English Capstone Proposal

To: Dr. Amy Rupiper-taggart

From: Matthew Vaughn
Subject: Project Proposal
Date: 8 March 2014
Proposal
One 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. Its 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 Ive 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 Fuck
o Damn
o 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

Objectives
A 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 Ill be
able to get a perspective of my own biases about language that can be hard to see
when youve 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

Methods
As 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. Ill 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 29
th
, 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. 17
Progress
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.
POSSIBLE
DUE
DATE

ORAL
PRES
POSSIBLE
DUE
DATE

ORAL
PRES