BRITISH SLANG AND ITS CLASSIFICATION

PLAN

I.  INTRODUCTION

1.1 Tasks of the course work

1.2 Definition of slang

II.  MAIN PART

2.1 The origin of slang.

2.2 Types of slang.

a) Cockney rhyming slang

b)  Polari

c)  Internet slang

d)  Slang of army, police

e)  Money slang

2.3. Phonetic peculiarities of slang

2.4. Morphological characteristics of slang

III.  PRACTICAL PART

IV.  CONCLUSION

V.  BIBLIOGRAPHY

Slang is a language which takes off its coat,

spits on its hands - and goes to work.

Carl Sandburg

I.  INTRODUCTION

1.1 Tasks of the course work

The understanding of the native speakers' language is the international problem for our people. Our secondary schools teach the students only the bases of the English language. Our universities do not prepare them to the British streets, accommodations, pubs where people use their own language, the language that differs from that of their parents. They use other words- they use slang. None of the most advanced and flexible ways of teaching English of any country can catch modern quickly developing English.

Some scholars divide the English language into two different languages: the Standard English language and slang. This fact proves that slang comes to be a very numerous part of English. Ignorance of slang causes a great miscommunication between students and native speakers.

The language of the previous centuries contrasts from the modern language. The life does not freeze in the same position. It always develops. And it makes the language develop too. That is why the present work is devoted to this social phenomenon.

The aim of my course paper is to analyze different approaches to the definition of slang, to determine the most important groups of the British slang, to show its lexical, phonetic and morphological peculiarities.

The object of my study is the wealth of English language, ambiguity of its vocabulary and the most common rules of slang usage in Britain.

The subjects of my research are various points of view on slang, its history and types and linguistic characteristics common for the British slang.

Choosing the topic of my investigation I `m perfectly aware of the fact that slang is unlimited so it is almost impossible to analyze every word of it. I hope to summarize different points of view on slang and it is my hope that more readers should discover this interesting layer of the English language. Although the work could hardly cover all the aspects of the phenomenon the task is as exciting as challenging.

To achieve the set aim I determine the following tasks:

1. to search the origin of slang;

2. to study the words' transition through English vocabulary;

3. to study the problem of the classification of slang;

4. to understand the aim of the modern usage of slang;

5. to distinguish different kinds of slang;

6. to study the ways of slang word- formation;

7. to analyze phonetic peculiarities of slang;

8. to compare the results of the analysis.

1.2 Definition of slang

Every adult speaker has a concept of slang--knowing at the least that some words and expressions transgress generally accepted norms of formality or appropriateness and in some way do not fit the measure of what "good" language is. Despite such recognition by almost all speakers, scholars with formal training in linguistic analysis have almost ignored slang--though they acknowledge having the same intuitions about this type of vocabulary as do all speakers. In truth, most linguists have given no more thought to slang than have people who claim no expertise in language. In the English-speaking world in particular, the description of the form and function of slang has been left largely to lexicographers rather than to others who study language for a living.

Webster’s "Third New International Dictionary" gives the following definition of the term slang:

1. Language peculiar to a particular group as:

a) the special and often secret vocabulary used by a class (as thieves, beggars) and usually 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 primary by connotations of extreme informality and usually 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 usually experiencing quick popularity and relatively rapid decline into disuse.

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;

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."

As it is seen from these quotations slang is represented both as a special vocabulary and as a special language. This causes confusion. If this is a certain lexical layer, than why should it be given the rank of language or a dialect of even a patois, and then it should be characterized not only by its peculiar use of words but also by phonetic, morphological and syntactical peculiarities.

In general all linguists agree that slang is nonstandard vocabulary composed of words or senses characterized primarily by connotations of extreme informality and usually by a currency not limited to a particular region. ............