When Neutral and Moral Lexical Items Acquire Sexual Connotations at the Wink of Eye: A Study of Sexual Pejorative Terms in Vernacular Egyptian Arabic
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The Arabic language has inadequately examined the relationship between sexuality and pejoration. Since the commencement of the 21st century, several lexical words in Egyptian Arabic have undergone sexual pejoration. The point of this study is to look into the link between sexuality and derogatory words in Egyptian Arabic, as well as how often people unconsciously think that moral and neutral words have sexual meanings. The research employs a historical semantic methodology to do thorough evaluations of pejoration in Egyptian Arabic. The study's sample consisted of thirty-six lexical items recognized as containing derogatory language. The research classifies the analyzed lexical elements into moral and neutral categories. The study indicated that in Egyptian Arabic, the majority of lexical terms having sexual connotations are considerably more prone to having negative meanings. Neutral lexemes have increased resilience to pejoration relative to moral lexemes. Nouns and verbs are less susceptible to pejoration than adjectives. Moral and neutral lexemes impart derogatory sexual overtones when referring to women, and this process transpires subconsciously. The disparity between Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian colloquial Arabic is considerable owing to pejoration. The research indicates a possible reciprocal link between morality and pejoration in the Arabic language, warranting more investigation and analysis.
Source: Forum for Linguistic Studies
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4407793929