It is commonly believed that nigga has been reappropriated as a term of endearment. Perhaps this perception persists incorrectly because public conversations on this word are often dominated by nonlinguists. In contrast, linguists lack comparative studies of nigga’s historical and modern-day use. Addressing this misperception requires a multilayered approach, employed here. This study begins with a qualitative inquiry into the historical, linguistic, and social factors that have fueled the current perception of the nigger/nigga two-word dichotomy and of how nigga was used by blacks in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The second part is a quantitative study that examines the current apportionment of nigga by speaker race and gender, and linguistic context, as observed in computer-mediated conversations. Multivariate analysis reveals differences among black and white speakers, males and females, and in various linguistic contexts. Comparative analysis uncovers that many of nigga’s current meanings, referents, and uses have existed since at least the nineteenth century and that any changes to the meanings occurred gradually and not through abrupt reanalysis. This fnding lends no support to the reappropriation hypothesis. And crucially, the data show that the epitomized example of reappropriation, my nigga, does not function primarily as a genuine term of endearment but as a masculinizing marker of social identity.

中文翻译：

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nigga 是否已被重新用作爱的术语？

人们普遍认为，黑鬼已被重新用作爱称。也许这种看法错误地持续存在，因为关于这个词的公共对话通常由非语言学家主导。相比之下，语言学家缺乏对黑人历史和现代使用的比较研究。解决这种误解需要在这里采用多层方法。这项研究首先对历史、语言和社会因素进行了定性调查，这些因素助长了当前对黑鬼/黑鬼二分法的看法以及黑鬼在 19 世纪和 20 世纪初被黑人使用的方式。第二部分是一项定量研究，该研究检查了在计算机中介对话中观察到的当前按说话者种族和性别以及语言背景对黑人的分配。多变量分析揭示了黑人和白人说话者、男性和女性以及各种语言环境中的差异。比较分析发现，至少从 19 世纪以来，黑鬼的许多当前含义、指称和用途就已经存在，并且含义的任何变化都是逐渐发生的，而不是通过突然的重新分析。这一发现不支持再挪用假说。至关重要的是，数据表明，再挪用的典型例子，我的兄弟们，主要不是作为一个真正的爱称，而是作为社会认同的男性化标志。和用途至少从 19 世纪就已经存在，任何意义的变化都是逐渐发生的，而不是通过突然的重新分析。这一发现不支持再挪用假说。至关重要的是，数据表明，再挪用的典型例子，我的兄弟们，主要不是作为一个真正的爱称，而是作为社会认同的男性化标志。和用途至少从 19 世纪就已经存在，任何意义的变化都是逐渐发生的，而不是通过突然的重新分析。这一发现不支持再挪用假说。至关重要的是，数据表明，再挪用的典型例子，我的兄弟们，主要不是作为一个真正的爱称，而是作为社会认同的男性化标志。