Gros mots et petits mots dans une perspective prototypique Les sacres et leurs substituts euphémisés en français québécois

Blasphemous and other swear words have been the subject of many substantial studies, most often synchronic but also in a number of cases diachronic. In this context, the question of their euphemized forms has also been broadly documented (par exemple tabarnouche, tabarouette, ostifie, etc.). However, the problem of precisely identifying the status of a given unit taken individually has at times led to a somewhat muddled presentation of the sacres themselves. This article therefore proposes a re-examination of the problem of these blasphemous swear words and their lighter substitutes in view of reaching the following four objectives, which no research study yet appears to have addressed as such:
(1) to identify the words intuitively perceived, synchronically, as the best examples of the Quebec sacre;
(2) to determine whether these words all have the same status with respect to the abstract prototype;
(3) to establish whether the euphemized forms of these blasphemous swearwords are used systematically in the same linguistic contexts as prototypical sacres, based on an examination of three such words (cf. crime, cristie and tabarouette);
(4) to approach the problem of the lexicographical treatment of sacres and their euphemized forms. To do so, the article will present a sketch of two dictionary superarticles: first, for a prototypical sacre (cf. crisse), and second, for one of its replacement forms (cf. crime), both of which may be referred to in the descriptions of other sacres or their substitutes.