Social meaning in the mirror of political correctness

Abstract

The article addresses two central notions, namely social meaning and political correctness. The concept of social meaning is well known in “third wave” sociolinguistics, which connects patterns of language variation with the wider social world, in metapragmatics after Michael Silverstein, language ideology research and discourse analysis. The analysis is in line with these research approaches and also reflects back the pragmatic interpretation of social meanings. It is presumed that the social meaning of a word or an utterance is indexical in its nature and conveys information about the social context of language use. Social meaning of an utterance reflects its social embeddedness. In this respect, the perspective of political correctness reflects the discursive process of social indexicality and social meaning making. The article examines modern cases of political correctness (PC) in the USA (2017–2020) to show the effects of discursive pressure on interpretation frames. PC is discussed as a controversial practice and it is aimed at avoiding expressions or actions that can be perceived to marginalize or insult socially disadvantaged and discriminated people. At the same time, it can overpoliticize issues and act as a struggle against implicit meanings and implicatures.