Abstract
On the pretext of safeguarding democratic values in contemporary societies, various forms of debasement language have become an integral part of political discourse. Impregnating political speeches, statements, debates, and discussions with coarse language that normally targets political opponents as well as other potential victims is not a new trend. However, most of the literature dedicated to defining incivility in political discourse mainly focuses on the use of hate speech. The chapter at hand aspires to offer a deeper analysis of the concept of debasement language as part of incivility in politics and offers answers to several key questions: (1) what exactly is debasement language and what types of debasement language are used in political discourse; (2) why is such language used; (3) who is the target of political debasement discourse; and (4) how such language affects individuals and the democratic process in modern societies. Several instances of debasement language used by current and former politicians, from different countries in the world, generated on various platforms (TV, newspapers, social media, etc.), and appearing in different formats (press statements, political speeches, TV debates, etc.), will be used to illustrate the points discussed.
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