Taboo words represent a potent subset of natural language. It has been hypothesized that “tabooness” reflects an emergent property of negative valence and high physiological arousal of word referents. Many taboo words (eg. dick, shit) are indeed consistent with this claim. Nevertheless, American English is also rife with negatively valenced, highly arousing words the usage of which is not socially condemned (eg. cancer, abortion, welfare).

We evaluated prediction of tabooness of single words and novel taboo compound words from a combination of phonological, lexical, and semantic variables (eg. semantic category, word length).

For single words, physiological arousal and emotional valence strongly predicted tabooness with additional moderating contributions from form (phonology) and meaning (semantic category).

In Experiment 2, raters judged plausibility for combinations of common nouns with taboo words to form novel taboo compounds (eg. shitgibbon). A mixture of formal (eg. ratio of stop consonants, length) and semantic variables (eg. ± receptacle, ± profession) predicted the quality of novel taboo compounding. Together, these studies provide complementary evidence for interactions between word form and meaning and an algorithmic prediction of tabooness in American English.

[Profanity regression dataset (top 10: nigger · cocksucker · kike · fag · motherfucker · cunt · retard · spic · fuck · slut); Combo-words dataset (top 10: sack · trash · mouth · pig · rat · stick · rod · sauce · whale · bone); a list of all possible combinations of profanity+combo:

“nigger sack”
“cocksucker sack”
“kike sack”
“fag sack”
“motherfucker sack”
“cunt sack”
“retard sack”
“spic sack”
“fuck sack”
“slut sack”
“nigger trash”
“cocksucker trash”
“kike trash”
“fag trash”
“motherfucker trash”
“cunt trash”
“retard trash”
“spic trash”
“fuck trash”
“slut trash”
“nigger mouth”
“cocksucker mouth”
“kike mouth”
“fag mouth”
“motherfucker mouth”
“cunt mouth”
“retard mouth”
“spic mouth”
“fuck mouth”
“slut mouth”
“nigger pig”
“cocksucker pig”
“kike pig”
“fag pig”
“motherfucker pig”
“cunt pig”
“retard pig”
“spic pig”
“fuck pig”
“slut pig”
“nigger rat”
“cocksucker rat”
“kike rat”
“fag rat”
“motherfucker rat”
“cunt rat”
“retard rat”
“spic rat”
“fuck rat”
“slut rat”
“nigger stick”
“cocksucker stick”
“kike stick”
“fag stick”
“motherfucker stick”
“cunt stick”
“retard stick”
“spic stick”
“fuck stick”
“slut stick”
“nigger rod”
“cocksucker rod”
“kike rod”
“fag rod”
“motherfucker rod”
“cunt rod”
“retard rod”
“spic rod”
“fuck rod”
“slut rod”
“nigger sauce”
“cocksucker sauce”
“kike sauce”
“fag sauce”
“motherfucker sauce”
“cunt sauce”
“retard sauce”
“spic sauce”
“fuck sauce”
“slut sauce”
“nigger whale”
“cocksucker whale”
“kike whale”
“fag whale”
“motherfucker whale”
“cunt whale”
“retard whale”
“spic whale”
“fuck whale”
“slut whale”
“nigger bone”
“cocksucker bone”
“kike bone”
“fag bone”
“motherfucker bone”
“cunt bone”
“retard bone”
“spic bone”
“fuck bone”]