Slang as a part of Spoken English - Курсовая работа

So during the social intercourse a person may play different social roles and come into different relations (employer- employee, father-son, teacher- student). Changing situations presupposes changing roles, which characterizes relations between communicants, and this means choosing an appropriate sublanguage, and slang can also be used as a sublanguage. [14, 59] As it has been mentioned above, slang may become “legal”, but there is the reverse side. Many standard words find their ways into slang. Sometimes it is very difficult to define the precise quality that makes an expression slang. It is often not in the word itself, but in the sense in which it is used. When speaking of soldiers who put down a rebellion, “put down” is proper enough. But it is slang when one speaks of a remark which “puts someone down”. In fact, most slang words are homonyms of standard words and only sometimes differ in spelling and pronunciation. Slang items usually arise by the same means - by recycling words and parts of words which are already in the language. Limitless opportunities are allowed by affixation. Slang frequently uses abbreviated words and phrases like “VJ’ from” video jockey” and “’Sup” from “what’s up?” Unlike the general vocabulary, English slang has not borrowed from foreign languages a lot, although it does borrow from dialects of ethnic minorities. Words can change their fluid status and cross the borders of different types of speech. What is slang today may have been in a good use once or may be accepted in the standard speech tomorrow. It is hard to define where the vulgar speech ends and the spoken language begins. Thousands of words and expressions are in the process of changing from one level to another at any given time. Some interchange between one type and the next is constantly going on. So slang can be regarded as a lexical supplement of the language, because all neologisms first find their life in colloquial expressions and only then develop into literary speech. [17, 49] Nowadays slang is becoming more and more popular. In our high-speed epoch language is simplifying. Short and abbreviated words are preferred to long and complicated ones. And perhaps that is why slang is used. Because of its brevity, capacity and exactness it makes conversation easier. It can hardly be denied that some slang expressions express an idea that would be difficult to convey by other means. There is the paradox of slang: people look down on it, but they cannot avoid using it. Slang is vivid and natural in speech. It is impossible to shut eyes to the prominent role which it plays in the language.. It is a part of the language and cannot be treated as non-existent. [9, 136] The origin of the word SLANG itself is unknown. Its resemblance in sound and figurative meaning to the noun and verb “sling” and the occurrence of apparently the same root in Scandinavian expressions referring to language, suggest that the term “slang” is development of a Germanic root from which the current English “sling” is derived. Another conjecture is that “slang” has been formed by shortening from genitive phrases like “beggar’s language” or “rogues’ language”, in which the genitive “language” and then the final syllable is lost. [16, 98] Slang tends to originate in subcultures within a society. Occupational groups such as loggers, police, medical professionals and computer specialists are prominent originators of slang. Other groups creating slang include the armed forces, teenagers, racial minorities, ghetto residents, labor unions, broadcasters, sport groups, drug addicts and even religious denominations. Slang expressions often embody attitudes and values of group members. [45, 78] They may thus contribute to a sense of group identity and may convey to the listener information about the speaker’s background. Before an apt expression becomes slang, however, it must be widely adopted by members of the subculture. If the subculture has enough contact with the mainstream culture, its figures of speech becomes slang expressions known to the whole society. For example: cat (sport), cool (aloof, stylish), Mr. Charley (a white man), the man (the law), and uncle Tom (a meek black) all originated in the predominantly black Harlem district of New York City and have traveled far since their inception. Slang is thus generally not tied to any geographic region within a country. A slang expression may suddenly become widely used. It may become accepted as standard speech, either in its original slang meaning (bus from omnibus) or with alerted meaning (jazz, which originally had sexual connotation). A few slang expressions become part of the standard language. “Hairdo” was introduced in the 1920’s as a slang term for coiffure and became a standard word in less than 20 years. The words “hoax” and “strenuous”, which also began as slang, took longer to be accepted. Some slang words have been used for hundreds of years without reaching the status of colloquiali