9. Slang and Jargon.

Used intentionally and realized as wrong. Often are humorous replaces of neutral w-s. The psychological reason for their appearance in language is our striving for novelty of expression (esp. younger generation)

Slang (general jargon)- known to all people and widely used by all members of the language community.

Ex: to go bananas

Jargon (special slang)- lexical units typical of representatives of certain social and professional groups (doctors, students, musicians)

+Drug-users, robbers, thief

Ex: to pull a leather= to steal a purse

Many jargon w-s come to be used outside the prof. sphere, thus becoming slang.

Ex: exam, maths- appeared as jargons, now- slang.

“women-as-animals” metaphors (fox, chick).

Jargon.

Appeared as a result of defiance of behavior.

Can be subdivided into 2 groups:

• professionalisms. Non-terminological substitutes for prof. terms

(machine gun is replaced by sewing machine bec. of similarity of noise;

gomer=get out of my emergency room; GOK=God Only Knows,

killed an action- put in a bag).

• Official (social) terms. Used to denote non- profess. thing relevant for representatives of a social group with common interests (music fans, drug-addicts…)

(drug-out= a retired soldier returned to active service

Big gun=an important person)

Very close to jargon is cant.

Cant is a secret lingo of the underworld of criminals. Appeared in order to make speech incomprehensible to outsiders.

Slang.

As soon as a slang w. comes to be widely used it stops being felt as wrong. It may pass into the colloq. sphere and later even become neutral.

Ex: photo, phone, flu, mob, movies, exam, joker- colloq. neutral.

taxi, bus, pub, kidnap, skyscraper– neutral.

Novelty is quickly lost due to popularity (constant change in slang). It is very rich in synonyms.

40 slang words to denote money (monkey - five hundred pounds, bread (bread and honey) – money, jack, tin, slippery stuff) and food (chuck, chow, grub, hash)

Such words are v. colorful and expressive.

(mag-magazine, rad-radio, to raise hell- to become very angry, to ig- to ignore, megga-very much (mega backs), a studying machine.)

Various tropes participate in slang formation:

• metaphor (the upper storey =head)

• metonymy (skirt= girl)

• hyperbole (killing= astonishing)

• understatement ( whistle= flute, some= так себе)

• irony (bad= good)

Sources of slangs:

• graphic metaphor

yours truly= I,

• distortions of standart words

cripes! (Christ!)

• acronym ( abbreviations)

prof (professor), congrats (congratulations), desres (desirable residence), SRO (standing room only)= jeans with low waist.

10. Vulgar words.

Stylistically lowest group of words which are too offensive for polite usage.

Lexical vulgarisms express considered unmentionable in civilized society. Their very denotation is vulgar. + the so-called “4-letter-words” (damn, shit, hell)

Stylistic vulgarisms denote nothing indecent. There is nothing improper about their reference. But their st-c connotations express strong derogatory attitude. Some scholars: they are low slang, affected colloq. speech. (ex: old bean= old man, smeller= nose)

V.w-s help to express emotions, emotive and expressive assessment of the object spoken about, perform the function of characterization.