received the most “-ing” responses (58%), followed by neutral words (50.7%) and nonwords (46.1%). In the logistic mixed model, relative to swearwords, nonwords had a significant negative effect on “-ing” selection (β = −0.74, p < 0.01) and neutral words also did (β = −0.54, p < 0.05); Continuum Step was significant (β = −1.20, p < 0.001). Reaction-time analysis found neutral words were responded to faster than swearwords (β = −0.21, p = 0.023), with no significant swearword–nonword difference, and slower responses as the continuum became more alveolar (β = −0.03, p = 0.001).
  • Experiment 2 found All-in guises were rated significantly less articulate, rich, posh, and educated, and more working-class than All-ing guises. Swear-ing guises showed the same pattern on articulate, rich, working class, and educated, while Swear-in guises did not differ significantly from All-ing on those four scales.
  • For posh, significant effects appeared for All-in (B = −0.41, p < 0.001), Swear-ing (B = −0.27, p = 0.005), and Swear-in (B = −0.22, p = 0.025). There were no significant main effects for hard-working or casual.
  • The paper concludes that swearwords affected how an (ING) variant was perceived, rather than the (ING) variant simply affecting how swearwords were perceived.

Methods

  • Experiment 1: a forced-choice single-word variant categorization task with 456 recruited British English speakers; after exclusions, 385 remained, with model N = 380. Stimuli were 27 test words (9 swearwords, 9 neutral words, 9 nonwords) turned into seven-step nasal continua from velar to alveolar, yielding 189 test stimuli plus 50 fillers; responses were analyzed with logistic and linear mixed-effects models.
  • Experiment 2: a matched-guise task with 200 recruited British English speakers; after eight failed catch trials, 192 were analyzed. Four Standard Southern British English speakers recorded a passage containing mixed swearwords and neutral (ING) words, manipulated into four conditions: All-ing, All-in, Swear-ing, and Swear-in; participants rated speakers on 1–8 Likert scales, analyzed with linear mixed-effects models.
  • Stimuli in Experiment 1 were created with TANDEM-STRAIGHT morphing; Experiment 2 recordings were manipulated in Praat by copying velar or alveolar tokens into base recordings.

Limitations

  • The paper states that the mechanism behind the velar bias for swearwords is unclear, with two speculative explanations: a socioindexical/register association between swearing and velar [ɪŋ], or increased attentional resources required by swearwords.
  • The paper notes that the similarity between All-ing and Swear-in responses was not absolute, suggesting the effect is not equally strong for all swearwords and/or participants.
  • The paper states there is no direct production evidence linking swearing with alveolar [ɪn], and that read speech is less authentic, though it cites work validating read speech in matched-guise tasks; it also notes COVID-19 limitations on face-to-face recording. Evident from the text: only four speakers were used in Experiment 2, and both experiments rely on online British English participants and a limited set of swearwords.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/josl.12588

Cites

57 of 57 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Figures

FIGURE 1 TANDEM-STRAIGHT: distance matrix for two sounds
FIGURE 1 TANDEM-STRAIGHT: distance matrix for two soundsCC-BY · From the PDF
Image 2
CC-BY · From the PDF
FIGURE 2 Experimental procedure
FIGURE 2 Experimental procedureCC-BY · From the PDF
FIGURE 3 Mean probability of '-ing' selection ∼ Continuum Step + Item Type
FIGURE 3 Mean probability of '-ing' selection ∼ Continuum Step + Item TypeCC-BY · From the PDF
FIGURE 4 Mean responses for the scales articulate, rich, working class, and educated by condition. All-ing = 100% velar, All-in = 100% alveolar, Swear-ing = swearwords are velar, Swear-in = neutral words are velar
FIGURE 4 Mean responses for the scales articulate, rich, working class, and educated by condition. All-ing = 100% velar, All-in = 100% alveolar, Swear-ing = swearwords are velar, Swear-in = neutral words are velarCC-BY · From the PDF
Image 6
CC-BY · From the PDF

Verification

Claims the paper makes

27 Own result · 26 No full text of the sources · 19 Own interpretation · 14 Not checked yet · 11 Own method · 4 No basis given · 3 Sources not found · 1 Supported · 1 Supported so far · 1 Couldn’t confirm · accuracy not yet measured

Verify all 6 references — free account

Show all 59 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 29
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 29
48 of 48
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    People are much more likely to encounter fucking, shitting and pissing as used in full sentences.

    “People are much more likely to encounter fucking, shitting and pissing as used in full sentences.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The conditions of Experiment 2 more closely matched those of real life.

    “The conditions of Experiment 2 more closely matched those of real life.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Not all of the nine swearwords used in Experiment 1 appear equally frequently in naturally occurring speech.

    “Although Experiment 1 used 9 swearwords, not all of these appear equally as frequently in naturally occurring speech.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Swearwords convey their own social meanings independent of how they are pronounced.

    “which convey their own social meanings independent of how they are pronounced”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    People have a social knowledge of swearwords.

    “People also have a social knowledge of swearwords.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    People know why particular topics are societally taboo and have expectations about the types of people who are more likely to swear and the situations in which swearing is most likely to occur.

    “They know why particular topics are societally taboo and they have an expectation of the types of people who are more likely to swear than others and the situations in which swearing is most likely to occur.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    People's previous experiences include both the linguistic aspects and the social aspects of the swearword they heard.

    “People's previous experiences include both the linguistic aspects (e.g., the specific word, its pronunciation, and the other words around it) and the social aspects (e.g., the speaker and the setting) of the swearword they heard.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    What makes swearwords taboo is societally dictated.

    “What makes swearwords taboo is societally dictated.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Their deployment in conversation is socially motivated; with the exception of people with certain neurodevelopmental disorders, one always has the choice not to swear, but people do so to achieve particular social goals.

    “Their deployment in conversation is socially motivated-with the exception of people with certain neurodevelopmental disorders, one always has the choice not to swear, but people do so to achieve particular social goals.”
9 of 9

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

7 of 7

Citations

Cites

Show all 55 references

Research works printed but not linked: 12

  1. Bayard D., 2001, Gender, expletive use, and context: Male and female expletive use in structured and unstructured conversation among New Zealand university students, Women and Language, 24, 1
  2. Campbell‐Kibler K., 2005, Listener perceptions of sociolinguistic variables: The case of (ING) (Unpublished doctoral dissertation)
  3. De Klerk V., 1997, The role of expletives in the construction of masculinity, Language and Masculinity, 144
  4. Eckert P., 2000, Language variation as social practice: The linguistic construction of identity in Belten High
  5. Labov W., 1972, Sociolinguistic patterns (No. 4)
  6. Labov W., 2001, Principles of linguistic change volume 2: Social factors, 29
  7. Ofcom (Office of Communications), 2016, Attitudes to potentially offensive language and gestures on TV and radio: Quick reference guide
  8. Oxford English Dictionary. (2020). Oxford University Press.
  9. R Core Team, 2018, R: A language and environment for statistical computing [Computer software manual]
  10. Tagliamonte S., 2004, Someth[in]’s go[ing] on!: Variable ING at ground zero, Language Variation in Europe: Papers from ICLAVE, 2, 390
  11. Trudgill P., 1974, The social differentiation of English in Norwich (Vol. 13)
  12. Vaughn C.(2021).Internal constrains and the sociolinguistic monitor. Retrieved fromhttps://nors.ku.dk/english/calendar/2021/5th‐variation‐and‐language‐processing‐conference/(5th Variation and Language Processing Conference)

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 5

Metadata

Authors
Hunt, M., Cotter, C., Pearson, H., & Stockall, L.
Affiliations
  • University of Southampton (GB)
  • Queen Mary University of London (GB)
Corresponding author
Hunt, Matthew
Venue
Journal of Sociolinguistics
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2022-09-12
Volume
27
Issue
2
Pages
136-158
ISSN
  • 1360-6441 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9841
OpenAlex
W4295257236
Cited by
5
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1
FWCI
1.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Sociolinguistics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
  • Queen Mary Research Online (Queen Mary University of London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/P000703/1)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Linguistic Variation and Morphology
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies
Keywords
swearing, taboo words, sociolinguistic variation, phonetic perception, speaker perception, language style

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-11-10, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-11-10 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Swear(ING) ain't play(ING): The interaction of taboo language and the sociolinguistic variable. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1111/josl.12588
The paper
Hunt, M., Cotter, C., Pearson, H., & Stockall, L. (2023). Swear(ING) ain't play(ING): The interaction of taboo language and the sociolinguistic variable. Journal of Sociolinguistics. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12588