Each language boasts its vast repertoire of bad words that, far from being a simple expression of vulgarity, respond to specific social, psychological and linguistic reasons, thanks to their ability to veicular quickly and carefully it emotional state of the speaker. The curses represent a form of personal expression used to free voltage, anger or frustration. Often emerge in response to unpleasant situations, such as the physical painbut they can also serve to manifest surprise or disbelief in the face of unexpected events. In our society, bad words are subject to taboo And social conventions which regulate its use according to the context, culture and education, they are often accepted in informal environments but considered inappropriate in formal or public situations or in the presence of children.
What happens in our brain: psychological functions
The words are mainly seen as one relief valve when you try pain or to express negative emotions As disgust, fear, sadness and surprise. A study of Neuro Report About the effects of the swear words on the brain, it seems to demonstrate that custody distracts the brain in some way from pain, helping to manage it better, as if they activated a physiological response that increases the Resistance to physical evil. However, the effectiveness of this effect decreases in people who frequently use bad words in daily life, suggesting a phenomenon of habituation. Psychologically, the research of the neurolinguistic and psicolinguistic center ofVita-Salute San Raffaele University, They investigated for the first time how our brain elaborates swear words, trying to answer two main questions: if our brain includes swear words as it includes the other words, and if understanding change if they are produced in our language or in a foreign language. During the experiments, both words and normal words were presented to the participants, looking for answer to their questions in the detection of changes in the cerebral blood flow. Dr. Simone Sulpizio, Thus explains the results:
The results showed that although the elaboration of the swear words takes place through the same brain regions used for the other words, they are recognized more easily and elaborate more efficiently: this advantage for bad words is probably due to theirs social and emotional relevancewhich makes them recognizable by our brain immediately and effortlessly “.
As regards the reception of the latter in one foreign languageit emerged how the swear words listened to in another language are less offensive for two reasons: understanding is less immediate and requires the involvement of additional brain regions that help us understand the emotional and social relevance of words.
The socio-linguistic functions
It is known that swear words also play a fundamental role both in social communication That linguistic. On the one hand, they can strengthen the links between individuals, strengthening a sense of belonging and solidarity to a group, provided that their use is adequate to the context to avoid misunderstandings. On the other, they color and enrich the language, giving a good variety of expressions to communicate intense emotions and emphasize a point of view. Therefore, instead of considering them as universally harmful or morally wrong, it is possible to adopt another perspective by wondering which one communication objectives they reach.
