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Prof. S. Jagadesan

1. Etymology:

If one were to be told that one is “a nice chap having a lot of fun�, one would not take offence for chap and fun today are harmless words. But they are bound to provoke, if understood in their 18th century sense of “dealer in stolen goods� and “a trick to cheat� respectively. There were words like chap and fun forming part of the vocabulary of slang. The etymology of the word slang has not been clearly traced or established. One view is that slang is cognate with Norwegian ‘slengeord� meaning ‘offensive language�. Eric Partridge suggests that slang is language ‘slung about�. It might be a variation or perversion of ‘slang� (Old Norse slyngva - to sling) He quotes the line from a 14 century text “The bold words that he did sling� (1400) to lend support to his theory. Unconventional expressions like “to sling words/language� meaning “to jeer or taunt, or to use offensive language� carry the colloquial echo of the term ‘slang�. The etymology of the word, however, is obscure, and uncertain and a matter of conjecture.

2. Slang Dictionaries

The word slang came into use in 1756. In the 18th century ‘slang� and ‘cant� were identical in sense. They referred to the secret language of those engaged in nefarious, antisocial activities like kidnapping, thieving, picking the pocket etc. The word ‘cant� has since got differentiated in meaning and assumed a different colouring. Three dictionaries listing cant words - Dictionary of the Canting Crew (anonymous, 1700), A new Canting Dictionary (anonymous, 1725) - and Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Grose (1785) - were published in the eighteenth century. A collection of slang words giving the approximate or probable dates of their entry into language and providing illustrative quotations is found in Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1937; 1961) and The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang by John Ayto and John Simpson (1992).

3. Motives underlying the use of Slang

H. W. Fowler says “Slang is the diction that results from the favourite game, along the young and the lively, of playing with words and renaming things and actions. Some invent new words or mutilate or misapply the old for the pleasure of novelty and others catch up such words for the pleasure of being in the fashion. Many slang words and phrases perish; a few establish themselves in either case, during probation they are accounted unfit for literary use�. (Modern English Usage); Eric Partridge has listed sixteen reasons for the use of slang. The impulses or motives; to mention a few, that prompt its, employment are unconventionality, typicality, vivacity of expression, intimacy of communication, individuality, and verbal ingenuity and inventiveness. Slang is “the plain man’s poetry� (Earle Welby). The use of slang is a protest against staleness in expression.

4. Categories and evolution

Three categories of slang as defined in The Oxford Dictionary of English corresponding to the three stages of its evolution may be identified. In the mid-eighteenth century, Slang was a kind of code language, “the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low and disreputable character�. This is the language of the underworld called argot. In the late eighteenth century, slang signified “the special vocabulary or phraseology of a particular calling or profession�. This meaning of slang is now conveyed by the word jargon - ­medical jargon, legal jargon, insurance jargon, astrologer’s jargon etc. Since the nineteen century slang, strictly so called, has been the “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�. Argot, jargon and slang serve the purpose of binding the members of a subculture or a fraternity.

5. Attitude to Slang: Slang and Standard Language:

The general attitude to slang through the centuries has been shifting. Its reception was mixed and at no period was its use universally and totally supported or deprecated. Before 1850, slang was a generic term referring to all “non-standard English except dialect� (Eric Partridge). Dr. Johnson dismissed slang words as “low� words and excluded them from his Dictionary. “The language of Slang is the conversation of fools� (J.R. Thomas: 1825)�.

“While slang is essentially part of familiar and colloquial speech, it is not necessarily incorrect or vulgar in its proper place� (H.C.K. Wyld quoted by Eric Partridge). “As style is the great antiseptic, so slang is the great corrupting matter� (Fowler). “Low, vulgar, unmeaning language� (Webster: 1828). “Speech and writing characterized by the use of vulgar and socially taboo vocabulary and idiomatic expression� (Random House Dictionary). It is not as if slang words are permanently condemned to their low or disreputable status. Many of them have found their way into standard vocabulary. “Slang is a kind of vagabond language, always lying on the outskirts of legitimate speech, but continually straying or forcing their way into the most respectable community�. (Words and their ways in English Speech�: Greenough and Kittredge).

6. It is difficult to determine when exactly a slang word qualifies to become respectable. In the process of passing into the common stock of accepted words, many originally slang words have undergone change of meaning and/or shed their disreputable association. There are words in Modem English which are taken for granted and whose “cant� or “low� origin is not even suspected (Eg.) beef up, bet, chap, fun, hitlist, humbug, idiot box, nab, simpleton, spill the beans. The slang term ‘bloody� is used as infix for the sake of emphasis: abso-bloody-lutely and abso-blessed-lutely is formed on that model. Slang covers different fields of activity - army, navy, schoolboy slang, money, drink, sex etc. Cockneys are supposed to be the originators of ‘slang� in which words are spoken with the spelling reversed. Thus penny becomes ynnep “Ereht era on selppa yadot� is slang for “There are no apples today�. It is said that this form of slang enables the London shopkeepers to communicate among themselves without being understood by the customers and passers-by.

7. England, North America, Australia and the English speaking countries in general have contributed to the growth of slang. In a sense, slang is a localised form of speech intelligible within a specific group. It can be identified with reference to the country of its origin and occupational/social group in which it enjoys currency. In the present day, the circulation of slang is facilitated by popular fiction, films and plays. The breakdown of social barriers may be another factor promoting their spread. Slang lends a touch of novelty, familiarity and snappiness to expression and makes communication effective, easy and informal. Slang has come to stay as a linguistic fact and English cannot shut its door on slang. Its influence has to be reckoned with in any objective, scientific study of English vocabulary. A.C. Baugh says that slang will be a source from which English will continue to be fed in the future.