Kevin Reuter: "When Nouns Turn Negative"

Kevin Reuter, University of Gothenburg: "When Nouns Turn Negative: The Evaluative Absorption Model"

Abstract
Words can darken. Once upon a time, ”propaganda” simply meant the dissemination of information, ”manipulation” meant handling, and ”discrimination” could mean nothing more than the ability to tell people apart. Today, each of them stings. How does that happen? This process is known as pejoration. When language absorbs negativity, it becomes inseparable from the word itself. Our Evaluative Absorption Model traces that shift in two stages: first, when speakers pile on negative modifiers to make the badness clear (”unfair manipulation”, ”unjust discrimination”), and second, when those modifiers fade away because the word itself has turned negative. Using decades of data from Google Ngram, I show how familiar terms followed this path. By making pejoration measurable, we open up new ways to see how culture and evaluation get woven into words over time.