An interactivist approach to slurs: 'Piefke' in Austrian German

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of the anti-German slur Piefke by speakers of Austrian German, especially concerning their identity management. It is argued that the Austrian autostereotype is constructed in opposition to the hostile German heterostereotype, embodied by the associations of Piefke. An interactivist account of the pragmatic effects of slurring is presented, couched in the framework of Schulz von Thun. I also present an account of the meaning of a slur inspired by Nunberg and Hess, combining the ideas of expressive commit- ment with a version of Nunberg’s ventriloquistic implicature, assuming with Whiting that slurs are expressive of a negative attitude, but do not express it.