Dissecting the Word: The Use of the Lexeme Shit in Selected Performances of Comedian Dave Chappelle’s Stand-Up Routine

The paper explores the use of the lexeme shit in the corpus of Dave Chappelle’s stand-up specials released between 2000 and 2019. It consists of two parts: theoretical and analytical. The first one presents theoretical and pragmatic considerations connected with stand-up routines, touches upon slang semantics, and depicts the links between Dave Chappelle’s stage persona and the hip hop community. Lastly, it presents the reader with the past and present-day status of the lexeme at issue. In the analytical section of the paper the use of shit in the aforesaid corpus is scrutinized from the semantic angle. The discussion is supplemented with the results culled from the corpus of rap lyrics compiled at the Faculty of English at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The paper argues that (i) shit has lost its taboo status and is mainly used in both corpora as a less formal equivalent of stuff, anything and something and (ii) Chappelle’s stage use of shit, even though present in a different context and serving context-specific purposes, corresponds to the use of African American rappers in their song lyrics (assuming that rap lyrics depict African American English, this conclusion can be extended to the sociolect of African Americans).

Usage and processing of the French causal connectives ‘car’ and ‘parce que’

ABSTRACTThe difference between ‘car’ and ‘parce que’ is often explained in the literature by the type of causal relation (objective or subjective) that each connective prototypically conveys. Recent corpus studies have demonstrated, however, that this distinction does not hold in speech, and is fluctuating in writing. In this article, we present new empirical data to assess the status of this pair of connectives. In Experiment 1, we test French-speakers’ intuitions about ‘car’ and ‘parce que’ in a completion task, and compare these results with those of a similar experiment in Dutch. In Experiment 2, we measure the processing of objective and subjective causal relations containing ‘car’ and ‘parce que’ in an online reading experiment. Experiments 1 and 2 lead us to conclude that ‘car’ has to a large extent lost its specific procedural meaning. In the literature, the difference between ‘car’ and ‘parce que’ is also linked to a difference of register, ‘car’ being perceived as a formal equivalent of ‘parce que’. We assess the strength of this distinction in Experiment 3, by means of a completion task involving sentences from different registers. Results confirm the effect of register as a distinguishing factor between ‘car’ and ‘parce que’.

Toward a reverse hierarchy of halogen bonding between bromine and iodine

We compare here the halogen bond characteristics of bimolecular adducts involving either N-bromo- or N-iodosaccharin as strong halogen bond donors, with 4-picoline as a common XB acceptor. In the NBSac·Pic system, the bromine atom of NBSac is displaced toward the picoline, almost at a median position between the two nitrogen atoms, NSac and N′Pic, with NSac⋯Br and Br⋯N′Pic distances at 2.073(6) and 2.098(6) Å respectively. This extreme situation contrasts with the analogous iodine derivative, NISac·Pic, where the NSac–I and I⋯N′Pic distances amount to 2.223(4) and 2.301(4) Å respectively. Periodic DFT calculations, and molecular calculations of adducts (PBEPBE-D2 aug-cc-pVTZ) either at the experimental frozen geometry or with optimization of the halogen position, indicate a more important degree of covalency (i.e. shared-shell character) in the adduct formed with the bromine atom. A stronger charge transfer to the picoline is also found for the bromine (+0.27 |e|) than for the iodine (+0.18 |e|) system. This inversion of halogen bond strength between I and Br finds its origin in the strong covalent character of the interaction in these adducts, in line with the strength of covalent N–Br and N–I bonds. Detailed characterization of the critical points (CPs) of the L(r) = −∇2ρ(r) function along bonding directions has permitted the adducts to be distinguished and they can be respectively described as “neutral” NISac/Pic and “intermediate” NSac/Br/Pic, the latter with Br being close to formal equivalent NSac⋯Br and Br⋯N′Pic interactions but still more associated to the XB donor than to the picoline, as indicated by the topological and energetic properties of the ρ(r) function at the bond critical points (BCPs).

The metapragmatics of and everything in Persian

This article tries to investigate the metapragmatic functions of and everything in Persian within the formulaic construction and everything, but. The focus of attention will be, following Bublitz and Hübler (2007), the pragmatics of this meta-utterance when it is actually performed as a means of commenting on and interfering with current discourse. In this way, it will be argued that although this construction, like its equivalent in English, does have a fixed underlying structure according to which it functions, it allows, unlike its English equivalent, for the construction of other surface structures fulfilling the same metapragmatic role. Here surface constructions are brought about by the use of Persian's different synonyms for the English but. Moreover, it will also be argued that Persian does not seem to have a formal equivalent to the English and whatnot.

Synthesis of 5-substituted pyrrole-2-carboxaldehydes. Part I. Generation of formal 5-lithiopyrrole-2-carboxaldehyde equivalents by bromine–lithium exchange of 2-bromo-6-(diisopropylamino)-1-azafulvene derivatives

The first known lithiated 1-azafulvene derivatives, e.g., 8 and 13a, were generated by a low-temperature bromine–lithium exchange procedure with tert-butyllithium. These lithio species show substantial stability at ≤ −90 °C because, at these temperatures, the sterically demanding 6-diisopropylamino moiety, unlike the dimethylamino group, completely inhibits nucleophilic addition to C-6. At higher temperatures, the addition of tert-butyllithium to C-6 is significant and it can become the dominant process. The lithio species 8 is a useful formal equivalent of 5-lithiopyrrole-2-carboxaldehyde since, on reaction with electrophilic reagents and subsequent hydrolysis, a wide variety of regiochemically pure 5-substituted pyrrole-2-carboxaldehydes is formed. The 6-dialkylamino-1-azafulvenes described herein exist predominantly or exclusively as the syn conformer in solution at room temperature. This conformational preference is confirmed by a significance NOE effect between H-4 and H-6 in the parent diisopropylamino compound 3f. The origin of the syn conformational preference stems from a substantial contribution of the charge-separated form 16 to the ground state structure of these compounds, a phenomenon that is strongly supported by variable temperature NMR measurements on 2-bromo-6-diisopropylamino-1-azafulvene (3c). Keywords: 2-bromo-6-diisopropylamino-1-azafulvenes, stereochemistry, lithiation, pyrrole-2-carboxaldehydes.