Swearing, potentially offensive, and taboo language in context: findings from South Korea and Australia

<p dir="ltr">Taking a Ph.D. by Publication approach, this research explores swearing, potentially offensive, and taboo language (SPOTL) among Australian-born English speakers and Korean-born English as an Additional Language (EAL) speakers, with the main aim being to gain a comprehensive understanding not only of the extent to which Korean EAL speakers comprehend and perceive English SPOTL, and their opinions regarding this linguistic phenomenon, but also to uncover the factors that impact their learning outcomes and opinions. </p><p dir="ltr">Divided into five journal publications, this thesis addresses a set of specific research objectives. Firstly, it examines the relevance of learning and understanding swearing, potentially offensive, and taboo language (SPOTL) for Korean adult EAL speakers. Secondly, it investigates the extent of SPOTL knowledge among Australian-born L1 English speakers and their perceptions of this language. Thirdly, it compares the depth and breadth of SPOTL vocabulary between Korean-born EAL speakers and Australian-born L1 speakers, and how this language is perceived. Fourthly, it evaluates the level of pragmatic comprehension and perception among Korean EAL speakers regarding SPOTL. Finally, it explores the ability of Korean EAL speakers to perceive the emotion and attitude (i.e., intended use) of SPOTL based solely on the prosody of one-word or two-word utterances. </p><p dir="ltr">Utilizing two separate online surveys, each administered to different cohorts of participants, this research employed a quantitative approach to data collection and analysis. This approach allowed for the exploration of various factors that may impact how SPOTL is learned and perceived by Korean EAL speakers with greater numbers of participants, while also supporting the experimental approach to the study of SPOTL in its spoken form. </p><p dir="ltr">The five key findings of this research are:</p><p dir="ltr">1) Korean EAL speakers are generally interested in learning SPOTL.</p><p dir="ltr">2) -IST language (discussed in Chapter 2) is currently deemed the most taboo form of language by Australian university students.</p><p dir="ltr">3) Although Korean EAL speakers maintain a general knowledge of SPOTL, they largely exhibit a reduced understandings of the conceptual meanings and taboo loadings of English SPOTL.</p><p dir="ltr">4) Single-word SPOTL utterances are easier to comprehend for Korean EAL speakers than multiword swearing expressions.</p><p dir="ltr">5) Korean EAL speakers are able to perceive various forms of emotional and attitudinal prosody commonly associated with SPOTL, however their accuracy in perception is not as accurate as Australian-born L1 English speakers.</p><p dir="ltr">The findings from this research contribute to our understanding of the factors influencing the acquisition of SPOTL knowledge, level of pragmatic comprehension and perception, and interest in learning SPOTL among Korean EAL speakers. They also enrich our knowledge of the relationship between linguistic proficiency, authentic target language interaction, and language engagement in the acquisition of SPOTL in an additional language. These findings have implications for second language acquisition, educators, and language learners. </p>