Irreverent Behavior Taxonomy

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the use and substitution of profanity using verbal behavior taxonomy.
Method
This analysis first defines profanity. Then, one profanity was selected for analysis. Next, controlling variables that generally occasion the use of the target profanity were outlined. Last, substitutions for the target profanity were evaluated to determine a) whether or not they are controlled by similar controlling variables and b) if they function to produce the same result as the target profanity.
Defining Profanity. The New Oxford American Dictionary (Stevenson & Lindberg, 2005) defines profanity as “irreligious or irreverent behavior”. Here I will elaborate upon this definition using verbal behavior taxonomy to signal
James Park, as one of the first pieces of literature to use cunt in an irreverent manner. Throughout the poem the word “cunt” functions as a synecdochial extension to refer to the whole female human body. Two specific passages pair the word “cunt” with aversive stimuli that may have led to its future and widespread irreverent use among the verbal community (Hughes, 2006). In lines 113-114 (“When your lewd cunt came spewing home / Drenched with the seed of half the town”) the word “lewd” modifies “cunt” to indicate that the presence of a female and/or their genitalia is an aversive event. In addition, the word “spewing” indicates that the amount of semen secreting from the female genitalia is abnormal, and thereby suggests that the individual has engaged in numerous sexual encounters outside of the relationship between the speaker and the listener. Further, lines 118-119 (“With a vast meal of slime / Which your devouring cunt had drawn”) metaphorically extends the controlling variables of a cunt to those that would evoke an individual to interact frequently with repulsive substances. Together, these two passages paired the word “cunt” with aversive stimuli and may have altered the variables that control a reader’s use of the word “cunt”. As a result, the variables that control the use of the word “cunt” may be extended to situations where a) an individual is presenting the speaker with aversive stimulation – which may include accessing new information regarding broken parameters of a relationship – or b) an individual who has paired themselves as aversive – either by previously presenting aversive stimulation or being associated with aversive/repulsive stimuli (which differs from individual to individual) – is present within the speakers