Abstract
Sociolinguists have always tried to assess the relationship between language and society. In their works, however, some aspects of this relationship seem to be left to chance either because they are taboo or out of reach or are simply not interesting enough to them. What is undeniable is that one’s integration in a foreign community depends largely on one’s capacity to internalize the overall set of values. They also have to be careful not to overstep the bans. On the linguistic aspect, one of the most apparent of these bans is insulting; this is socially and morally shocking utterances meant to belittle the individual. This article focuses on the Senegalese society and seeks to highlight the sociolinguistic complexity of insulting. This implies an explicit definition of the concept, a study of its verbal and non verbal aspects, the semantic fields of insulting and its perception within society. Finally, we will study the factors that soften insults.
Highlights
In the linguistic sciences in general, and in sociolinguistics, any communication situation is worth thinking about from the moment that it poses the five major issues “who says what, in what language or language variety, to whom, when, and where”
The insult is a slip of the tongue, a ban which is constantly violated by the very members of the speech community that has classified it in "taboo" language
Is there something more normal than the expression of a state of mind when we know that needs repressed escape sooner or later our control and may arise in forms worse than anything we feared? It is to reconsider the perception of insults that some do not hesitate to attribute them a cathartic power ( Bonvini, 1995; Bangré, 2003; Fisher, 2004)
Summary
In the linguistic sciences in general, and in sociolinguistics, any communication situation is worth thinking about from the moment that it poses the five major issues “who says what, in what language or language variety , to whom, when , and where”. If individuals who have disabilities (i.e. the dumb) mainly rely exclusively on gestures to express themselves, other people can make a choice between verbal and non verbal language or a combination of both depending on the situation of communication While the French expression "devenir chevre" bears the meaning of getting upset or impatient and has nothing insulting, in the Senegalese socio-cultural reality, to call a person a goat can provoke a reaction all quite surprising because of what that animal connotes. In the light of the different perceptions that Senegalese society has about the animals we listed as examples, we can understand the reasons why Djibo Ka’s statement could offend the sensibilities of some of his countrymen, especially his political friends in power They (supporters of the ruling party) did not, wait to respond to the dimension of the "offense". Things are often said just to hurt and what hurts is that the audience might think that what was said about you is true while it might be totally wrong
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