The paper presented in this talk takes a corpus-based approach to analyze vulgar language in online communication across 20 English-speaking regions based on the Global Web-Based English Corpus (GloWbE). The identification of vulgar items combined word lists used in profanity detection with regular expressions to identify a wide range of vulgar elements including spelling variants. The results show a notable trend for inner circle L1-varieties to exhibit higher rates of vulgarity online compared to expanding/outer circle and L2-varieties. The results also show that inner circle varieties have lower type-token rations which indicates that inner circle variety speakers are more creating and rely on a larger repertoire of vulgar elements compared with speakers from other varieties. Finally, the results show that different regions exhibit preferences for vulgarity within different semantic fields: While speakers in the United States prefer vulgarity associated with sexual activity and speakers from Great Britain preferring vulgarity associated with sexual organs, speakers from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Ghana preferring vulgarity based in sex work and promiscuity and Indian speakers exhibiting a tendency to use racial slurs. The findings are interpreted to show that cultural differences reflect in region-specific preferences for vulgarity and that the creativity overserved in inner circle varieties is linked to norm-setting compared to norm-receiving associated with expanding/outer circle varieties.
Guest Lecture by Dr. Martin Schweinberger Guest Lecture by Dr. Martin Schweinberger

Guest Lecture by Dr. Martin Schweinberger
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Links
- https://www.iaak.uni-bonn.de/lets/events-news/news-1/interdisciplinary-workshop-language-discourse-and-power-structures-landposts-in-de-democratization-25-26-june-2025
- https://www.iaak.uni-bonn.de/lets/events-news/news-1/hanna-bruns-published-a-new-paper