Slur e atti linguistici multipli

In this essay, a multi-act view of the meaning of slurs is defended. According to it, when a speaker utters a sentence containing a slur, she simultaneously performs two different speech acts, one of which, following Searle’s taxonomy, is an expressive one. Some of the advantages of this version of expressivism are reviewed. First, it can explain some properties of slurs such as ineffability and redundancy. Second, it allows a clearer understanding of the mistake made by those who use a slur: they do not say something false but do something wrong. Third, it can respond to some criticisms directed against expressivism: that of being too subjective and that of not accounting for the prescriptive dimension of slurs.