Bartolo, Kay Frances (2008). ‘Bogan’: Polite or not? Cultural implications of a term in Australian slang. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication, 1(1), 7-20. PDF (open access)
Although changes in the usage of words in English are emerging through globalisation and travel, Australian slang has kept its strong ties to Australian culture. The main aim of this research was to look at the term ‘bogan’, whether it is used in a derogatory way in Australian English, and what effects culture can have on its use and acceptance. Research was conducted using a small corpus built of Australian slang and data taken from ethno‐pragmatic interviews with Australian‐born native speakers of English. It was concluded from the research that the term can be used both negatively, as a negative comment or impolite projection of a social identity onto a person who does not identify themselves within that classification by the older generation, and positively, as a sign of solidarity or a compliment amongst members of the same in‐group by the younger generation. The factors found to affect the result of the use of this term are the cultural stereotype that the user attaches to the meaning and the cultural understanding of the listener.
