Sorensen2025b

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Sorensen2025b
BibType ARTICLE
Key Sorensen2025b
Author(s) Søren Sandager Sørensen
Title Fuck syntax and fucking syntax in the borrowing of swearwords for assessments in Danish
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Adjective, Assessment, Borrowing, Copula, Fuck, Interaction, Swearing, Syntax, Turn construction, Conversation analysis, Interactional Linguistics
Publisher
Year 2025
Language English
City
Month
Journal Nordic Journal of Linguistics
Volume 48
Number 2
Pages 164-188
URL Link
DOI 10.1017/S033258652510053X
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

This article examines the use of fuck and fucking in Danish, with a focus on their interactional functions for assessing. Data consist of 76 cases found in informal Danish conversations, analyzed within the framework of Interactional Linguistics. Fuck functions as a reactive interjection that prefaces various types of clauses. However, fuck followed by a copula clause develops an assessment out of a telling. Followed by hvor ‘how’ and an adjective, fuck performs agreeing assessment. Hvad fuck ‘what the fuck’ may occur in questions. Fucking is commonly used in copula clause assessments but also within noun phrases when no response is elicited. The study concludes that the use of fuck and fucking in Danish differs from their use in English, but also from the Danish swearword fanden ‘the devil, damn’. The conclusions indicate that interactional functions and constructions are an important factor for understanding the pragmatics of borrowing and swearing.

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