Slurs have become a big topic of discussion both in philosophy and in linguistics. Slurs are usually characterised as pejorative terms, co-extensional with other, neutral, terms referring to ethnic or social groups. However, slurs are not the only ethnic/social words with pejorative senses. Our aim in this paper is to introduce a different kind of pejoratives, which we will call "ethnic/social terms used as insults" (ESTIs), as exemplified in (European) Spanish, though present in many other languages and mostly absent in English. These are ethnic terms like gitano, lit. 'gipsy', which can have an extensional and neutral use, but also a pejorative meaning building on a negative stereotypical representation of the Romani community. so and do this and that' (Camp, 2013; see below for discussion). Usually, the use of a slur extends this kind of signalling to the addressee. Thus, the speaker assumes that the attitude reported in the NAI content is also shared by the hearer and a group to which the speaker certainly belongs-and seems proud of belonging in. However, slurs are not the only ethnic/social words with pejorative senses. Here, we will focus on what we call "ethnic/social terms used as insults" (ESTIs), as exemplified in (European) Spanish. These are ethnic terms like gitano 'Romani' and moro 'Moor', terms for professions with behavioural stereotypes, such as camionero 'truck-driver' and portera 'doorwoman', and even terms for age groups, such as viejo/vieja 'old man/woman' and adolescente 'teenager' (see below). Many other languages (see §2 below for examples) have similar terms, but they have not been discussed in the literature. To bring the point home, a term akin to an ESTI in English could be the term Nazi, which can be interpreted as a neutral term or as an insult, as exemplified in (2)a and b. (2) Hubert is a Nazi. a. Hubert belongs to the Nazi movement. b. Hubert exhibits properties that belong to the social stereotype of a Nazi. Crucially, under the interpretation in (2)b, the noun is generally not predicated of the members of the neutral extension. 2 Something analogous happens when speakers, addressing a boy, say you are such a girl, or addressing a grown up, you are such a child, etc. Now focusing on social and ethnic terms, what is special in Spanish is that these two interpretations can be teased apart on the basis of the properties of the linguistic context in which the social and ethnic terms appear. Take (3) as a first illustration. 3 (3) a. Antonia es porter-a. Antonia is doorperson-FEM 'Antonia (female name) is a doorwoman.' b. Antonio es *(un-a) porter-a. Antonio is a-FEM doorperson-FEM 2 Consider, for instance, the following naturally-occurring examples: (i) a. But that's why I'm not a mod [moderator], I'm such a nazi when it comes to keep a forum straight. :oops: https://www.mechspecs.com/threads/ace-of-spades-every-mech.9238/ b. I cannot thank enough my nazi of a father who ONLY allowed us to have water with meals growing up. Now I love it and don't have an addiction to soda or juice. h...
