An Explanation of the Semantics of Slurs: The Loaded Descriptivist View
According to Kent Bach, Loaded Descriptivism posits that the meaning of slurs that target specific groups have two components: (1) they categorize the individual into the respective group that the indivdual belongs to, and (2) therefore, in virtue of belonging to the group, the individual is contemptible in some type of way.
Take the slur, ’chink,’ for example, a derogatory term to refer to Asian people. Under Loaded Descriptivism, chink means ’An individual X is Asian, and therefore, X is contemptible (or vile, or subhuman, etc).’
Note that Loaded Descriptivism does not aim to explain what makes a slur offensive and/or why. Simply put, it aims to semantically explain how a slur functions, i.e. how a slur works not only to say that an individual is of a certain group, but also by virtue of being an individual who belongs in the group is thus contemptible. Proponents of the view say that slurs must have that extra descriptive element, namely (2) from the beginning. Without (2), the term chink would just be another term for, or operate as just another word for, ’Asian.’ Thus, there must be something to the term chink that makes it a non-neutral, loaded word, for its slurring use does, in fact, elicit offense.
A good objection to Loaded Descriptivism is that under the view, it is difficult to directly deny the supposed contemptibility of an individual without also denying that the individual belongs to the certain group that the slur picks out. When someone denies the truth of a sentence containing a slur, he/she is naturally taken to deny that the target of the slur is a member of the group (Component 1). Suppose I say, ’Ted Nugent is a chink,’ and someone replies, ’That’s not true.’ What they are naturally taken to mean by their denial is that ‘Ted Nugent is not Asian.’
However, suppose I say, ’Jackie Chan is a chink,’ and someone replies, ’That’s not true.’ Under the view, the reply implies that ‘Jackie Chan is not Asian.’ This is obviously wrong because of the fact that Jackie Chan is Asian. The responder in this case seeks to deny only that Jackie Chan is contemptible, but does not intend to deny that Jackie Chan is Asian. Yet, Loaded Descriptivism does not allow the responder to do this, or at least makes it difficult for the responder to do so. Remember that under the view, chink means ’X is Asian, and thus Contemptible.’ Thus, under Loaded Descriptivism, to deny that ‘Jackie Chan is a chink’ is to deny both, but it is false that Jackie Chan is not Asian.
Bach admits that Loaded Descriptivism has no response to the objection, but that at least it can explain why the objection is a qualified. The user of the slur presupposes the supposed contemptibility of the target of the slur.
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Source(s) - Kent Bach, “Loaded Words”