Pejoration

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you. We all know this age-old saying, and we all know that words can hurt. But did you know that certain slurs, insults, and other pejorated words haven't always had such negative meanings?

Definition of pejoration in a sentence

Pejoration is the process by which a word develops a negative meaning or negative connotations over time. These words did not always have negative connotations but, as society progresses and our use of language changes, the meaning of words can change and develop.

Some immediate examples of pejorated words include notorious (which used to mean 'well-known') and hussy (which in the 16th century meant housewife. In modern times we call women who act improperly a 'hussy').

Pejoration is therefore a type of semantic change.

Pejoration is sometimes called 'deterioration' or 'degeneration'. All terms can be used synonymously however the term 'pejoration' is most commonly used.

Pejorative: meaning

A word that is 'pejorative' is a word that expresses disapproval, discontent, criticism, or other negative connotations. Pejorative language may be used as a slur or to insult someone.

It is important to remember that different terms are perceived as pejorative by different groups of people. For example, people in certain social or ethnic groups may perceive a term as pejorative that others don't (and vice versa). This can develop over time as societal values change.

Pejoration: examples in the English Language

The main examples of words that have undergone pejoration are:

Now that we know what the term pejoration means, let's delve a bit deeper into examples of pejoration in everyday life. Some examples of everyday pejorated words include silly, attitude, awful, cunning/crafty.

In the Early Middle English period (11th-13th century), the word 'seely' (or 'sely') was used to describe someone as happy, fortunate, or blessed. As time went on, the definition shifted to mean someone innocent, holy, and pure. Then again to mean someone naïve.

Eventually, the word became associated with its present-day connotations of foolishness and idiocy.

The word 'attitude' is technically a term that describes a figure's posture or position in a piece of art, as well as describing someone's mental state or mode of thinking.

However, in today's society, the word 'attitude' is commonly thought of in its negative context rather than simply describing someone's thoughts on something.

This is an example of pejoration as a fairly neutral term that has developed negative connotations over time and is now commonly used in a pejorative way.

Fig. 1 - 'Attitude' often has negative connotations.

Awful

Believe it or not, the term 'awful' used to have positive connotations, similar to the words 'awe-inspiring' and 'awesome'. It was understood in the literal sense i.e. 'worthy of awe'. However, things that are worthy of awe aren't always positive. Over time, the word 'awful' developed negative connotations of something that is bad.

Nowadays, 'awful' has particularly bad connotations and is used to describe something that is dreadful or appalling. This is a great example of pejoration as the meaning of the word has greatly changed from having positive connotations to very negative connotations.

Cunning/crafty

In Middle English, the words 'cunning' and 'crafty' were used in a positive way to describe a knowledgeable, skilful person, such as a 'cunning tradesman' or a 'crafty silversmith'.

Since then, the words 'cunning' and 'crafty' have gone through the process of pejoration, both referring to someone who is dishonest and skilful in deceiving others. Both words have therefore developed negative connotations and are seen as pejorative.

How does language become pejorative?

There is no specific reason why some language becomes pejorative. However, some possible reasons include:

• Shift in societal values – over time our values as a society change. This can lead to shifts in language and meaning associated with these changing values e.g. certain words may become politically incorrect.
• Euphemisms- euphemisms are words that refer to something unpleasant in an indirect way e.g. using the word 'restroom' to refer to the toilet. These euphemisms can then develop negative meanings as they become associated with an unpleasant subject.

Pejoration of female-related terms

Language reflects our cultural attitudes, both from the past and in the present. This is why it is interesting studying the meaning of words and how they have changed over time.

When looking at the history of terms used to describe women, we find that many of the words have become pejorative over the years, reflecting sexism in society and negative attitudes towards women.

Let's look at some examples of pejoration of female-related terms:

If we compare these words to the male equivalent, we see a big difference in meaning. 'Master' is the male equivalent of 'mistress' and has connotations of power and control while 'bachelor' is the male equivalent of 'spinster' and has connotations of independence and wealth (think 'bachelor pads' with huge TVs and a city view).

So why do female-related terms, that were once simply equivalent to the male-related terms, become so pejorative? The language we use is reflective of our cultural attitudes, suggesting that the imbalance of word meaning is reflective of a continuing imbalance of power between men and women in society.

What is the importance of pejoration?

The process of pejoration reflects how social values and perceptions of language have changed over the years. The English language is constantly changing and adapting to suit the societies that use it. This means that pejoration is an important process in linguistics as it allows people to fully make use of a language and use it to express what they mean.

Dictionaries are constantly being revised and, as the meaning of a word changes, the meaning in the dictionary will also change.

Narrowing is the process by which the meaning of a word becomes more specific over time. For example, the word 'hound' originally referred to all dogs whereas now it refers to a specific type of hunting dog, as seen in the dictionary definition. This is an example of narrowing as the meaning has become less generalised.

Broadening

Broadening is the process by which the meaning of a word becomes more generalised over time. For example, the word 'business' was originally used to refer to a state of being busy; however, the meaning broadened over time to refer to an occupation or commercial activity. This is an example of broadening as the meaning has become less specific.

Semantic reclamation

Semantic reclamation is when a word is 'reclaimed' by individuals or groups that the word was once used to oppress. An example of this is the word 'suffragette' which was first used by a reporter to belittle the women fighting for the vote. The suffragettes reclaimed the word as their own and it is now the defining word in the dictionary describing women who protest the right to vote.