5. Special colloquial vocabulary

The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1. common colloquial words; 2. slang; 3. jargonisms; 4. professional words; 5. dialectal words; 6. vulgar words; 7. colloquial coinages.

Colloquial words mark the message as informal, non-official, conversational. Apart from general colloquial words, widely used by all speakers of the language in their everyday communication (e. g. "dad", "kid", "crony", "fan", "to pop", "folks").

a) Slang

There is hardly any other term that is as ambiguous and obscure as the term slang. Slang seems to mean everything that is below the standard of, usage of present-day English.

Slang [origin unknown] - language peculiar to a particular group: as a: the special and often secret vocabulary used by a class (as thieves, beggars) and usu. felt to be vulgar or inferior: argot; b: the jargon used by or associated with a particular trade, profession, or field of activity; 2: a non-standard vocabulary composed of words and senses characterized primarily by connotations of extreme informality and usu. a currency not limited to a particular region and composed typically of coinages or arbitrarily changed words, clipped or shortened forms, extravagant, forced or facetious figures of speech, or verbal novelties usu. experiencing quick popularity and relatively rapid decline into disuse.

- words or expressions that are very informal and are not considered suitable for more formal situations. Some slang is used only by a particular group of people (Macmillan).

Slang words, used by most speakers in very informal communication, are highly emotive and expressive and as such, lose their originality rather fast and are replaced by newer formations.

b) Jargonisms

Jargonism is a recognized term for a group of words that exists in almost every language and whose aim is to preserve secrecy within one or another social group. Jargonisms are generally old words with entirely new meanings imposed on them. Most of the jargonisms of any language, and of the English language too, are absolutely incomprehensible to those outside the social group which has invented them. They may be defined as a code within a code, that is special meanings of words that are imposed on the recognized code—the dictionary meaning of the words.

Thus the word grease means 'money'; loaf means 'head'; a tiger hunter is 'a gambler'; a lexer is 'a student preparing for a law course'.

Jargonisms are social in character. They are not regional. In Britain and in the US almost any social group of people has its own jargon. The following jargons are well known in the English language: the jargon of thieves and vagabonds, generally known as cant; the jargon of jazz people; the jargon of the army, known as military slang; the jargon of sportsmen, and many others.

Jargonisms, like slang and other groups of the non-literary layer, do not always remain on the outskirts of the literary language. Many words have overcome the resistance of the language lawgivers and purists and entered the standard vocabulary. Thus the words kid, fun, queer, bluff, fib, humbug, formerly slang words or jargonisms, are now considered common colloquial. They may be said to be dejargonized.

c) Professionalisms

Professionalisms are the words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connected by common interests both at work and at home. Professionalisms are correlated to terms. Terms, as has already been indicated, are coined to nominate new concepts that appear in the process of, and as a result of, technical progress and the development of science. In distinction from slang, jargonisms and professionalisms cover a narrow semantic field, for example connected with the technical side of some profession.

Professional words name anew already-existing concepts, tools or instruments, and have the typical properties of a special code. The main feature of a professionalism is its technicality. Professionalisms are special words in the non-literary layer of the English vocabulary, whereas terms are a specialized group belonging to the literary layer of words. Professionalisms are not known to simple people.

d) Dialectal words

Dialectal words are those which in the process of integration of the English national language remained beyond its literary boundaries, and their use is generally confined to a definite locality. We exclude here what are called social dialects or even the still looser application of the term as in expressions like poetical dialect or styles as dialects.

Dialectal words are normative and devoid of any stylistic meaning in regional dialects, but used outside of them, carry a strong flavour of the locality where they belong. DW has application limited to a certain group of people or to certain communicative situations.

e) Vulgar words or vulgarisms

Vulgarisms are:

1) expletives and swear words which are of an abusive character, like 'damn', 'bloody', 'to hell', 'goddam' and, as some dictionaries state, used now, as general exclamations;

2) obscene words. These are known as four-letter words the use of which is banned in any form of intercourse as being indecent.

The function of expletives is almost the same as that of interjections, that is to express strong emotions, mainly annoyance, anger, vexation and the like. They are not to be found in any functional style of language except emotive prose, and here only in the direct speech of the characters.

f) Colloquial coinages (words and meanings)

Colloquial coinages (nonce-words), unlike those of a literary-bookish character, are spontaneous and elusive. Not all of the colloquial nonce-words are fixed in dictionaries or even in writing and therefore most of them disappear from the language leaving no trace in it.

Unlike literary-bookish coinages, nonce-words of a colloquial nature are not usually built by means of affixes but are based on certain semantic changes in words that are almost imperceptible to the linguistic observer until the word finds its way into print.

SPECIAL COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY

• slang

• jargonisms

• professionalisms

• dialectal words

• vulgarisms

• colloquial coinages

1. Slang is the most ambiguous term used to mean everything that is below the standard preset-day English. It is used both as a special vocabulary and a special language. Dictionaries mark as slang words and phrases that cannot be specified more exactly. A new coinage that has been not gained recognition and has not yet been registered into Standard English is labeled slang. The same can be said about an arbitrary or metaphorical sense of any word or expression. Very often nonce-formations or jocular words are referred to as slang, e.g. to take stock in – to be interested in; rot – nonsense; the cat’s pyjamas – the correct thing.

There are many kinds of slang, e.g. Cockney, public-house, commercial, society, military, theatrical, parliamentary, etc.

What is more or less clear about slang is its reference to informal language. It is lively in character, highly metaphoric. It is fashion that is why it is extremely spread among young people, e.g. hangup – a problem; grass or pot – marijuana.

There are two abstracts from the story “By Courier” (O’Henry):

“Tell her I am on my way to the station, to leave for San Francisco, where I shall join that Alaska moose hunting expedition. Tell her that, since she has commanded me neither to speak nor to write to her, I take this means of making one last appeal to her sense of justice, for the sake of what has been. Tell her that to condemn and discard one who has not deserved such treatment, without giving him her reason or a chance to explain is contrary her nature as I believe it to be.”

This message was delivered in the following manner:

“He told me to tell yer he’s got his collars and cuffs in dat grip for a scoot clean out to ‘Frisco. Den he’s goin’ to shoot snowbirds in de Klondike. He says yer told him to send’ round no more pink notes nor come hangin’ over de garden gate, and he takes dis mean of putting yer wise. He says yer referred to him like a has-been, and never give him no chance to kick at de decision. He says yer swiled him and never said why.”

2. Jargon is a recognized term for a group of words that exist in almost every language and whose aim is to preserve secrecy within one or another social group. Jargonisms are generally old words with entirely new meanings imposed on them, e.g. grease – money; loaf – head; lexer – a student preparing for a new course.

Jargon is social in character, not regional. In Britain and in the USA almost any social group has its own jargon. The most known are: cant (the jargon of thieves), the jargon of jazz people, the jargon of the army (military slang), the jargon of sportsmen, etc.

There is a common jargon and there are also special professional jargons. Common jargonisms have gradually lost their special quality and have entered a higher level in the vocabulary becoming slang or colloquialisms, e.g. hummen – a false arrest, man and wife – a knife. On the other hand, such words as soap – bread and flannel – cheese are not likely to be understood by the speech community unless they belong to the social group and know what meaning is ascribed to ordinary lexical items.

3. Professionalisms are the words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connected by common interest both at work and at home. They commonly designate some working process or implement of labour, e.g. tin-fish – a submarine; piper – a specialist who decorates pastry with the use of a cream-pipe; bull – one who buys in anticipation of a higher price to come.

4. Dialectal words are those which are confined to a definite locality. Thus, in English there are a lot of words that function within certain territories. Most of them are easily understood, e.g. lass – Scottish for girl, beloved girl; daft – Scottish for unsound mind, silly; fash – Scottish for trouble, cares. In Somersetshire dialect the initial sounds [s] and [f] are voiced and are written as [z] and [v], e.g. volk = folk; vound = found; zee = see. Dialectal words are found in fiction only.

5. The term vulgarism is referred to words which are:

• expletives and swear words of an abusive character like damn, bloody, to hell, goddam which are used as general exclamations

• obscene words which are known as four-letter words and are banned in any form of intercourse as being indecent.

Vulgarisms are often used in conversation out of habit, without any thought of what they mean. Their function is almost the same as that of interjections. They are not to be found in any style but emotive prose and in the speech of characters only.

6. Colloquial coinages (occasionalisms) are created by men-of-letters for one definite occasion, e.g. to be the limit = to be unbearable. Colloquial coinages, if remembered, are always related to their ‘authors’, e.g. Серпастый, молоткастый советский паспорт (В.В. Маяковский).

The feature that unites all the groups of special colloquial vocabulary is their adherence to the speech characteristics of the personages through which much information can be obtained.