Semantic Analysis of Pejorative Words (Workshop)

Abstract

This workshop is aimed at exploring the semantic trait of pejoration by extracting authentic examples from dictionaries (Merriam-Webster 2003, Muthmann 2010) and written texts (newspapers, forums, blogs, etc.). Once the data collection stage is completed, the lexical units extracted are classified according to their word-building models (morphological structure) and their corresponding logico-semantic relations (cf. Evans 2006). Thus, this evidence-based arrangement is vital: (1) to visualize the semantic ‘elasticity’ of these suffixed words, (2) to determine the typology of bases involved in the suffixation process, (3) to confirm the relevance of pejoration as a major word-building motivation, and (4) to establish the morpho-semantic variations or changes these suffixed words undergo. The workshop provides students with specific tools in the extraction and analysis of slang and colloquial words in authentic texts.