Education Little help with English Test Paper Question! for the brainy people out there!

Hey all,
I need some assistance in answering a question for one of my papers. The question is an English Language question.

Question:

What kinds of objections do people raise to politically incorrect language? How important is it to avoid using such language?

Its got me stumped, im not show how to go about answering it. Im hoping the minds here on bit-tech could help with some pointers on what to discuss.

So far Im thinking of using the "N" word and how its controversial (thats Wigga), also the term "illegal Alien", something like that but i fear i may be abit too far off the mark.

Some brainy people here that are good with English, i could use your help

Thanks in advance!

 

You need to point out, first, that people object to controversial language on the basis that it offends people; racist, sexist and similar terms are chosen specifically to demean and exclude certain social groups, and can only be used in certain company or situations.
These words are most inappropriate in public contexts, such as in the news (TV; papers), media (sports commentaries; films; games) and in open meetings (work places, etc.) These public media have a responsibility to set the standards for society; if news readers, editors or journalists use these words, they are seen as encouraging their use.

Organisations usually have rules against their employees using these words, especially in public speakings, because the employee represents the organisation - so, for example, if a Microsoft employee called the head of Sony a ****, it would give the impression that Microsoft as a whole believed the same thing.

In video games, TV and music, obscene language is objected to on other grounds - such as the belief that it influences young people. Some believe that hearing sexist language used constantly can warp men's perceptions of women, for example, or that hearing racist language can instill racist beliefs in people.

There's also a more basic objection to oscene language - it creates hostility. In political debates, negotiations, interviews and meetings, obscene language can offend people and create a hostile atmosphere, making it harder to progress with whatever people are trying to achieve.

When making speeches, politicians and corporate representatives stand a much higher chance of offending someone by using this language, because they are addressing a lot of people whom they do not know personally. They cannot gauge what might or might not offend people; hence, what may be appropriate in private conversation becomes heavily inappropriate in public speaking.

In the company of people you are familiar with, obscene language is not necessarily something to be avoided. Provided you know it will not offend anyone present, obscene language can be essential to strengthening social bonds and expressing yourself fully. Conversely, when meeting new people, bad language should often be avoided, because it can give a bad impression - one of extreme vulgarity, say - and set them against you.

Also, even when talking to large numbers of people, foul language can be acceptable if said people are expecting it. At a stand-up comedy show, for example, swearing can be a natural part of the humour, and people will not find it offensive, because they are expecting it: again, CONTEXT is the key here.

I did english language last year. I kinda miss writing about this stuff. Hope this was helpful

 

Basically, the language people use determines how they think. A lot of prejudices are implied in certain choices of word... hence the argument for PC language. The flip-side however is like Orwell's Newspeak: too much use of euphemism can limit thinking and hide prejudices as well.

 

boiled elephant i wish i could kiss you right now thx so much!!!!

Nexxo, i see what you mean,...kinda but some more info and examples if you could would be much appreciated!

Thx again guys, some nice tips

 

Well, you might wanna discuss the reverse scenario he was getting at - if we restrict our usage of langauge too much, it restricts our freedom of thought, a scary step towards 1984, like he said. Scolding people for using bad language in personal conversation usually causes offense in itself, because it's encroaching on their freedom of speech - hence, rather than always avoiding and forbidding the use of un-PC language, we should avoid using them only when they're inappropriate, and that is something that should be left up to peoples' own judgements, and should not be made a legal issue.
Of course, if you tangent into politics, you might be accused of timewasting. Try to stay more on topic than I have done.

 

I had a question similar to this in my degree paper and I tackled it from the point of view of diglossic trends in society forcing words to be acceptable in one context and not in another. This means that it isn't important to avoid the language at all, merely avoid using it in the wrong register to avoid losing positive face. It can also be a stylistic choice used to prove a point, meaning again the it can be important TO use politically incorrect language.

FYI - the idea of restricting language into specific rules of grammar or usage is known as a prescriptivist approach, whilst the opposite path (the light side, if you will) of merely observing trends as a linguist is known as descriptivist approach. Outlining the two approaches and being able to reference them correctly was something critical to every question on my degree papers.

The objections people raise though? Obvious - the usual stuff about limiting language growth, taking an actively prescriptivst stance, making things uncomfortable and hard to follow etc, etc.

Personally, I'd take 3 or 4 objections and look at them in close and then finish that section by listing a few more in a single paragraph. Then kick into the second question with a big "HOWEVER, it is important to remember" and then point out the linguistic value of politically incorrect terms and how trying to deny the value of them often only ends with opposite results. You must be sure to mention that it is important to avoid the language in certain areas, but acknowledge that it does have some use on a grander scale.

Then read your own essay to check it and come to typically mixed, descriptivist conclusion.

 

Some great points guys, thanks very very much.

Thankyou to everyone who posted, iv copied all the responces down into a word document so i can analyse your views later to form different perspectives in my responce!

Also I think that my main problem lays in me not understanding exactly what is meant by the term "politically incorrect language" because there seems to be different variations of it. I know calling racist names is one of them because its offensive of course but what eles does it fall down to? What exactly is politically incorrect language in its definition? Its a stupid quesiton but im finding it hard to think of my own examples and i believe its because of my lack of understanding of exactly what "politically incorrect language" is?

Anyone able to break it down to me in simple terms?

Sorry for being a total idiot, I know its quite appaulling but theres many simple things like this i have trouble grasping yet other things that are less simple i can grasp - its strange

 

"the term politically incorrect is used to refer to language or ideas that may cause offense to some identity groups, or, in a broader sense, that are unconstrained by orthodoxy."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness

Politically incorrect words are words that would, for example, be unacceptable for a newsreader to use in description of anyone or anything. The 'n' word for black people, the 'c' word for women, et cetera. Also, a large portion of PC thinking is devoted to disabled people, and a whole plethora of PC words (and hence even more non-PC counterparts) have sprung up - previously formal terms such as spastic and retard are now extremely offensive, and every month, it seems, they choose a new term to the The Acceptable Form. At the moment we're at something wishy-washy like "Persons with Comprehensive Difficulties". Previous entrants have been "challenged", "held back", and the disgusting-in-retrospect, "special".
They all centre around causing offense, so that's pretty much the whole issue. Try talking about the dividing line between clearly offensive terms and terms that are only offensive by specific reading - such as the phrases "blackboard" and "brainstorm" being deemed offensive. Explore how such censoring encroaches on freedom of speech, and how, by extension, most language could be deemed unacceptable on the grounds that it might offend someone, somewhere.

Man, I'm ****ing loving this. I'm going back to college, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed talking crap >.>

 

and dont forget that calling the primary Hard Disc on your computer the "Master" and the secondary Hard Disc a "Slave" is also un-PC!

(had to get some computer tech in there someware this is Bit-Tech after all)

Master/Slave

 

Politically incorrect language is language which deviates from the prescribed attitude to communication which is defined by authorative bodies and government which often take a prescriptivist approach. These bodies seek to create language units which do not cause offense to identity groups, such as using the phrase 'Differently abled' rather than 'Disabled' because the latter word carries an implicature that a person is UNable which may be offensive.

Politically incorrect language is that which deviates from these prescribed approach - either deliberately, by using words like 'Spaz' to gain a stylistic effect for some purpose or by using words which are in common use but are no longer thought to be PC, such as disabled. As words shift from being PC to non-PC it can often be difficult to use language in certain topics and registers; a common complaint of anti-PC groups.

Don't quote that. It's early and I wrote it off the cuff in a way that used as many of the 'right' terms as I could - but you get the gist.

 

oh come on thats hogwash. You can't call the Master primary now can you? 'cause there's the primary IDE slot and the secondary.

lets confuse people some more! yay (Geek squad employee - oh heh, yeah you just need to plug the CD drive into the Primary-Primary and the ZIP drive in the Primary-Secondary hehe)

 

i wish you guys were next to me so i could kiss you

Thanks so much especially to cardjoe and mr boiled_elephant, i really REALLY appreciate this! its proved really helpful

 

...you, Sir, are scaring me. No. No! What? Let go! NO, I said! AAAAH! NOT THERE!!!

*falls unconcious*

 

He's that good?