ABSTRACT

“Concept creep” is the gradual semantic expansion of harm-related concepts such as bullying, mental disorder, prejudice, and trauma. This review presents a synopsis of relevant theoretical advances and empirical research findings on the phenomenon. It addresses three fundamental questions. First, it clarifies the characterisation of concept creep by refining its theoretical and historical dimensions and presenting studies investigating the change in harm-related concepts using computational linguistics. Second, it examines factors that have caused concept creep, including cultural shifts in sensitivity to harm, societal changes in the prevalence of harm, and intentional meaning changes engineered for political ends. Third, the paper develops an account of the consequences of concept creep, including social conflict, political polarisation, speech restrictions, victim identities, and progressive social change. This extended analysis of concept creep helps to understand its mixed implications and sets a multi-pronged agenda for future research on the topic.

摘要

“概念蠕变”是与伤害相关的概念（如欺凌，精神错乱，偏见和创伤）的逐步语义扩展。这篇综述介绍了有关这一现象的相关理论进展和实证研究结果。它解决了三个基本问题。首先，通过完善概念蠕变的理论和历史维度，并提出使用计算语言学研究与伤害相关的概念变化的研究，来阐明概念蠕变的特征。其次，它研究了导致概念蔓延的因素，包括对伤害敏感性的文化转变，伤害流行的社会变化以及为政治目的而设计的故意意义变化。第三，本文阐述了概念蔓延的后果，包括社会冲突，政治两极化，言语限制，受害者身份和渐进式社会变革。对概念蠕变的这种扩展分析有助于理解其混杂的含义，并为将来对该主题的研究设定了多管齐下的议程。