English Capstone ProposalTo: Dr. Amy Rupiper-taggartFrom: Matthew VaughnSubject: Project ProposalDate: 8 March 2014

ProposalOne of the main aspects of Socio-Linguistics is to show how society effects how we perceive language and how we interact with language. Often times these social factors can remain obscure, if not completely hidden unless there is research conducted to investigate. Something that has always fascinated me within this field is the use swear words. It’s a social taboo that everyone comes in contact with or even uses nearly every day. The social circle in which we live in decides whether which word has the power and this hierarchy changes throughout the world. The primary research question I am setting to answer is what social factors have the greatest influence in young college students’ (ages 18-25) perception of swear words? To this end, my research will attempt to show how people swear differently in different societies as well as giving some history of the words commonly associated with swearing in English and the Anglo-Saxon world. Beyond the secondary research I will also conduct primary research on current students here at NDSU on their perception of the words Damn, Hell, and Fuck.

As I’ve mentioned, this project will take on two different halves. The first half will examine a history of swear words. This will be mainly secondary research and make up most of my working bibliography attached to this proposal. The research will not only involve a history of English swear words that Americans are familiar with but also encompass different nationalities’ swear words that might not be considered taboo in the English speaking world. The countries I plan to investigate are Chinese, Japanese, Western African Countries, and Norway. By using these differing forms of swearing I hope to shed light on the nature of swearing and portray the power society has over any words that they deem taboo. The secondary research portion of my project will roughly take 5-7 pages of text.

The second half of my paper will be much longer and will focus on answering my primary research question which is what social factors have the greatest influence in young college student (aged 18-25) perception of swear words. In this section I will be analyzing the results of tests I will have conducted using a questionnaire (outlined in my METHODS section of this proposal). The research will examine what swear words are perceived to be more severe than others and in what context. I will analyze the results based on

social backgrounds that the subjects have given me in their questionnaire and I will hopefully be able to draw some conclusions. My hypothesis is that people will rank the words more severe when said in public and will most like rank “Fuck” the most severe swear word in both contexts. This portion of the paper will be 10-13 pages in length.

With both sections combined the final paper should be 15-20 pages long. I will be planning to work with Dr. Bruce Maylath as my mentor in this assignment, as his primary focus here at NDSU is socio-linguistics.

In summary, my project will engulf: Primary Research of the students (aged 18-25) perception of the words

o Fucko Damno Hell

Secondary research of the history of English swear words as well as other nationalities swear words

Secondary research on the contemporary studies done on the topic

ObjectivesA primary objective for me in this project is to orchestrate a productive and thought-provoking research. I want to develop my time management skills by successfully planning, testing, and analyzing my research on time and effectively. It is paramount to my future endeavors that I can be entrusted with research and be able to provide results. In graduate school I will be expected to lead research and analyze results often and I want to be ready for that responsibility. Likewise I want what I am testing to make a difference in the field I am in. A well-executed research that offers no relevant or applicable results will ultimately be a failure in my view. I want to be able to focus my efforts and hard work into something someone will be able to build off of. This mentality will help me in further research during graduate school.

Alongside those objectives, I would personally like to gain perspective from this research project. By studying different cultures and the way they swear, I think I’ll be able to get a perspective of my own biases about language that can be hard to see when you’ve grown up with them all your life. This will be important going forward because the father I advance in my field the more diverse my peers will become. It is very important that I understand other cultures as well as the biases my own carries with it.

In summary my objectives for this project are: Orchestrate an effective and productive research, showcasing

management and organization skills

Gain perspective of other cultures and other social backgrounds to better understand how people use language

MethodsAs I mentioned before, I will be obtaining both secondary and primary data for this research. Some preliminary secondary research I have attached to the end of this proposal. Most of these sources will come from online databases accessed by the NDSU library system. Academic Search Preimeire, J-Stor, and Project Muse are databases that I plan to utilize the most.

As far as primary research methods are concerned, I will be creating a questionnaire for the participants to answer. My goal is to have 25 people fill out the questionnaires. First the questionnaire will ask the student background questions about themselves. The questions will be regarding:

Age Gender Religion Area living in Area Grew up in # of siblings

This background information is paramount to my research because it will the distinguishing factors between the participants. These answers will be the social factors that I will be analyzing in the latter half of my research.

The second half of the questionnaire will be questions regarding the actual swear words themselves. It will consist of a set of three swear words and prompt the participant to rank them on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the least severe, 5 being the most severe). The participant will do this ranking two times, once for these words usage in a public place (school, work, public area with strangers around) and once for these words usage in a private place (with friends, family, or within home). The words I have chosen to research are as follows:

Fuck Damn Hell

I will then collect the questionnaires and analyze the results. I’ll be looking for patterns between how the participants ranked the swear words and what answers they gave regarding their various social factors. This is the most effective way for me to answer my research questions and have the time to get through 25 different results.

Timeline

My timeline for this project is as follows:

I intend to be completed with my project by April 29th, 2014.

3/9-3/15 3/16-3/22

3/23-3/29

3/30-4/5

4/6-4/12

4/13-4/19

4/20-4/26

4/27-5/3

5/4-5/10

5/11-5/17

-Get proposal approved-Begin secondary research-Finalize questionnaire for Primary Research

-Continue secondary research-Begin primary research

-Continue secondary research-Continue Primary Research

-Narrow down to 15 sources and have outline draft of Secondary Research-Finalize Primary Research

-Begin rough Draft of Secondary Research-Begin analyzing Primary Research Results and begin outline draft for Primary Research

-Edit rough draft of Secondary Research-Begin rough draft of Primary Research

DUE DATE:Apr. 17Progress Report & Annotated Bib

-Polish Secondary Research into a Final Draft-Edit rough draft of primary Research

-Polish primary research into a final draft-Combine both sections and complete project

POSSIBLE DUE DATE

Oral Pres.

POSSIBLEDUE DATE

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POSSIBLE DUE DATE

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