The study of slang and unconventional English has so far been rather of popular than academic interest, yet there are several publications mostly in the form of dictionaries which deal with slang in an academic way1. Yet slang proves to be a source of new vocabulary and often reflects social and cultural changes2 and the study of slang or unconventional English may reveal the ways in which a language is going to develop in the future because slang is of very high productivity and presents “the most powerful of all the stimulants that keep language alive and growing”3.
In order to show how slang and colloquial language affects a standard language, I thought that a synchronic comparison of the lexicon of a language through corpora may prove to be of high value, which is why I have taken this approach. In this small-scale scientific research paper I will compare a random choice of lexical items from different editions of dictionaries of British and American slang with a corpus compiled by myself making use of plublicly available Internet resources.
The corpus I have compiled was a random choice of news articles from all areas (Politics, Science, Sports...) from the on-line editions of the British newspapers “The Guardian”, “The Sun” and “The Observer” and of the American newspapers “USA Today” and “The New York Times”. A random choice of material is supposed to be of high value in so far as it does not lead to a concentration on certain aspects of speech and is more “readily achievable”4.
By examining whether slang expressions have made their way into the standard language of mainstream English language newspapers I will be able to show in how far slang makes its way into the two most important standard dialects of English, thus showing how innovative slang proves to be and in how far slang is incorporated into the standard language. I hope to be able to show that it is quite common that lexical items or expressions that used to be regarded as slang or “bad English” can make their way into a standard dialect and become socially accepted and that they are not “saboteurs of value” and imperile English as a medium of conversation5. Thus slang or what can often be called the language of the lower classes (it may even be argued that slang is a derogative of expressions that do not fit the middle class pattern of speech) has often been subjected to criticism by those who see the language as “[...] a medium of exchange whose values must be kept fixed, as far as possible, like those of any other reliable currency” in order to prevent language change through the “[...] low, iliterate and unthinking mob”6.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- The choice of slang dictionaries
- The choice of words and expressions
- The choice of newspapers
- Results
- Quantitative Analysis
- Slang and colloquialisms in internet editions of mainstream newspapers
- Slang and productivity
- Qualitative analyis
- Sex, drugs and Rock 'n' Roll
- Semantic change of slang
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This research paper aims to investigate the influence of slang and colloquial language on the standard English language. Through a comparative analysis of a randomly selected set of lexical items from various slang dictionaries and a corpus of mainstream British and American newspapers, the study seeks to explore the extent to which slang expressions have become integrated into the standard language.
- The impact of slang on standard English
- The evolution of slang and its semantic changes over time
- The productivity of different English-speaking societies in terms of slang creation
- The influence of social and cultural factors on slang
- The historical and critical perspectives on slang
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
- Introduction: This chapter introduces the study's objectives, focusing on the role of slang in language evolution. The author highlights the importance of understanding slang's impact on standard English, particularly considering its high productivity and potential to reflect social and cultural changes.
- The choice of slang dictionaries: This chapter outlines the methodology used to select slang dictionaries for the study. The author explains the rationale for choosing dictionaries from different time periods and the importance of tracing semantic changes and the growth of slang entries over time.
- The choice of newspapers: This chapter explains the process of compiling the corpus used in the study. The author explains why randomly selected news articles from various online editions of mainstream newspapers are considered to be representative of standard English.
- Results (Quantitative Analysis): This chapter presents the quantitative analysis of the corpus, examining the prevalence of slang and colloquialisms in online editions of mainstream newspapers. The author analyzes the data to assess the extent to which slang has made its way into standard English.
- Qualitative analysis: This chapter delves into a qualitative analysis of the collected data, focusing on the semantic change of slang expressions over time. The author explores the different spheres of slang usage and investigates the origins and productivity of slang in various English-speaking cultures.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
This research paper examines the influence of slang and colloquial language on standard English. The study focuses on the evolution of slang, its impact on language change, and the role of cultural and societal factors in shaping slang. The analysis includes a comparison of data from slang dictionaries and a corpus of mainstream newspapers, exploring the productivity of different English-speaking societies in terms of slang creation. Key terms include slang, colloquial language, language change, semantic shift, corpus analysis, and cultural influence.
- Citar trabajo
- Timm Gehrmann (Autor), 2007, Slang and lexical language change - an ad hoc corpus analysis, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/80263
