The ideology of swearwords in Slovenia

Slovene speakers believe that swearwords are not indigenous to their language, but borrowed from other South Slavic languages. Interviews with educated Slovene speakers demonstrate that this ‘swearword ideology’ is not a purist or linguistic-nationalist phenomenon, but rather reflects Slovenes’ desire to differentiate Slovene from other South Slavic languages. This is due to mutual intelligibility and a lack of formal and legal distinctions, especially since other Slavic languages are not recognized as minority languages by the Slovene state. The role of swearwords in this ideology is analyzed as a product of both Lacanian symbolic anxieties and specific sociohistorical conditions, rather than an essentializing ‘Balkanist’ belief. This demonstrates the importance of an approach that does not presuppose essentialism on part of speakers.

► Slovene speakers’ attitudes to swearwords examined through interviews.
► Strong swearwords believed to be loanwords from other South Slavic languages.
► This ideology allows informal linguistic differentiation of related languages.
► Swearwords implicated due to real borrowings and transgressive enjoyment.
► No evidence of essentialist linguistic nationalism or Orientalism.