A Sociolinguistic Account Of Differences In Using English Swear Words Among Overseas Students

Swear words are those linguistic forms that people primarily use out of anger,annoyance,etc.Previous sociolinguistic studies on swear words have explored their effect on speakers and society,and most of these studies focus their attention on teenagers’ and native speakers’ swearing behavior.Speakers’ attitude,namely,how they view swear words and swearing behavior,can play a part in choices of using swear words as well.In this case,this study attempts to explore the use of English swear words among overseas students in China who are non-native English speakers.For one thing,this study can enrich the understanding of swearing among non-native English speakers and gender differences in using specific swear words.For another,this study can contribute to understanding cross-cultural communication through raising awareness of cultural differences.This study aims to explore differences and similarities of using English swear words among overseas students in China who are non-native English speakers,take overseas students of science majors in China’s Three Gorges University as an instance.Specifically,this study tries to answer the following questions:1.What is the relationship between swearing frequency and a series of factors(gender,nationality,swearing of the social group,the frequency of using English and English proficiency)?2.How do male and female participants differ in using specific swear words?3.What are possible reasons promote/prevent swearing?To answer these questions,this study starts from a sociolinguistic perspective and combine face-to-face questionnaire and semi-controlled interview to collect related data.This study involves 100 participants(67 males and 33 females,all undergraduate students and expatriate science majors)and they mainly come from India and Bangladesh.After the questionnaire delivery,four participants(2 males and 2 females)from the 100 participants participated in a semi-controlled interview through a popular social media-Wechat and the whole process was in text form.After analysis,the findings are as follows:1.The effect of social group is significant,indicating a tendency to conformity.The effect of gender is found more obvious in terms of using specific swear words.The frequency of using English is negatively correlated with swearing frequency.2.Males prefer swear words of sex theme while females prefer animal theme.Males show a wider vocabulary of swear words and using of specific swear words displays a series of individual differences rather than the mere gender differences.3.People can swear out of emotion or for fun.Avoidance of swearing results from the social stereotype that swear words are bad language and signals of illiteracy.To sum up,using swear words or avoidance of using them shows high individual variation.Speech community seems to have a salient effect on these overseas students’ swearing behavior,which may be because they share the need to identify them as different from Chinese students.Besides,gender differences at group level can be better observed within similar cultural and social context.The swear word ‘shit’ can be a strategy of strengthening social ties among males.For females,there is always tension between conforming to social expectation and freedom of linguistic practice,in spite of the promotion of social status and educational level.Moreover,non-native English speakers may not prefer English swear words.It is advisable that people use weak swear words in appropriate ways and never abuse these words,otherwise the swearing can be harmful to the atmosphere of society.Future study on swear words can adopt more quantified ways to measure factors like social distance.Besides,use of specific swear words reveal more complexity and further research can focus on specific swear words.Swear words are to some extent highly culture-dependent.How culture and society affect swearing behavior still requires further investigation.From a practical perspective,there is need to promoting awareness of swear words.English learners should know the existence of swear words and learn how to use or avoid these words.