Newswise — People need not worry that an increase in foul language on primetime television signals a decline in morals, says a Swarthmore College expert on language use, including slang. "I don't think we're losing any sense of morality," says Professor of Linguistics Donna Jo Napoli. "We're as judgmental and moralistic as ever. We just change what we see as bad."
The Parents Television Council recently reported that it studied all primetime entertainment series from a two-week period in 1998, 2000, and 2002, and found a jump in profanity on virtually every network and time slot. The group called on the television industry to reduce the vulgarity.
According to Napoli, some words that used to be "bad" are now just "naughty" or only slightly colorful. "Obscenities are no problem," she says. "We're still shocked by lots of things. We've just changed what we're shocked by. A racial slur, for example, knocks us flat."
Napoli's research interests include syntax, phonetics, historical and comparative linguistics, poetics, and dialogue. She is also an award-winning author of several books for children and young adults. Napoli joined Swarthmore's faculty in 1987.
Located near Philadelphia, Swarthmore is a highly selective liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,450. Swarthmore is consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the country.
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