Studying Russian and world literature, each student is faced with turns of speech that are not characteristic of the literary language. The question arises of what is the classical definition of these expressions, what is the history of their occurrence and the role in the communication of our contemporaries.
What is jargon?
This is a lexical unit (both a single word and a phrase), which is not characteristic of the canons of the literary language. The use of these turns is common in informal communication. Jargon is a conventional colloquial word and expression used in certain social groups. Moreover, the appearance, development, transformation and withdrawal of those from the speech turnover takes place in a clearly isolated part of society.
Jargon is the duplication of literary language in a form understandable only to speaking people in a particular group. These are non-normative, not recognized synonyms for the classical definitions of objects, actions and definitions. The slang words of each social unit of society form a language of communication inaccessible to the understanding of the uninitiated, the so-called slang.
Origin anddifferences
The word "jargon" comes, according to V. Dahl ("Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language"), from the French jargon. Its differences from the standards of the literary language:
- Specific vocabulary and phraseology.
- Brightly colored, expressive phrases.
- Maximum use of derivational forms.
- Lack of own phonetic systems.
- Disobeying the rules of grammar.
Today, jargon is not only oral communication, but also an effective means of artistic expression. In modern literature, these words are deliberately used along with metaphors, synonyms, epithets to enhance and give a special color to the content.
Initially, dialectisms-jargonisms were the intellectual property of certain strata of society, in some cases no longer existing. Nowadays, this is both a popular vocabulary, which has its own social dialects, and a vocabulary of a literary language, which uses several figurative meanings of the same word, established in a particular group of society. Now the conditionally called “general fund” has been formed and is expanding, that is, words transformed from their original meaning in one type of jargon into a public definition. So, for example, in the language of thieves' slang, the meaning of the word "dark" is "to hide the loot" or "to avoid answers during interrogation." Modern youth jargon interprets this as “to keep silent, to express in riddles.”
How slang is formedvocabulary?
Words and combinations are based on the dialect differences and morphemes of the language available in the environment of their appearance. Ways of their formation: giving a different meaning, metaphorization, rethinking, reshaping, sound truncation, active assimilation of the vocabulary of foreign languages.
Examples of jargon in Russian that arose in the above way:
- young man - "dude" (comes from gypsy);
- a close friend - "gelfriend" (from English);
- authoritative - "cool";
- apartment - "hut" (from Ukrainian).
The associative series is also actively used in their appearance. For example: "dollars" - "brilliant green" (according to the color of American banknotes).
History and present
Social jargons are common words and expressions, first noticed in the 18th century in the circle of the nobility, the so-called "salon" language. Lovers and admirers of everything French often used distorted words of this language. For example: "pleasure" was called "pleaser".
The original purpose of the jargon was to keep the transmitted information secret, a kind of encoding and recognition of "us" and "them". This function of the "secret language" is preserved in the gangster environment as the speech of asocial elements and is called "thieves' slang". So, for example: a knife is a “pen”, a prison is a “theater”, a phone call is “dial numbers”.
Other types of jargon - school, student, sports, professional - practicallylost this property. However, in youth speech, it still has the function of identifying "strangers" in the community. Often, for teenagers, jargon is a way of self-affirmation, an indication of belonging to the number of "adults" and a condition for acceptance into a certain company.
The use of special slang is limited by the topic of conversation: the subject of conversation, as a rule, expresses the specific interests of a narrow circle of people. A distinctive feature of the jargon from the dialect is that the main share of its use falls on informal communication.
Varieties of jargons
At the moment there is no single, clear division of jargon. Only three areas can be accurately classified: professional, youth and criminal slang. However, it is possible to identify patterns and conditionally single out vocabulary from jargon that is inherent in individual groups of society. The following types of jargons are most common and have an extensive vocabulary:
- Professional (by type of speci alty).
- Military.
- Journalistic.
- Computer (including gaming, network jargon).
- Fidonet Jargon.
- Youth (including directions - school, student slang).
- LGBT.
- Radio amateur.
- Drug slang.
- Slang for football fans.
- Criminal (fenya).
Special variety
Professional jargons are words simplified by reduction or association of vocabulary used to denote speci alterms and concepts in a specific environment of specialists. These sayings appeared due to the fact that most of the technical definitions are rather long and difficult to pronounce, or their meanings are completely absent in the modern official language. Jargon words are present in almost all professional associations. Their word formation does not follow any special rules for slang. However, jargon has a pronounced function, being a convenient means for communication and communication.
Jargon: examples used by programmers and Internet users
For the uninitiated, computer slang is rather peculiar and difficult to perceive. Here are some examples:
- "Windows" - Windows operating system;
- "firewood" - drivers;
- jobat - work;
- "failed" - stopped working;
- "server" - server;
- "keyboard" - keyboard;
- "software" - computer programs;
- "hacker" - program cracker;
- "user" - user.
Thieves slang - slang
Criminal jargon is very common and peculiar. Examples:
- "malyava" - letter;
- "pipe" - mobile phone;
- "ksiva" - passport or identity card;
- "rooster" - a prisoner, "lowered" by prisoners;
- "bucket" - toilet;
- "urka" - a prisoner who escaped;
- "fraer" - a person who is at large;
- "crosses" - prison;
- "godfather" - head of the security unit in the colony;
- "goat" -prisoner collaborating with the colony administration;
- "zariki" - dice for playing backgammon;
- "absentee student" - a girl who met in the colony;
- "lean back" - free yourself after imprisonment;
- "filter the market" - think what you say;
- "hostess" - head of the penal colony;
- "nema bazaar" - no questions;
- "out of air" - ran out of money.
School slang
Jargon is peculiar and widespread in the school environment:
- "teacher" - teacher;
- "historian" - history teacher;
- "classwoman" - class teacher;
- "kontroha" - test;
- "homework" - homework;
- "fizra" - physical education;
- “nerd” is an excellent student;
- "spur" - cheat sheet;
- "pair" - deuce.
Youth slang: examples
Jargon used by teenagers:
- "Gavrik" - a boring person;
- "chick" - girl;
- "dude" - guy;
- "pick a chick" - seduce a girl;
- "klubeshnik" - club;
- disco - disco;
- "throw show-off" - stick out their dignity;
- "base" - apartment;
- "ancestors" - parents;
- "to crackle" - to talk;
- "Umat" - excellent;
- "Otpad" is wonderful;
- "clothes" - clothes;
- pret - love it.
Features of foreign vocabulary
English lexicology has three synonymous terms: cant, slang, jargon. To date, a clear separation between them has not been established, but areas of their use have been outlined. So, cant denotes the conditional vocabulary of certain social groups, such as thieves' slang or school slang.
The jargon mark is present in the dictionaries for specific technical terms, that is, it corresponds to the Russian subspecies of professional jargon.
Also jargon, cant and slang denote colloquial expressions and vulgar words. They are characterized not only by a peculiar environment of use, but also by violations of grammar and phonetics of all existing literary norms.
In English, jargon is cant and jargon, which include individual words, phrases and turns of speech. They arise both under the influence of entire social groups and thanks to individuals.
English jargon is often present in works of artistic style when conveying the characteristics of characters. Usually the author gives an explanation of the used slang words.
Many words that were originally only colloquial means have now won the right to be used in classical literature.
In modern English, jargon plays an important role in communication between representatives of different professions. Especially often you meet them in the student sphere, the field of sports, among the military.
It is worth emphasizing that the presence of jargon, their unreasonable use inclogs the language in everyday communication.
Jargon translation
Dialects and slang expressions are familiar to many linguists and translators. Although there is a lot of generalizing information about them and scientific works, today there is a special lack of information on how to correctly and adequately translate the translation of these lexical units.
An important point in the selection of Russian-language counterparts: do not forget that jargon is inherent in specific social strata and has a certain connotation. Therefore, it is important to find a way to interpret them in order to convey the feelings or concepts inherent in the original source.
In today's language, jargon has become widespread in all walks of life, the media, films, and even literature. Forbidding their use is pointless and ineffective, but it is important and necessary to form the right attitude towards your speech.
