Barbarisms and foreign words
There are many borrowings in every language. Some of them are assimilated. We may distinguish four groups of such words: foreign words, barbarisms, exotic words and borrowings.
Foreign words are closed barbarisms but they are characterized by occasional usage mainly in literary speech. They are not expressive means of the given language, as they do not enter the system of oppositions of the language though they may be used to create some stylistic effect.
Barbarisms are borrowed words and expressions that have preserved their native spelling and pronunciation and have synonyms in the language-borrower (from French: “protege”, “bon mot”, “en route”). Stylistic function of barbarisms and foreign words is similar – they are used to show foreign origin of a speaker and they also create the effect of local colouring.
Exotic words are borrowed foreign words denoting objects characteristic of a certain country (“tiffin”, “bistro”, “matador”). They have no synonyms in the language borrower and they do not form lexico-stylistic paradigm and therefore are not expressive means of the language borrower but they may be used for some stylistic purposes.
Borrowings do not differ much from native words if they are assimilated as far as their stylistic aspect is concerned. They are usually high-flown synonyms of neutral native words (“commence”- to begin; “infant” – child).
Bookish (learned) words are used in official or high-flown style (“disapprove”, “paradigm”, “abide”). In official usage they are expressive means of the given style but when used colloquially they may create a comical effect.
Conversational words (low flown words). Here we refer colloquial words, general slang words (social and professional jargonisms), dialect words and vulgarisms. Some linguists differentiate slang and jargon but the difference being vague is irrelevant for stylistics.
LOW-FLOWN WORDS
literary colloquial familiar colloquial low-colloquial
All colloquial words may be divided into three sub-groups:
words which in colloquial speech change their phonetic form without changing their lexical and stylistic meaning;
words which in colloquial speech change both the form and the lexico-stylistic meaning;
Words which in colloquial speech change lexical and / or lexico-stylistic meaning without changing the form.
Let us analyze every sub-group.
In the first sub-group we may distinguish some varieties of word phonetic form changing:
clipping (shortening): aggro - aggrevation; combo - combination;
combination of word combinations: “s’long” = “so long”, “c’mon” = “come on”, “gimme” = “give me”;
contamination of grammatical forms: I don’t, he’s done it, I’d go.
The usage factors are: tempo of speech, economy of pronouncing efforts, situational context. These words have no lexico-stylistic paradigm.
In the second sub-group we may distinguish two different changes of lexico-stylistic meaning caused by the change of the form:
the change of the grammatical form which brings the change of lexico-stylistic meaning: “bags, heaps – very many”; “the antique” – a work of art of a past period; a piece of furniture;
the change of form of neutral or high-flown word according to different word-building patterns causes another lexical and stylistic meaning:
affixation: crammer < to cram; missy < Miss;
compounding: beatlemania; backroom;
conversion: to angel, to bag;
telescopy: motel, smog;
shortening and affixation: Ally-Pally = Alexander Palace;
compounding and affixation: brown-bagger, strap-hanger.
All these words have lexico-stylistic paradigm, they have synonyms among neutral and high-flown words.
The third sub-group is the most numerous. It is difficult to classify the words, as the relations of basic (denotative) and additional (connotative) information are complex. We may distinguish such cases here:
words having only emotional-expressive meaning: oh, gee, alas and word combinations having special expressive functions: good, great, heavens, good god, damn it;
words and word combinations having both connotative and denotative meanings but the connotative one prevails: “really”, “you don’t say so”;
words in which denotative and connotative meanings interplay. These words have synonyms (neutral or high-flown words): “beak” – a teacher. In these words connotative meaning brings emotional-expressive characteristics of low tone;
words whose denotative meaning is connected with connotative meaning in certain contextual situations: “to ache” – to have a steady dull pain, “beggar” – poor person;
words whose denotative and connotative meanings are different from connotative and denotative meanings of neutral and high-flown words. They are connected by origin: “bail” (legal) – sum of money demanded by a law court as security. E.g.: I’ll go for it” (coll.) = I am ready to vouch for it.
Slang is a layer of words of a highly colloquial character whose expressiveness makes them emphatic and emotive as compared to their neutral synonyms. We can distinguish two varieties of slang: general slang (interjargon) and special slang (social jargons, professional jargons). See I. R. Galperin ed. 1971, pp. 96 – 113.
Low-flown words are widely used for stylistic purposes. There are four speech spheres in which they are used: everyday speech, newspaper language, poetry and fiction.
In newspaper language colloquial words and word-combinations and sometimes general slang words are used to give expressive evaluation of facts and events. In modern poetry words of all layers are widely used. Lyrical poetry presenting personal monologue allows the usage of non-poetic words to create the atmosphere of sincerity, confidence, etc. Slang words in fiction (in dialogue) are used to reflect the informal and emotive character of speech, to indicate social and speech peculiarities of characters.