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slangRight English

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Bob is a great guy. He never blows his stack.

He hardly ever flies off the handle. Well, of course, he is actually getting on, too. But he always knows how to make up for the lost time by taking it easy. He gets up early, works out, and turns in early. He knows how to get away with things. Bob’s got it made. This is it for him. He is a cool cat.

The term functional style is generally accepted in modern linguistics. Professor I. V. Arnold defines it as "a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication»

By the sphere of communication we mean the circumstances attending the process of speech in each particular case: professional communication, a lecture, an informal talk, a formal letter, an intimate letter, a speech in court

Formal (a lecture, a speech in court, an official letter, professional communication)

Informal (an informal talk, an intimate letter)

Informal style is relaxed, free-and-easy, familiar and unpretentious

Informal words and word-groups are traditionally divided into three types:

Colloquial slang dialect words and word-groups.

Colloquialisms are the least exclusive: they are used by everybody, and their sphere of communication is comparatively wide, at least of literary colloquial words. These are informal words that are used in everyday conversational speech both by cultivated and uneducated people of all age group

. It is quite natural that informal words appear in dialogues in which they realistically reflect the speech of modern people:

"You're at some sort of technical college?" she said to Leo, not looking at him ... .

"Yes. I hate it though. I'm not good enough at maths. There's a chap there just down from Cambridge who puts us through it. I can't keep up. Were you good at maths?"

Pal and chum are colloquial equivalents of friend;

girl, when used colloquially, denotes a woman of any age;

bite and snack stand for meal; hi, hello are informal greetings, and so

long a form of parting; start, go on, finish and be through are

also literary colloquialisms; to have a crush on somebody is a

colloquial equivalent of to be in love. A bit (of) and a lot (of) also belong to this group.

A considerable number of shortenings are found among words of this type. E. g. pram, exam, fridge, flu, prop, zip, movie.

Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among colloquialisms: put up, put over, make up, make out, do away, turn up, turn in, etc.

The borderline between the literary and familiar colloquial is not always clearly marked

doc (for doctor), hi (for how do you do), ta-ta (for good-bye), goings-on (for behaviour, usually with a negative connotation), to kid smb. (for tease, banter), to pick up smb. (for make a quick and easy acquaintance), go on with you (for let me alone), shut up (for keep silent), beat it (for go away).

Much has been written on the subject of slang that is contradictory and at the same time very interesting.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines slang as "language of a highly colloquial style, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense

the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of low, disreputable character; language of a low, vulgar type), и как синоним терминов "кэнт" и "жаргон” ("the special vocabulary or phraseology of a particular calling or profession' the cant or jargon of a certain class or period"), а также как нелитературный разговорный язык ("language of a highly colloquial type considered below the level of standard educated speech and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense (OED, 1989, 651).

SLANG

"cant of thieves, beggars, gypsies, etc“) социально-профессиональные

жаргоны ("the jargon of particular calling or class society; popular cant“)

современный, но недолговечный язык ("language comprising certain widely current but usually ephemera terms (esp. coined or clipped words of special senses or phrases, USUALLY metaphors or similes) having a forced, fantastic or grotesque meaning exhibiting eccentric or extravagant humour or fancy") (Webster's Ni International Dictionary, 1959, 2359).

SLANG

1.very informal usage vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid and ephemeral than ordinary language

speech and writing characterized by the usage of vulgar and socially taboo vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.

the jargon of a particular class, profession, etc

the special vocabulary of thieves, vagabonds, etc. argot") (RHUDEL, 1993, 2478).

Р. Чепмен: "Primary slang is the pristine speech of

subculture members, so very natural to its speakers that it seems they might be mute without it" (MDAS, 1987, xiii).

Secondary slang is a matter of stylistic choice

Secondary slang is chosen not so much to fix one in group as to express one's attitudes and resourcefulness.." (MDAS, 1987, xv).

«The slang of English is English with its sleeves rolled up, its shirttails dangling and its shoes covered in mud» (ODMS, 1992, v).

Slang, being the quintessence of colloquial speech, must always be related to convenient rather than to scientific laws, grammatical rules and philosophical ideals (Partridge, 1960, 4).

"сленг" соотносится с глаголом to sling - to utter, что подтверждает существование таких сленговых сочетаний, как to sling the bat - to speak with considerable vividness, to sling language — to talk (Partridge, 1960, 2).

"But no real stylist, по one capable of good speaking or good writing, is likely to be harmed by the occasional employment of slang..." (Partridge, 1960, 7).

стремление к новизне ("the search for novelty");

непостоянство, легкомыслие ("volatility and light-headedness as well as light-heartedness");

недолговечность ("ephemerality"); влияние моды ("the sway of fashion")

(Partridge, 1960, 19) Особо Э. Партридж отмечает

юмористический и метафорический характер сленга (Partridge, 1960. 17, 24)

Metaphors...spring from a lively fancy and furnish much of the life-blood of all language. In slang they are particularly vital and... vivid (Partridge, 1960, 24).

G. K. Chesterton: "The one stream of poetry which in

constantly flowing is slang. Every day some nameless poet weaves some fairy tracery of popular language. ...All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry. ...The world of slang is a kind of topsy-turvydom of poetry, full of blue moons and white elephants, of men losing their heads, and men whose tongues run away with them — a whole chaos of fairy tales.“

mug (for face), saucers, blinkers (for eyes), trap (for mouth, e. g. Keep your trap shut), dogs (for feet), to leg (it) (for to walk).

—All these meanings are certainly based on metaphor, yet they strike one as singularly unpoetical.

Then why do people use slang? To be picturesque, arresting, striking

and, above all, different from others. To avoid the tedium of outmoded hackneyed "common" words.

To demonstrate one's spiritual independence and daring.

To sound "modern" and "up-to-date".

В.А. Хомяков вводит следующее объединяющее определение термина "сленг":

"Сленг - это основной компонент просторечия (нормы второго уровня), включающий в себя, с одной стороны, социальные варианты: кэнт и некоторые близкие к кэнту речевые образования (рифмованный сленг и другие), профессиональные и корпоративные жаргоны, а с другой стороны - широко распространенную и общепонятную социальную микросистему, весьма неоднородную по своему генетическому составу и степени приближения к норме первого уровня, имеющую ярко выраженный эмоционально-экспрессивный оценочный характер и своеобразный вокабуляр, в котором слова и выражения чаще всего имплицитно передают насмешку над социальными, этическими, эстетическими, языковыми и многочисленными иными условностями и авторитетами" (Хомяков, 1971, 72).