Euphemistic and dysphemistic language in Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy

Abstract

The popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy is beyond doubt. This great impact has also been reflected on academic literature dealing with the novel from different perspectives. However, while there is substantial research on the novels, little attention has been paid to the author’s usage of language. Bearing in mind that erotic stories are a common euphemistic and dysphemistic ground, the aim of this paper is to explore euphemism, dysphemism and x-phemism (quasieuphemism and quasidysphemism) in a corpus which consists of the three books of the mentioned trilogy so as to observe if the use of these devices depends on sexes and how these phenomena merge with metaphorical or metonymical devices to avoid a possible loss of face or highlight a taboo. The conclusions will show that the male and female main characters in the novels use language differently and employ these verbal devices with several intentions.