Article published In: Language Variation and Change: Historical and contemporary perspectives
Edited by Clare Mar-Molinero and Miranda Stewart
[Spanish in Context 3:1] 2006
► pp. 115–138
Taboo words in teenage talk
London and Madrid girls’ conversations compared
Published online: 15 June 2006
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.3.1.08ste
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.3.1.08ste
This paper reports on a corpus-based comparison of the use of taboo words amongst middle/upper class teenage girls in London and Madrid. Two corpora of spontaneous conversation were used for the comparison; these showed that the most frequent words used by both groups had sexual reference, followed by words to do with bodily functions. It also pointed to a higher frequency of taboo words in the London girls’ conversations, while the Madrid girls had a slightly higher preference for sexual words.
The qualitative part of the study, which deals with the reasons for teenagers’ use of taboo words and with their various functions in the discourse, reveals that special emphasis is put on phatic use.
Keywords: functions, phatic use, acceptability, taboo, teenagers, corpora, frequency, domains
Cited by (31)
Cited by 31 other publications
Koreinik, Kadri, Aive Mandel, Maarja-Liisa Pilvik, Kristiina Praakli & Virve-Anneli Vihman
Valdeón, Roberto A.
Love, Robbie & Anna-Brita Stenstrom
McEnery, Tony, Gavin Brookes, Elizabeth Hanks, Kevin Gerigk & Jesse Egbert
Peace, Meghann M.
2023. “A mí no me gusta España mucho” vs.“Yo quiero ir a toda España, me encanta
España”. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 8:2 ► pp. 197 ff.
Stapleton, Karyn & Kristy Beers Fägersten
Stapleton, Karyn., Kristy. Beers Fägersten, Richard. Stephens & Catherine. Loveday
Stenström, Anna-Brita & Annette Myre Jørgensen
2022. A matter of politeness? A contrastive study of phatic talk in teenage conversation. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 635 ff.
Acuña Ferreira, Virginia
Beers Fägersten, Kristy & Gerardine M. Pereira
Bączkowska, Anna
Love, Robbie
Pérez-Arredondo, Carolina & Eduardo Graells-Garrido
Jørgensen, Annette Myre & Inés Olza
2020. Phraseology in teenage language in Spanish, English and Norwegian. Languages in Contrast 20:1 ► pp. 58 ff.
Fernández, Julieta
Beers Fägersten, Kristy & Karyn Stapleton
2017. Introduction. In Advances in Swearing Research [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 282], ► pp. 1 ff.
Beers Fägersten, Kristy & Karyn Stapleton
Beers Fägersten, Kristy & Karyn Stapleton
Drange, Eli-Marie Danbolt, Ingrid Kristine Hasund & Anna-Brita Stenström
2014. "Your mum!
"Teenagers’ swearing by mother in English, Spanish and Norwegian. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 19:1 ► pp. 29 ff.
Palacios Martínez, Ignacio M. & Paloma Núñez Pertejo
2014. Strategies used by English and Spanish teenagers to intensify language. Spanish in Context 11:2 ► pp. 175 ff.
Stenström, Anna-Brita
Stenström, Anna-Brita
2017. Chapter 7. Swearing in English and Spanish teenage talk. In Advances in Swearing Research [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 282], ► pp. 158 ff.
Christie, Christine
Jay, Kristin L. & Timothy B. Jay
Palacios Martínez, Ignacio M
Palacios Martínez, Ignacio M.
2021. Taboo vocatives in the language of London teenagers. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) 31:2 ► pp. 250 ff.
Palacios Martínez, Ignacio M.
Greenall, Annjo Klungervik
Farr, Fiona & Bróna Murphy
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.