Fourteen words referring to a homosexual person were included in the study. While most of the words in this category refer to homosexual men (such as fag/faggot, fairy, pansy), there are also words that are used of women only (dike/dyke, lesbian), as well as words that can be used of both sexes (gay and homosexual). The definitions of gay and homosexual have narrowed, however, toward a male referent only in the recent editions. Whereas the two words are defined as ‘a homosexual person’ in the earlier editions, the current definitions add the specification ‘especially a man’.
The topic of this semantic field is, obviously, connected with sex and the taboo of propriety. In addition, homosexuality was once considered an illness and was illegal in many Western countries at the time when the earliest editions of OALD were current. Nowadays, the official and private attitudes to homosexuality have become more tolerant, but a certain feeling of unease still surrounds the topic: how to talk about homosexuality without being insensitive to the face wants of homosexual persons? Therefore, the topic involves the taboo of delicacy, too.
8.2.1 Inclusion
The number of words for a homosexual person found in the six dictionaries grows from zero (OALD1) to twelve (OALD6), as marked in Table 2b. As the total of the items investigated in this category is fourteen, the relative increase is considerable. The largest additions were made to OALD2 and OALD3; while OALD1 lists none of the fourteen items in this group, OALD2 lists five of them. OALD3, again, doubles the number, resulting in ten of the fourteen terms. Since then, the increase has been more moderate, as the numerical data in Table 2b indicates.
As to uniformity in word inclusion, in the majority of cases (eleven of the fourteen words investigated) the word remains listed once it has been accepted into the dictionary. In only two cases, the word has been dropped out of the dictionary. These words are closet queen and nancy, both of which had a brief existence in the series by appearing in one edition only. The euphemistic use of confirmed bachelor in the sense ‘homosexual man’ is given in OALD6 only; it is placed in the residue group.
8.2.2 Labelling
OALD3 is the earliest edition to assign labels indicative of a negative connotation to words for a homosexual person (Table 2a). The words that are negatively labelled in OALD3 are not listed in the previous editions or are assigned attributes that in this study are regarded as belonging to other dimensions of language variation (e.g. colloquial and modern use). The number of different negative attributes is quite low in this word category, only four attributes are found altogether.
Nevertheless, not any two dictionaries share exactly the same set of labels: !! , derog and offensive term (OALD3); !! and derog (OALD4); derog and offensive (OALD5); and !! , disapproving and offensive (OALD6). Again, the qualification “an offensive word” within the actual definition replaces the label offensive frequently in OALD6. In fact, the description is built into the definition seven times as opposed to one occasion of using the label offensive.
An interesting detail among the sets of labels is that OALD5 does not attach the taboo sign,
!! , to any of the words in this category, while OALD4 and OALD6 do this. Unlike the other dictionaries, OALD4 does not attach offensive to any of the words for a homosexual person even though it has the label in its inventory.
Similarly as in the number of words listed, there is a clear change between OALD2 and OALD3 in their frequencies of labelling, as it can be seen in Table 2b. While OALD2 does not attach a label of a negative connotation to any of the words it lists, OALD3 labels 70% of its words in this group. Since then, the percentage has remained at roughly the same level.
Looking at the frequency of the taboo sign in particular, OALD3 and OALD6 use the taboo sign quite frequently in this word category (Table 2c). In OALD3, the taboo sign appears in all seven entries that are labelled negatively. OALD6 assigns the taboo sign to six of eight negatively labelled words. OALD4 uses the taboo sign as well, but considerably less often, only once of the seven entries which have a cautionary label or note.
As opposed to terms for a prostitute, in this semantic field it may quite safely be noted that the simple, unmodified type of label is preferred by all four dictionaries in which cautionary labels are used. While OALD3 and OALD4 use only simple labels, OALD5 modifies the label of dike, suggesting that there are situations in which the word can be used without giving offence: usu offensive. OALD6 also attaches the same modifier to dyke (dike), but quite curiously, uses also the taboo sign in the entry: !! usually offensive. Such a string of labels seems somewhat contradictory, as the taboo sign is usually understood to indicate unconditional offensiveness. However, the list of labels and their meanings as explained inside the front cover of the dictionary offers a justification to the choice of labels. The taboo sign, !! , is explained as “likely to be thought by many people to be obscene or shocking” (OALD6, front cover), whereas the label offensive points to expressions that are “very insulting, especially in connection with their race, religion, sex or disabilities.” The taboo sign can thus be interpreted as a warning of an offence against the decorum, while the label offensive refers more directly to offending a particular person or group of persons.
The word queer (in OALD6) is also marked as ‘(+)’ in this study, but it differs from the entry for dike (dyke) in that it specifies the circumstances in which the word may be used without the offensive tone:
queer noun ( !! , slang) an offensive word for aHOMOSEXUAL, especially a man which is, however, also used by some homosexuals about themselves
This dictionary entry shows thus one case of reclaiming a word, which means that the referents of the offensive word have begun to use the word in a positive sense as a sign of in-group membership. The word queer in OALD6 is the only instance of specifying such an alternative, inoffensive, context in this semantic field.
As to using cautionary labels in combinations, OALD3 and OALD6 deviate from the others by favouring multiple labels. In all seven entries that are labelled negatively in OALD3, the label consists of the taboo sign combined to one or more cautionary labels. In OALD6, the share of words with multiple labels is a little lower, as seven of eight words receive a multiple label. OALD5 assigns a similar combination to two of eight words, while OALD4 does not use multiple labels at all in this word group. As to using cautionary labels in combinations, the points of interest are, on the one hand, linking the taboo sign, !! , to another label or note, and on the other, linking disapproving or derogatory to offensive. I will discuss the latter aspect first, and then move on to linking the taboo sign to another label.
Concerning the words in this semantic field, there are four instances of linking derogatory or disapproving and offensive. OALD3 labels pansy with !! derog, offensive term; OALD5 labels poof (poofter) with derog or offensive and queer with derog offensive (without the conjunction or);
and OALD6 labels fairy with disapproving, accompanied by a qualification “an offensive word”.
The fact that these multiple labels are not applied consistently to the four words in all editions of OALD, but rather are temporary occurrences, lends support to the claim made by Norri (2000) that the distinction between the labels derogatory/disapproving and offensive is not clear
(see Chapter 3.1, page 15). Moreover, the practice of OALD5 of linking the two labels both with and without the conjunction reflects a hesitation in the policy.
Combinations of the taboo sign !! and another negative attribute are found in this word group, as well. OALD3 assigns the double label !! derog to six words (dike, fag, fairy, poof, queen and queer) and the triple label !! derog offensive to the word pansy, as it was already noted above.
OALD6 combines the taboo sign !! and the description “an offensive word” five times (fag, pansy, poof, queen, queer), and once !! usually offensive (offensive as a label, in the entry for dike).
As to the likelihood of similar treatment in labelling in the dictionaries studied, eleven words of the total of fourteen in this semantic field could be evaluated. This is because three of the words appear only in one dictionary (closet queen, confirmed bachelor and nancy). In the eleven cases where the word was listed in more than one dictionary, the editors are quite united in their labelling. In nine cases, the dictionaries either consistently apply a cautionary label to the word or consistently do not apply one. Words furnished with a label in all dictionaries are dike, fag, fairy, ponce, poof and queen. Words without a warning label in all dictionaries are gay, homosexual and lesbian. It could then assumed that the set of words labelled in all dictionaries are the most likely to offend in this semantic field, while the latter ones constitute a neutral and stable core vocabulary. In the remaining two cases (pansy and queer), one dictionary is in dissonance with the others, as the words do not have a cautionary label in OALD2.
On the need for the taboo sign in particular, the dictionary editors agree to a lesser extent.
Of the eight words which receive a cautionary label in more than one dictionary, only one word (ponce) is treated uniformly; the sense ‘homosexual’ is not furnished with the taboo sign in neither of the two dictionaries giving the sense. The word dyke is not assigned the taboo sign in OALD5 whereas in the other dictionaries the sign is used; the converse holds for fairy in OALD3. These two words make up the category of near-uniformity. The category of non-uniformity forms the majority, as five of the eight words (fag, pansy, poof, queen and queer) are marked with the taboo sign in OALD3 and OALD6, but not in OALD4 and OALD5.