Terms Professionalisms Jargonisms Slang Vulgar words Dialectal words

Lecture 4

A term is generally very easily coined and easily accepted; and new coinages as easily replace out-dated ones. Terms therefore are rather transitory by nature, though they may remain in the language as relics of a former stage in the development of a particular branch of science. There is an interesting process going on in the development of any language. With the increase of general education and the expansion of technique to satisfy the ever-growing needs and desires of mankind, many words that were once terms have gradually lost their qualities as terms and have passed into the common literary vocabulary. This process may be called "de-terminization". Terms are mostly and predominantly used in special works dealing with' the notions of some branch of science. Therefore it may be said that they belong to the scientific style. But their use is not confined to this style. They may as well appear in other styles - in newspaper style, in publicistic style, in the belles-lettres style and practically in all other existing styles. But their function in this case changes. They no longer fulfil their basic function, that of bearing an exact reference to a given notion or concept. The function of terms, if encountered in other styles, is either to indicate the technical peculiarities of the subject dealt with, or to make some reference to the occupation of a character whose language would naturally contain special words and expressions.

Webster's "New World Dictionary of the American Language" gives the following meanings of the term:

"1. originally, the specialized vocabulary and idioms of criminals, tramps, etc. the purpose of which was to disguise from outsiders the meaning of what was said; now usually called cant. 2. the specialized vocabulary and idioms of those in the same work, way of life, etc.; now usually called shoptalk, argot, jargon. 3. colloquial language that is outside of conventional or standard usage and consists of both coined words (blurb, whoopoee) and those with new or extended meanings (rubberneck, sap); slang develops from the attempt to find fresh and vigorous, colourful, pungent, or humorous expression, and generally either passes into disuse or comes to have a more formal status."

The "New Oxford English Dictionary" defines slang as follows:

"a) the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or disreputable character; language of a low and vulgar type. (Now merged in c. /cant/) b) the cant or jargon of a certain class or period; c) language of a highly colloquial type considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense." J. B. Greenough and C. L. Kitteridge define slang in these words:

"Slang... is a peculiar kind of vagabond language, always hanging on the outskirts of legitimate speech but continually straying or forcing its way into the most respectable company."

Another definition of slang which is worth while quoting is one made by Eric Partridge, the eminent student of the non-literary language.

"Slang is much rather a spoken than a literary language. It originates, nearly always, in speech. To coin irterm on a written page is almost inevitably to brand it as a neologism which will either be accepted or become a nonce-word (or-phrase), but, except in the rarest instances that term will not be slang." The following stylistic layers of words are generally marked as slang.

1. Words which may be classed as thieves' cant, or the jargons of other social groups and professions, like dirt (= 'money'), dotty (- 'mad'), a barker (= 'a gun'), to dance (= 'to hang').

2. Colloquial words and phrases like for good, to have a hunch, a show (at the theatre) and the

like.

3. Figurative words and phrases: Scrooge ( = 'a mean person'); shark (= 'a pickpocket', 'a

swindler'); blackcoat (-a clergyman').

4. Words derived by means of conversion are also sometimes classed as slang: altar - to altar.

5. Abbreviations of the lab- type: rep (reputation), cig (cigarette), ad (advertisement), as well as of the flu-type (influenza).

6. Set expressions which are generally used in colloquial speech and which are clearly colloquial, are also marked with the notation slang, e. g., to go in for, to cut off with a shilling, in a way, and many others.

7. Improprieties of a morphological and syntactical character, e. g., How come, I says, double negatives as I don't know nothing and others of this kind.

8. Any new coinage that has not gained recognition and therefore has not yet been received into standard English is easily branded as slang.

Some linguists, when characterizing the most conspicuous features of slang, point out that it requires continuous innovation. It never grows stale. If a slang word or phrase does become stale, it is replaced by a new slangism. So broad is the term slang that, according to Eric Partridge, there are. many kinds of slang, e. g.. Cockney, public-house, commercial, society, military, theatrical, parliamentary and others.

According to this statement language, style and slang all have the same nature, the same determining causes. Personality and surroundings determine:

- the nature of the slang used by a definite person,

- the nature of the language he uses,

- the kind of style he writes.

Jargon 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. The traditional meaning of the words is immaterial, only the new, improvised meaning is of importance. 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. Jargonisms are social in character. They are not regional. In England and in the USA 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 other varieties. Slang, contrary to jargon, needs no translation. It is not a secret code. It is easily understood by the English-speaking community and is only regarded as something not quite regular. It must also be remembered that both jargon and slang differ from ordinary language mainly in their vocabularies. The structure of the sentences and the morphology of the language remain practically unchanged. But such is the power of words, which are the basic and most conspicuous element in the language, that we begin unwittingly to speak of a separate language. When jargonism becomes common, it has passed on to a higher step on the ladder of word groups and becomes slang or colloquial. Jargonisms do not always remain the possession of a given social group. Some of them migrate into other social strata and sometimes become recognized in the literary language of the nation. In passing, we must remark that both slang and the various jargons of Great Britain differ much more from those of America (the United States and Canada) than the literary language in the two countries does. In fact, the most striking difference is to be observed in the nonliterary layer of words and particularly in slang and jargonisms and professionalisms.

Professionalisms, as the term itself signifies, are the words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connected by common interests both at work and at home. 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. Terms, if they are connected with a field or branch of science or technique well-known to ordinary people, are easily decoded and enter the neutral stratum of the vocabulary. Professionalisms generally remain in circulation within a definite community, as they are linked to a common occupation and common social interests. The semantic structure of the term is usually transparent and is therefore easily understood. The semantic structure of a professionalism is often dimmed by the image on which the meaning of the professionalism is based, particularly when the features of the object in question reflect the process of the work, metaphorically or metonymically. Like terms, professionalisms do not allow any polysemy, they are monosemantic. Professionalisms should not be mixed up with jargonisms. Like slang words, professionalisms do not aim at secrecy. They fulfill a socially useful function in communication, facilitating a quick and adequate grasp of the message. Professionalisms are used in emotive prose to depict the natural speech of a character. The skilful use of a professional word will show not only the vocation of a character, but also his education, breeding, environment and sometimes even his psychology. That is why perhaps a literary device known as speech-characterization is so abundantly used in emotive prose. The use of professionalisms forms the most conspicuous element of this literary device.

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. Most of the examples so far quoted come from the Scottish and the northern dialect. This is explained by the fact that Scotland has struggled to retain the peculiarities of her language, claiming it to be independent. Therefore many of the words fixed in dictionaries as dialectal are of Scottish origin. Dialectal words are only to be found in the style of emotive prose, very rarely in other styles. Writers who use dialectal words for the purpose of characterizing the speech of a person in a piece of emotive prose or drama, introduce them into the word texture in different ways. Some writers make an unrestrained use of dialectal words and also slang, jargonisms and professionalisms, not only in characterization, but also in their narrative.

Webster's "New International Dictionary" defines vulgarism as "A vulgar phrase or expression, or one used only in colloquial, or, esp., in unrefined or low, speech." Then follows the explanation, "A vulgarism is a phrase or expression which is in common, but in good, use; the word does not necessarily connote coarseness." The "Shorter Oxford Dictionary" defines vulgarism as "A vulgar phrase or expression; a colloquialism of a low or unrefined character." There are different degrees of vulgar words. Some of them, the obscene ones should not even be fixed in common dictionaries. They are euphemistically called "four-letter" words. A lesser degree of vulgarity is presented by expletives, words like damn, bloody, son of a bitch, to hell, and others. The function of vulgarisms 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 style of speech except emotive prose, and here only in the direct speech of the characters.

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