SEMINAR 3.
1. Colloquial Vocabulary. Slang.
2. Professionalisms vs. jargonisms.
3. Nonce-words.
4. Vulgarisms vs. taboo-words.
5. Dialectal words.
Task 1.
Explain the difference between neologisms and nonce-words, PROVIDE EXAMPLES. Account for
the source of associations of nonce words and the produced effect.
Heffalump - слонопотам, herrible (help + terrible + heffalump), backson – Щасвирнус (A. A. Milne);
snark, “Reeling and Writhing…and different branches of Arithmetic – Ambition, Distraction,
Uglification, and Derision…”(L. Carrol).
Task 2.
Suggest your own variant of preservation of the stylistic effect while translating a nonce- word. (e.g.
Б. Заходер «слонопотам, искпедиция»). You are welcome to invent your own nonce-word.
Seography, Kleptopigia ,boyology, bread-and-butterfly, father-tongue, yesday.
Task 3.
Slang.
Try to elucidate the etymology of the following slangisms:
Eye-opener (beer); hen-party (девичник); beef-cake (культурист); jaw-breaker (a tough candy; a difficult
word); to moonlight (to work extra-time), laughing soup/water (Champaign), ice (diamonds, jewelry).
Task 4.
You are given one element of a synonymic line. Reconstruct the line, supplying the missing elements;
you are welcome to enlarge it. The more variants the better!
Neutral Slang Сленг
To two-time
All that jazz
Jive talk
To be off one’s trolley
Alive & kicking
Прикид
Тормозить
Чумовой
Лох
Глюк
Nonsense, triviality
Сar
To be in love
A lot of money
Task 6.
Jargon.
The main distinctive feature of jargon is that it is aimed at preserving secrecy. There can be various
types of jargon. Usually jargonisms are classified according to the groups of people they are
employed by. Enlarge upon the groups of jargonisms given below.
Тюремный жаргон
Откинуться, ствол, пахан, con, mill, to sing/unbutton, cooler, суфлер, handful, job, …
Армейский жаргон
Шаркать, полкан, дух, дед, губа, дембель, black hole, …
Жаргон наркомана
Косяк, кораблик, захорошеть, накрыть, дунуть, пластилин, марка, винт, to push, to be off, pot, joint,
angie…
Жаргон спортивных болельщиков
Кони, дворники, мясники,…
Студенческий жаргон
Шпора, препод, заколоть, бомба, костыль, ботан, парить,…
Task 7.
Professionalisms.
Study the given list of computing professionalisms and guess their equivalents in the scope of terms.
Suggest your own examples of various professionalisms.
Juice Клава
Deep magic Мыло
Вставить окна
Task 8.
Taboo – words.
Explain the difference between vulgarisms and taboo-words. Supply short examples of their usage
from various literary works and say how they influence the text. Can their usage be justified in a
literary text?
Task 9.
Dialectal words.
Elucidate the functions of dialectal words in literary texts. Provide examples characteristic of your
region. What other layers of vocabulary can they overlap?
Task 10.
Analyze the given abstract paying attention to the usage of the vocabulary items.
The important thing, man, is that ah love.., he wraps his arm around her. – What happens sexually…
that’s just the detail. The important thing is, man, that ah love everybody that ah know in this room. And
ah know everybody: Exept these boys,.. But ah’d love these cunts as well if ah knew them. Ninety per cent
of people are loveable, man, once ye get tae ken them… if they believe in themselves enough… if they
love & respect themselves, eh…
. . . . .
Ah want that kind ay psychic communion, gittin right inside each other’s nut like astral flight & that… he
presses his forefinger onto my head. – And that period is now untill I find it. Never had it, man. Had the
internal rhythms, but no the joining ay the souls. Never even came close. The eckies help, but the only way
you can get the joining ay the souls is if you let her into your head & she lets you into hers, at the same
time. It’s communication, man. … It has to be love. That’s what ah’m really looking for, … love.
(I. WELSH)
Reference materials:
Galperin I. R. “Stylistics” pp. 57-69
Arnold I. V. “Стилистика современного английского языка” pp. 6-50, 102-130
Kuznetz M. D., Skrebnev Y. M. “Стилистика английского языка” pp. Introduction
Collins V. H. “The Choice of Words”
