Pejorative language, such as slurs and name-calling, has varying social implications depending on the context of use. One and the same expression can seriously denigrate an individual in one context, while signaling a sense of camaraderie in another. This article offers an account of the duality of pejorative language, according to which pejorative language use virtually “downgrades” or “ranks low” individuals who are supposed to have equal social standing. Section 2 introduces a standard analysis of gradable adjectives, which are often used in name-calling. The standard analysis allows comparisons among individuals by assigning values to them. Since people are hierarchically ordered via linguistic value assignments, resulting orders or rankings can be considered virtual products. Section 3 introduces the concept of ranks as proposed by Jeremey Waldron（2012）. According to Waldron, every individual has equal social standing and is not inherently superior or inferior to others. Everyone is on the highest rank, which guarantees protection from abuse. Sometimes, however, people disregard the equal standing of others, and by blatantly abusing them, they indicate that some people are not worthy of equal respect, i.e., they are “downgraded” or “ranked low.” Section 4 explains how a use of a pejorative expression sometimes but not always downgrades individuals. In some contexts, people verbally abuse others by using pejorative expressions including gradable adjectives. A use of a pejorative expression, if nothing intervenes, updates the common ground of a conversation in such a way that the targeted individual is unworthy of equal respect. As long as this piece of information is retained in the common ground, the use effectively manages to “downgrade” or “rank low” the targeted individual. In other contexts, a use of a pejorative expression fails to “downgrade” an individual because there is a gap between merely updating a common ground and really treating others as lower-ranked individuals.
