English Rhymes with Cockney

Feet Legs Arms Hair Face Mouth

Plates of meat Scotch eggs Chalk farms Barnet fair Boat race North and South

Plates Scotches Chalk farms Barnet Boat race North and South

Dialects are now chiefly preserved in rural communities and in the speech of elderly people.

(2) Professionalisms

Professionalisms are words connected with the productive activities of people united by a common occupation or profession.

Professionalisms are understood only by a certain professional group.

e.g. to back – to iron

washer – washing machine (laundry professionalisms)

fancy starch – starching and ironing lacy linen.

(3) Jargonisms

Jargonisms are words and expressions created by various social groups and classes, a sort of secret code invented with special “agreed upon” meaning or distorted to look strange and not understandable for others.

e.g. splosh (money)

spec – speculations

to put on the spot – decide to get rid of

Jargonisms is a very unstable lexical category, they shift from one group of users to another.

(4) Slang words

Slang words are identified and distinguished by contrasting them to standard literary vocabulary. They are expressive, mostly ironical words serving to create fresh names to some things that are frequently used. For most part they sound somewhat vulgar, cynical and harsh, aiming to show the object of speech in the light of an off-hand contemptuous ridicule.

e.g. head – attic, brain ,pan, nut, upper storey;

drunk – boozy, cock-eyed, high.

Slang has often attracted the attention of many lexicographers. The best known English dictionaries of slang is compiled by E. Partridge. Slang has been widely discussed by linguists. After the slang word has been used in speech for a certain period of time, people get accustomed to it, and it ceases to produce that shocking effect for the sake of which it was originally coined. The most vital are then accepted into literary vocabulary.

e.g. chap, donkey, fun, odd, shabby, snob, trip.

(5) Vulgarisms / obscenities

Vulgarisms / obscenities, are coarse words that cause offence and belong to the lowest stylistic register,

e.g. English "four-letter words";

Ukr. жерти, придурок, недоносок.

Vulgarisms relate to dysphemisms that are offensive expressions used instead of neutral ones,

e.g. mug "face",

boneshaker "car".

(6) Taboos

Taboos are words which people may not use without causing offence, because they refer to acts, objects, or relationships which are widely felt to be embarrassing, distasteful, or harmful. Verbal taboos are usually related to sex, the supernatural, and death. Many of the words related to these topics have been stigmatized as bad language, foul language. They have been banned in polite conversation or writing and very often in print.

Evasive words or expressions used in place of verbal taboos are called euphemisms,

e.g. to pass away, to pass on "to die",

bathroom, restroom, "toilet".

Seminars: Outlines and Assignments

Seminar №1

What is Lexicology? A word as a fundamental unit of language

Outline