Fighting Words!: A Critical Approach to Linguistic Transgression

Fighting Words! is a critical exploration of all kinds of ＂bad language＂ and how that language shapes, reinforces, or subverts identity, ideology, and power. Eric Louis Russell expertly investigates facets of taboo language, drawing on diverse interdisciplinary material to define key concepts and using them to examine the complex dynamics behind a wide range of examples from popular culture, from Donald Trump’s controversies to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP.

What emerges from this analysis is the intersectionality of how language is performed and how it contributes to the shaping of identity and simultaneously shapes and is shaped by social attitudes, cultural assumptions, and systems of power with regard to race, sexuality, and gender.

With fascinating ＂A Closer Look＂ boxes and a rich array of pedagogical features, this is the perfect text for advanced students and researchers in sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and related fields.

Eric Louis Russell is Professor of French & Italian at the University of California at Davis, with affiliations in the Linguistics Department and the Program in Gender, Sexualities & Women’s Studies. He is the author of Alpha Masculinity: Hegemony in Language and Discourse and The Discursive Ecology of Homophobia: Unraveling Anti-LGBTQ Speech on the European Far Right.