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Determining the Benefits of Using Profanity in Expressing Emotions of Grade 12

Students in FCIC

Conference Paper · December 2017

DOI: 10.17758/URUAE

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10th International Conference on Arts, Social Sciences, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies (ASSHIS-17) Dec. 17-18, 2017 Manila (Philippines)

Determining the Benefits of Using Profanity in

Expressing Emotions of Grade 12 Students in
FCIC
Carla Carin Alarde, Rhea Antolihao, Kristian Bon Bagares, Paola Jade Calunsag, Dominic Libres,
Joyce Lene Molina, and Catherine Villamor

 angry, upset, excited, surprised or aroused and it also convey the

Abstract—A person who uses profane words no matter the intensity of that state (Bergen, 2016).
intention will be given a negative image. This research though was not The researchers of this study intend to know what are the
carried out to shed light on this matter but to investigate on the benefits common influences of Grade 12 Senior high school students
to the users and whether they've been influenced by their own kin or in
the community to engage in such mannerism, and if it truly tolerates that makes them use profane words and to determine which
pain. This descriptive analytical study was conducted among Grade 12 gender practices more profanity. In addition, we would like to
students in FCIC, comprised of 15 female and 15 male students. Data also distinguish the benefits of the said mannerism to the
were collected with the use of a validated questionnaire. The study emotional and social stability of the students. Based on shallow
found that profanity benefits its user in expressing emotions, tolerating perception, the researchers were able to come up with two ideas
with pain and communicating the emotional responses effectively.
concerning this phenomenon: (1) that the common influences of
Most common influences found were peers/friends and social media.
Both genders were found to use profanity equally in verbal or this mannerism can be found at home and in the community and
non-verbal. However, females uses profanity privately more than (2) that those who practice profanity are less likely to become
males. These findings suggest that there is more to profanity that it depressed stating the hypothesis that through swearing it can
gives benefits to the user and that we should free ourselves from relieve pain. However, these hypotheses are yet to be proven
stereotypes. correct.
This research aimed to determine: (1) the two most factors
Keywords—Profanity, Negative Image, stereotypes, emotional,
that influence the practice of profanity by the students, (2) the
social.
top three beneficial effects of using profane words in regards to
I. INTRODUCTION the emotional and social well-being of the students; and (3)
which gender is most likely to practice this type of act
Profanity, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is ―an offensive This research study will also provide adequate information
word‖ or ―offensive language‖, strong language, coarse needed by the reader(s) concerning the influences and reasons
language, foul language, bad words, vulgar words, cursing, that are behind this mannerism. As well as, to heightened the
cussing and the likes. This language is considered to be consciousness on the benefit of using profane words in
impolite, rude or offensive. expressing emotions towards the Grade 12 Senior High students
The term ―profane‖ originates from classical Latin in FCIC. Moreover, to make a contribution to the emotional and
―profanus‖ literally ―before (outside) the temple‖. It carried the social discussion on the said study.
meaning of either insulting what is holy or treating something This study was conducted in the Grade 12 Senior high school
with an irreligious purpose as early as 1450s CE. Profanity department of the Franciscan College of the Immaculate
presented irreligious indifference to religion or religious Conception. The population of this study included 5 students
figures, while blasphemy was a more offensive attack, and a per strand. Thus, there were 30 respondents to be interviewed.
direct violation to the Ten Commandments, many Bible verse
speak against swearing. II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Like any powerful tool, profanity words can be used for
constructive or destructive purposes. The utterance of a single A. Functions of Swearing
profane word can convey the state of a person whether they are Catharsis or expressing negative emotions may lead to
lessened tension and refrain a person from putting up a fight or
Manuscript received October 25, 2017. This research paper is in partial
being aggressive according to Rassin & Muris (2005). From the
fulfillment of the requirements in Practical Research 2 presented to the Faculty
of Basic Education- Senior High School Department (SHS) of Franciscan research of Jay et al (2009), students have experienced a feeling
College of the Immaculate Conception in Baybay City, Leyte Philippines of stress relief after swearing excessively. According to
Carla Carin Alarde, Rhea Antolihao, Kristian Bon Bagares, Paola Jade Montagu (1967), swearing out of annoyance and frustration is
Calunsag, and, Joyce Lene Molina are SHS Science, Technology, Engineering more likely to occur when an individual feels extremely stressed
and Mathematics Strand Students.
Catherine Villamor is a JHS English Teacher and Research Adviser. (Baruch & Jenkins, 2007).
Dominic Libres is a Senior High Sschool Research Teacher.

https://doi.org/10.17758/URUAE.UH1217424 80
10th International Conference on Arts, Social Sciences, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies (ASSHIS-17) Dec. 17-18, 2017 Manila (Philippines)

When a person feels extremely stressed and frustrated, he can B. Research Design
avoid physical aggression by swearing and by avoiding physical This study is in a form of descriptive research design because
aggression, he can also avoid consequences brought by it. our study is concerned with investigating the cause of why
Stephens, Atkins, and Kingston (2009) found out that the students practice profanity. Also it deals with measuring and
students can tolerate more pain using swear words than using describing the factors that cause this phenomena as well as the
neutral words. benefits of profanity in terms of emotional and social stability.
B. Approaches To (Im)Politeness C. Research Instrument
Most people who are engage in this behavior are often get The questionnaire used by the researchers in gathering
into trouble, because sometimes it‘s not just the words itself adequate information in regards to answering the objectives of
utter by the speaker is the issue but the way the hearers perceive this study was adapted from the paper entitled ―The
the word. The pressure and threats the utterance carries to the Relationship between Profanity and Honesty‖ by (Feldman,
hearer. (Bousfield, 2010). n.d.).
Based on what Culpeper and Brown said, we cannot control
each other‘s actions towards each other and we cannot predict D. Research Procedure
each other‘s intentions but as interlocutors and interactants we First, the researchers gathered the data by approaching and
must always work on respecting each other‘s‘ mindsets, asking permission from the Grade 12 students who practice
viewpoints and having only polite intentions to pursue better profanity. Next, the researchers gave the adapted questionnaire
understanding and to pursue a better way of approaching with to the respondents and let them answer it. After testing the
politeness. questionnaire, the data was gathered and had undergone data
TABLE I: analysis.
FREQUENCY OF USING PROFANITY BY GRADE 12 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS IN FCIC E. Data Analysis
Gender Verbal Non-Verbal In Secret The data was analyzed by the researchers through the use of
Male 6.67% 20% 13.33% tables to clearly understand the data gathered. Simple statistical
Female 6.67% 20% 26.67% tool such as percentages was used when interpreting the data
C. Effect of Profanity in Social Conditions from the tables. The percent rate is equal to the amount of
respondents over the total population.
If an excessive swearer is in a culture wherein swearing is
prohibited, this will lead to the Johnson and Lewis' TABLE II:
‗expectancy-violations explanation,‘ in which the individuals FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE GRADE 12 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN
USING PROFANITY
who swear are perceived negatively. Thus, swearing negatively
affect that person‘s social status and how other people look up Parents Peers Relatives Neighbors Social Media
to him as a person. And by nature, we strived to be accepted that 6.67% 96.67% 13.33% 33.33% 43.33%
is why we try our best to prohibit ourselves from swearing.
D. Gender Usage of Profanity
According to Jay et al., (2006), men swear more than women
and men learn swear words earlier than women (Johnson &
Lewis, 2010). Thus, men know more swear words and use more
swear words (Jay, 2000). According to Johnson & Lewis IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
(2010), women are reported to swear less than men and consider In this chapter, the discussion and interpretation of the data
using swear words on newspapers or in televisions as less gathered is presented.
appropriate. After the conduct of the adapted questionnaire, data were
gathered obtaining and showing the following results.
III. METHODOLOGY Table I shows the frequency of using profanity by Grade 12
Senior High School students. According to Jay et al., (2006),
This part discusses about the participants, research design,
men swear more than women and men learn swear words earlier
instruments and research procedure.
than women but this research doesn't coincide with this
A. Research Participants conclusion because in terms of using profanity verbally, 6.67%
This study, ―Determining the Benefits of Using Profanity in of the 2 genders uses profanity too often.
Expressing Emotions of Grade 12 Students in In using profanity non-verbally, 20% of both male and female
FCIC‖ was conducted in Franciscan College of the uses profanity too often and in using profanity secretly, only
Immaculate Conception Inc., Grade 12 Senior High School 13.33% of the males use it too often and for the females, 26.67%
department. The population of this study included Grade 12 of them uses profanity too often surprisingly, which leads to the
students. There were 5 respondents per strand— a total of 30 contradiction of what Johnson and Lewis said that women are
respondents. reported to swear less than men. This suggests that stereotyping
between men and women should be avoided because as what the
result has shown, women are found to be using profanity more

https://doi.org/10.17758/URUAE.UH1217424 81
10th International Conference on Arts, Social Sciences, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies (ASSHIS-17) Dec. 17-18, 2017 Manila (Philippines)

than men and gender should not be used as a basis to validate wrong. In terms of using profane words verbally and
someone to use profanity. non-verbally, men and women stands the same. But when in
Table II shows the factors that influences a person to use secret, the women are more likely to use profane words. Lastly,
profanity. It is believed that a child solely acquire his behavior the common factors that people may think of in terms of
and attitude because it is in home where a child learns his firsts influences that cause this mannerism are the friends/peers but
but according to our research, only 6.67% of the students said the results say that the exposure of Social Media had also greatly
that parents were the ones who influenced them. Ironically, affected the spread of using profane words next to friends/peers.
96.67% of them said peers/friends where majority of a child's
B. Recommendation
time is being spent with, 13.33% of them said relatives. This
includes his/her cousins that could also influence a child to The researchers recommend the following:
adopt the mannerism. 33.33% of them said neighbors where a  People who uses profanity should never be judged right
child is prone to be influenced by the attitude of the people away because we never know the reasons how they were able
around him and 43.33% of them pointed out that social media, to adapt this mannerism.
which most of all the people are being exposed upon.  There is a need to break the stereotype. It doesn't mean that
Table III reveals the top 3 benefits of using profanity: (1) if a person is a male, then he is qualified to curse or use bad
Profanity allows us to express anger, disgust or pain, or indicate words and just because a person is a female, then she can‘t use
to someone that they need to back off without having to resort to profanity because it violates the feminine code.
physical violence.  Another study that will focus more on the disadvantages or
non-beneficial effects of using profanity with regards to the
TABLE III: emotional and social status of young people.
BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF PROFANITY TO GRADE 12 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS IN FCIC
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Benefits Mean Ranking
Profanity allows us to express anger, First and foremost, we would like to express our gratitude to
disgust or pain, or indicate to someone our Almighty God who give us all the energy, knowledge, time,
2.97 1st
that they need to back off without having safety and guidance needed for carrying out of our research. The
to resort to physical violence. success of this research only lies in Your Mighty hands and
Profanity helps us to communicate power, Lord. This is all for You.
effectively in stating our emotional 2.47 3rd To Mr. Dominic Libres who was always there for us, guiding
response to something.
us all the way in creating this research paper.
Swearing can increase tolerance to pain. 2.57 2nd
To our Research Adviser, Ms. Catherine Villamor for
According to Rassin & Muris (2005), this effect is said to be allotting her time in reviewing the errors made in our manuscript
one of the top reason why most people swear. sAs a human and for giving us corrections that made this research paper
being, it is our nature to find an outlet to at least vent our possible.
negative emotions that can also prevent us from resorting to Credits also to Ms. Leandra Margrett Paderes, where we got
physical violence and using profanity is the most convenient the inspiration of having profanity as our topic.
way to opt to. (2) Swearing can increase tolerance to pain. This To Mr. Elpedio Vesera for serving as our pillar of knowledge
coincides with what Stephens, Atkins, and Kingston (2009) because through him, we were introduced about research.
conclusion that the students can tolerate more pain using swear To our parents, who were very supportive financially, morally
words than using neutral words. A person using profanity may and academically.
experience personal problems and he finds profanity to be a And to our respondents who are very considerate in
machine that can increase pain tolerance or at least minimize the dedicating their small amount of time in answering our given
impact of the pain towards the user, and (3) Profanity helps us questionnaires and contributed greatly in completing this
to communicate effectively in stating our emotional response to research.
something. This helps in enabling the speaker to impart his
thoughts or response towards something and in order also for REFERENCES
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