Cultivarea limbii sau political correctness – cele două fețe ale postmodernității

Abstract

The ideas of Postmodernity spread through different areas: architecture, art, literature, the result being a serious impact upon the entire cultural realm; this lead to a change of paradigm. Arnold Toynbee talks about a new era in Western Europe’s history, “post-modern”. Furthermore, Adrian Dinu Rachieru refers to postmodernist sensibility, defined as a state of mind which refuses immobility, definitiveness and certainties. In this context of sensibility, a great attention to discourse and form took shape. Thus, the frame of political correctness came into the limelight, outcasting all structures or words considered offensive. Nonetheless, linguists show great interest in judging form from a grammatical point of view, offensive being every form considered outside the norm. In this context, we ask ourselves what are the remains and the outcomes of what postmodernist society calls „freedom of speech”?