When Neutral and Moral Lexical Items Acquire Sexual Connotations at the Wink of Eye: A Study of Sexual Pejorative Terms in Vernacular Egyptian Arabic

Authors

  • Sayed M. Ismail

    Department of English Language and Literature, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj 16278, Saudi Arabia
  • Mohamad Ahmad Saleem Khasawneh

    Special Education Department, King Khalid University, Abha 62521, Saudi Arabia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i2.8041
Received: 11 December 2024 | Revised: 25 January 2025 | Accepted: 27 January 2025 | Published Online: 19 February 2025

Abstract

The Arabic language has inadequately examined the relationship between sexuality and pejoration. Since the commencement of the 21st century, several lexical words in Egyptian Arabic have undergone sexual pejoration. The point of this study is to look into the link between sexuality and derogatory words in Egyptian Arabic, as well as how often people unconsciously think that moral and neutral words have sexual meanings. The research employs a historical semantic methodology to do thorough evaluations of pejoration in Egyptian Arabic. The study's sample consisted of thirty-six lexical items recognized as containing derogatory language. The research classifies the analyzed lexical elements into moral and neutral categories. The study indicated that in Egyptian Arabic, the majority of lexical terms having sexual connotations are considerably more prone to having negative meanings. Neutral lexemes have increased resilience to pejoration relative to moral lexemes. Nouns and verbs are less susceptible to pejoration than adjectives. Moral and neutral lexemes impart derogatory sexual overtones when referring to women, and this process transpires subconsciously. The disparity between Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian colloquial Arabic is considerable owing to pejoration. The research indicates a possible reciprocal link between morality and pejoration in the Arabic language, warranting more investigation and analysis.

Keywords:

Moral Lexemes; Neutral Lexemes; Perception; Pejoration; Sexuality; Semantic Shift

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How to Cite

Ismail, S. M., & Khasawneh, M. A. S. (2025). When Neutral and Moral Lexical Items Acquire Sexual Connotations at the Wink of Eye: A Study of Sexual Pejorative Terms in Vernacular Egyptian Arabic. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(2), 773–785. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i2.8041

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 2 (February 2025): In Progress

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Article

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Copyright © 2025 Sayed M. Ismail, Mohamad Ahmad Saleem Khasawneh

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.