Lecture 7 lexical systems (continued). Outline.

1. Stylistically marked and stylistically neutral vocabulary.

2. Slang and its characteristics.

3. Neologisms.

4. Archaisms.

I. Stylistically marked and stylistically neutral vocabulary.

All words are divided into stylistically neutral (basic vocabulary having no stylistic connotations) and stylistically marked.

Stylistically neutral words can be used in any styles and situations, everyday, everywhere and by everybody, regardless of profession, education, age group or geographical location. Their meanings are broad, general and direct. A lot of these words have synonyms, which are stylistically marked, e.g. child-infant-kid, continue – go on – proceed, begin – start- commence.

Stylistically marked words are limited in their use and include formal and informal vocabulary.

Formal vocabulary comprises:

1. official vocabulary used in documents, business transactions, diplomacy, etc. E.g. high contracting parties, hereinafternamed, etc.

2. learned words common to all fields of knowledge, e.g. synthesis, analysis, hypothesis, antithesis, etc.

3. words associated with professional communication, special terminology different for each branch of science or art, e.g. linguistic terms: inflection, euphemism, paradigm, phoneme, etc.

Informal words are traditionally divided into:

1. dialect words used within a certain territory, e.g. Cockney dialect;

2. colloquial words

3. slang.

Colloquial words serve for a comparatively wide sphere of communication. They are

further subdivided into:

1. literary colloquial words used in everyday conversational speech by both cultivated and uneducated people of all age groups. It is widely reflected in fiction, especially in modern writers’ works. E.g. to have a bite, to have a snack, a bit of, a lot of, to start, to finish, to give up, to make up, turn up, flu, pram, fridge, zip, etc.

2. familiar colloquial words. There is no strict border between literary colloquial and familiar colloquial words. Yet the circle of speakers using familiar colloquial words is more limited – the young and the semi-educated. E.g. doc, hi, ta-ta, to pick up somebody, shut up, etc.

Slang is controversial as to its definition, characteristics and classifications. It is usually

divided into general slang and special slang (e.g. teenager slang, university slang, football

slang, etc.)

2. Slang and its characteristics

Slang consists either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense. Most of slang words are current words whose meanings have been metaphorically shifted and it is often accompanied with a course, jocular, cynical colouring, e.g. saucers (eyes), trap (mouth).

Slang synonyms for ‘head’: attic, brain-pan, nut, hat-peg, upper storey.

Money: beans, brass, dough, etc.

People use slang for a number of reasons:

1. to sound picturesque, striking, different from others;

2. to sound modern, up-to-date;

3. to demonstrate independence;

4. to sound the same as all the rest in a group, to show that you ‘belong’ (especially important for teenagers).

After a slang word has been used in speech for a certain period of time, people get accustomed to it and the most vital words are then accepted into literary vocabulary. This happened to such words as snob, bet, bore, chap, donkey, fun, mob, pinch, teenager, hitch-hiker, etc. But the bulk of slang is formed by short-lived words.

Slang should be differentiated from argot (criminal jargon). Slang words are clearly motivated, e.g. window-shopping, cradle-snatcher. Argot words do not show their motivation, their purpose is to hide the real meaning, to be comprehensible by a limited number of people.