CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
English Variations
Individuals differ in the manner in which they speak their native tongue, although usually not markedly within a small area. The differences among groups of speakers in the same speech community can, however, be considerable. These variations of a language constitute its dialects. All languages are continuously changing, but if there is a common direction of change it has never been convincingly described. Various factors, especially the use of written language, have led to the development of a standard language in most of the major speech communities—a special official dialect of a language that is theoretically maintained unchanged.
This official dialect is the school form of a language, and by a familiar fallacy has been considered the norm from which everyday language deviates. Rather, the standard language is actually a development of some local dialect that has been accorded prestige. The standard English of England is derived from London English and the standard Italian is that of Tuscany. Use of the standard language is often a mark of polite behavior. In the United States employing standard English, which largely entails the usage of approved grammar and pronunciation, marks a person as cultivated. Ordinary speech may be affected by the standard language. Thus, many forms of expression come to be considered ungrammatical and substandard and are regarded as badges of ignorance, such as you was in place of the standard you were.
Slang is the example of non-formal English which is only spoken in a group, community, and not all of English speaker understand. There are many reasons people use slang words and expressions. It can be used just for fun or as a way to be witty or clever. You can use it to be different or startling. Even if you don’t know it, slang enriches the language. Many use it as a way to be friendly, or to show that they belong to a certain group or profession. Some engage in slang usage to be secretive, like those in secret societies, children, students, or prisoners.
Slang is a way of using descriptive or figurative language. It sometimes is irreverent and humorous. Slang expressions describe activities or objects. There is a high number of slang terms associated with the activity or object if it is prevalent. In 1901, G. K. Chesterton wrote “All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry,” in Defence of Slang.
This paper is to describe:
1. What is slang?
2. What is the use of studying Slang?
The writer has interest in slang language and aim to describe it into this paper. It is hoped that the students of English are able to use this paper as reference.
CHAPTER II
SLANG
1. Definition of Slang
Few linguists have endeavored to clearly define what constitutes slang. Attempting to remedy this, Bethany K. Dumas and Jonathan Lighter argue that an expression should be considered "true slang" if it meets at least two of the following criteria:
· It lowers, if temporarily, "the dignity of formal or serious speech or writing"; in other words, it is likely to be considered in those contexts a "glaring misuse of register."
· Its use implies that the user is familiar with whatever is referred to, or with a group of people who are familiar with it and use the term.
· "It is a taboo term in ordinary discourse with people of a higher social status or greater responsibility."
· It replaces "a well-known conventional synonym". This is done primarily to avoid the discomfort caused by the conventional item or by further elaboration.
2. Some Thoughts on Slang
a. Slang is the poetry of everyday life.
-S. I. Hayakawa, Language in Action, 1941
-S. I. Hayakawa, Language in Action, 1941
b. Slang, n. The grunt of the human hog (Pignoramus intolerabilis) with an audible memory.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911
c. I shall invent a new game; I shall write bits of slang and poetry on slips and give them to you separate.
-George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1871
-George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1871
d. Slang is "language which takes off its coat, spits on its hands -- and goes to work."
-Carl Sandburg (as quoted in Crystal 182)
-Carl Sandburg (as quoted in Crystal 182)
e. Slang is humanity's first play toy.
-John Algeo, University of Georgia professor
-John Algeo, University of Georgia professor
f. Slang, at its worst, it is stupidly coarse and provocative. At its best, it makes standard English seem pallid.
-J. E. Lighter, chief editor of Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang
-J. E. Lighter, chief editor of Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang
Slang should be distinguished from jargon, which is the technical vocabulary of a particular profession, and which meets only the second of the criteria given above. Jargon, like many examples of slang, may be used to exclude non–group members from the conversation, but in general has the function of allowing its users to talk precisely about the technical issues in a given field.
3. Extent and origins of slang
Slang can be regional (that is, used only in a particular territory), but slang terms are often particular instead to a certain subculture, such as music or video gaming. Nevertheless, slang expressions can spread outside their original areas to become commonly used, like "cool" and "jive." While some words eventually lose their status as slang (the word "mob", for example, began as a shortening of Latin mobile vulgus), others continue to be considered as such by most speakers. When slang spreads beyond the group or subculture that originally uses it, its original users often replace it with other, less-recognized terms to maintain group identity.
One use of slang is to circumvent social taboos, as mainstream language tends to shy away from evoking certain realities. For this reason, slang vocabularies are particularly rich in certain domains, such as violence, crime, drugs, and sex. Alternatively, slang can grow out of mere familiarity with the things described. Among Californian wine connoisseurs (and other groups), for example, Cabernet Sauvignon is often known as "Cab Sav," Chardonnay as "Chard" and so on; this means that naming the different wines expends less superfluous effort; it also helps to indicate the user's familiarity with wine.
Even within a single language community, slang, and the extent to which it is used, tends to vary widely across social, ethnic, economic, and geographic strata. Slang may fall into disuse over time; sometimes, however, it grows more and more common until it becomes the dominant way of saying something, at which time it usually comes to be regarded as mainstream, acceptable language (e.g. the Spanish word caballo), although in the case of taboo words there may be no expression that is considered mainstream or acceptable. Numerous slang terms pass into informal mainstream speech, and sometimes into formal speech, though this may involve a change in meaning or usage.
Slang very often involves the creation of novel meanings for existing words. It is common for such novel meanings to diverge significantly from the standard meaning. Thus, "cool" and "hot" can both mean "very good," "impressive," or "good-looking".
Slang terms are often known only within a clique or in group. For example, Leet ("Leetspeak" or "1337") was originally popular only among certain Internet subcultures, such as crackers and online video gamers. During the 1990s, and into the early 21st century, however, Leet became increasingly more commonplace on the Internet, and it has spread outside Internet-based communication and into spoken languages. Other types of slang include SMS language used on mobile phones, and "chatspeak," (e.g., "LOL", an acronym meaning "laughing out loud" or "laugh out loud" or ROFL, "rolling on the floor laughing"), which is widely used in instant messaging on the Internet.
According to the British lexicographer, Eric Partridge (1894-1979), people use slang for any of at least 15 reasons:
1. In sheer high spirits, by the young in heart as well as by the young in years; 'just for the fun of the thing'; in playfulness or waggishness.
2. As an exercise either in wit and ingenuity or in humour. (The motive behind this is usually self-display or snobbishness, emulation or responsiveness, delight in virtuosity).
3. To be 'different', to be novel.
4. To be picturesque (either positively or - as in the wish to avoid insipidity - negatively).
5. To be unmistakeably arresting, even startling.
6. To escape from clichés, or to be brief and concise. (Actuated by impatience with existing terms.)
7. To enrich the language. (This deliberateness is rare save among the well-educated, Cockneys forming the most notable exception; it is literary rather than spontaneous.)
8. To lend an air of solidity, concreteness, to the abstract; of earthiness to the idealistic; of immediacy and appositeness to the remote. (In the cultured the effort is usually premeditated, while in the uncultured it is almost always unconscious when it is not rather subconscious.)
9a. To lesson the sting of, or on the other hand to give additional point to, a refusal, a rejection, a recantation;
9b. To reduce, perhaps also to disperse, the solemnity, the pomposity, the excessive seriousness of a conversation (or of a piece of writing);
9c. To soften the tragedy, to lighten or to 'prettify' the inevitability of death or madness, or to mask the ugliness or the pity of profound turpitude (e.g. treachery, ingratitude); and/or thus to enable the speaker or his auditor or both to endure, to 'carry on'.
10. To speak or write down to an inferior, or to amuse a superior public; or merely to be on a colloquial level with either one's audience or one's subject matter.
11. For ease of social intercourse. (Not to be confused or merged with the preceding.)
12. To induce either friendliness or intimacy of a deep or a durable kind. (Same remark.)
13. To show that one belongs to a certain school, trade, or profession, artistic or intellectual set, or social class; in brief, to be 'in the swim' or to establish contact.
14. Hence, to show or prove that someone is not 'in the swim'.
15. To be secret - not understood by those around one. (Children, students, lovers, members of political secret societies, and criminals in or out of prison, innocent persons in prison, are the chief exponents.)
4. Examples of Slang
Here are some examples of American slang language:
Slang: Originally meant abuse
Have a Cow: This is normally used as part of a sentence. For example: "Don't have a cow." Or "My mom’s going to have a cow." There are some variations, for instance, "have a bird."
Cool: This popular expression is used to describe something that is very good.
Ex: “That band is cool!”
Ex: “That band is cool!”
Cat’s Pajamas: Used in the 20’s, this expression is very similar to "cool."
Other slang term that have similar meanings are: "radical," "groovy,"
"da-bomb," and "neat-o."
Other slang term that have similar meanings are: "radical," "groovy,"
"da-bomb," and "neat-o."
Chill: This can mean to calm down, for example, “Chill out, Dude.” It also can have an "-in" ending added to mean to relax, as in “We’re just chillin at my house.”
Dude: This is can be used to refer to any person whether they are known by the speaker or not. Example: “That dude is stealing my car.” Or “Dude, I’m glad you finally called.”
Peace: Used as a greeting during the late 60’s and early 70’s.
Stinks: When used as a slang term, this means "is bad." For example: “This exam stinks.”
Trollin: Used to describe a car or cars traveling slower than the flow of traffic. Example: "This car is really trollin."
Mr. Charley: a white man
The Man: the law
Uncle Tom: a meek black person
23-skiddoo: used in the 1920s
Booze: alcohol
Buzz off: go away
John, head, can, loo: toilet
Schnozz: nose
Grub, slop, garbage, gas: food
Tart: upstart young woman or prostitute
Makin' whoopee (Walter Winchell - 1929): making love.
CHAPTER II
CONCLUSION
1. What is Slang?
Slang, which we have observed, is a dialect that exists and is going to undergo significant development as the time goes by. Now, we are able to answer, what is slang and what is the use of studying slang?
Slang is informal, nonstandard words or phrases (lexical innovations) which tend to originate in subcultures within a society. Slang is informal because it is not bound to grammar rules, and nonstandard because it often mean different things with different words or phrases. Slang often suggests that the person utilizing the words or phrases is familiar with the hearer's group or subgroup--it can be considered a distinguishing factor of in-group identity. Microsoft Encarta states: "slang expressions often embody attitudes and values of group members."
2. What is the use of studying Slang?
Here are several points of the advantages of studying Slang for students of English as foreign language:
1. To widen knowledge on English language.
2. To enrich vocabulary.
3. To increase speaking fluency, because when we remember many words, it is easier to use them in everyday speaking.
4. The most important thing is to be able to use either Slang or formal English in the appropriate time and place without mixing them.
References:
Dumas, Bethany K.; Lighter, Jonathan (1978). "Is Slang a Word for Linguists?" American Speech 53 (5): 14–15 in Wikipedia
Holmes, Janet. 1990. “Introduction To Linguistics”.
language: Variations in Language — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0859182.html#ixzz1R7lI3u5p
Eric Patridge. Slang: Today and Yesterday, 1933, Ch. 2.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar/slang/history-of-american-slang-words.html
