Expletive infixation is a process by which anexpletive orprofanity is inserted into a word, usually for intensification. It is similar totmesis, but not all instances are covered by the usual definition oftmesis because the words are not necessarilycompounds.[1]
The most commonly inserted English expletives are adjectival: either participles (fucking,mother-fucking,freaking,blooming,bleeding,damned,wretched) or adjectives (bloody).
Judgments of which formations of expletive infixation are acceptable are remarkably consistent.[2] This suggests that the rules for the placement of the expletive are not arbitrary, but instead derive from fundamental aspects ofEnglish phonology.[further explanation needed]
A simple rule is that the insertion occurs at asyllable boundary, usually just before the primarystressed syllable.[1] Thus, one hearsabso-fuckin'-lutely rather than *ab-fuckin'-solutely. This rule is insufficient to describe examples such asun-fuckin'-believable, however, so that some modifications to this rule are proposed, such asmorpheme boundaries taking precedence over stress. Counterexamples to this exception do exist:unbe-fuckin'-lievable.[3][better source needed]
A more fundamental theory due toJohn McCarthy is based onprosody.[2] Its basic principle is that "the metrical stress tree of the host is minimally restructured to accommodate the stress tree of the infix". For example, althoughunbelievable andirresponsible have identical stress patterns and the first syllable of each is a separate morpheme, the preferred insertion points are different:un-fuckin'-believable, butirre-fuckin'-sponsible. McCarthy explains this by saying they have different prosodic structures: un(be((lieva)ble)) but (irre)((sponsi)ble). The infix cannot fall between the syllablesir andre because they form a singleprosodic foot.
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