We explain what something vulgar is and its two main senses. Also, what is vulgar language and what are vulgarisms.
What is something vulgar?
With the adjective Vulgar we refer, in a strict sense, to everything that belongs to or that has to do with the vulgar, that is, with the mob or with the crowd, these three words being different derogatory forms traditionally used for the lower classes of the society. In other words, in a strict sense, the vulgar is that which is associated with the plebs or the people, in a pejorative sense.
In fact, this term comes from the Latin voices vulgus ("Common people") and vulgar ("Spread", "spread among the people"). Historically it is associated with the lack of culture or from education, that is, to contempt for the illiterate and popular classes, as reflected in the Latin speech Odi profanum vulgus, et aceo ("I hate the ignorant vulgar and I stay away from him"), attributed to the Roman lyrical and satirical poet Horace (65-8 BC).
The vulgar, then, today is synonymous the ordinary, but in two possible senses of the term:
- On the one hand, the vulgar is understood as the rude, vulgar, offensive and lacking in decorum.
- On the other hand, the vulgar is understood as the popular, everyday, colloquial.
So, for example, when we say that a joke is vulgar, we are saying that it is possibly offensive, daring or risque. But when we say that someone is a common thief, we mean that he is not only a thief, but that he is a petty, unrefined one.
But when we say that something belongs to vulgar knowledgeOn the other hand, we are saying that it is part of the ordinary, non-academic knowledge that does not require training and anyone handles it with ease.
Vulgar language
Is named language vulgar, foul language, profane language or foul language to the set of words, phrases and phrases that, within a linguistic community (that is, a community who speak the same language) are considered vulgar, vulgar, rude, in bad taste and inappropriate for educated, refined or cultured people. Rudeness, easily said, is part of vulgar language.
The vulgar language is used colloquially and exists in all human languages. It serves to print a more intense affective or emotional tone to what has been said, to release tension on the part of the speaker, or simply to offend others and seek a fight.
They are usually accompanied by vulgar gestures or certain iconic language, and tend to address topics traditionally considered taboo or held sacred, such as sex, parenthood or motherhood, certain parts of the body or blasphemy. Sometimes they just try to ridicule and caricature the other.
However, we must not confuse vulgar language with vulgar languages or vernacular languages. The latter term is used in academic contexts to refer to the languages spoken today, as opposed to the classical languages of antiquity, and sometimes to refer to the local dialects or languages spoken in certain geographies.
In other words, vulgar or vernacular languages correspond to modern languages (such as Spanish, English, Russian, Mandarin, etc.), while classical or dead languages are those that no one speaks anymore, but rather they are part of history (like Latin, ancient Greek, Sanskrit, etc.).
Vulgarities or vulgarities
In certain contexts, the terms vulgarity and vulgarity are used as synonyms, that is, as a way of naming the bad words that make up foul language. But in other contexts, a distinction is usually made between the use of both words:
- Vulgarity: Includes rudeness, that is, foul language.
- Vulgarisms: From a linguistic point of view, they are morphological units, that is, uses and turns of a language, which are not governed by the cultured norm of the language, that is, they are not academically correct. The vulgarisms usually derive from the use that the language was given by the vulgar, or by certain social strata, and that for historical reasons have survived, despite being, let's say, “badly spoken”.
For example, verb conjugations like haiga (instead of is), delen (instead of give him), let's be (instead of are), satisfied (instead of satisfied), are cases of vulgarism in which the cultured norm of the idiom, but who are employed in the speaks daily life of many persons, especially those with low educational level.