A diachronic, corpus-based examination of politics, race- and origin-related slurs in American English

This paper analyzes four different slurs in the American variety of the English language extracted from three slang dictionaries. The analyzed slurs are related to politics, race, and origin. The use of these slurs will be examined diachronically, that is, from the first time they are registered in a corpus till the present day. In doing so, the frequency of usage of these terms in the different periods will be considered in the analysis, as well as the historical context. Thus, aiming to defend that slurs are terms that at early stages are not strictly related to negative or disparaging connotation, and that their evolution and use throughout the years and their association to certain negative ideas make them acquire a negative connotation, thus becoming what is known under the name of ‘slurs’