Use of Profanities in discourse between Russian speakers: Status and dominance in Svojness

Abstract

The use of profanity in discourse between Russian speakers creates inclusive and exclusive relationship in speech and formulates an array of social divisions. “The „polarity‟ of Russian styles of interaction might be linked with the „polarity‟ of conceptualizing people into svoi „one‟s own‟ as opposed to čužie „alien/strangers/foreigners‟” and these “indigenous terms encode interpersonal relationships associated with group inclusions and exclusion” (Gladkova, 181). When introducing the concept of Svojness, the usage of profanity between svoi „one‟s own‟ must be brought to the attention of translators. In Russian there is a gradation of effectiveness between profane words “Svoj-ness is motivated both psychologically and socially, and it is subject to fluctuations that depend on subtle shifts in the speaker‟s perception of him/herself and the addressee” (Yokoyama, 402). This gradation of crude language prompts a challenge to translators of Russian. When is it appropriate to translate taboo words into less obscene words of simple euphemisms?