The use of slang and its main aspects

To the ordinary man, of average intelligence and middle-class position, slang comes from every direction, from above, from below, and from all sides, as well as from the center. What comes from some directions he will know for slang, what comes from others he may not. He may be expected to recognize words from below. Some of these are shortenings, by the lower classes of words, whose full form convey no clear meaning, and are therefore useless to them. There is a strong tendency to shorten everything that is possible. So the words: dinosaurs, armored, termination, graduate, technological, exhibition, exposition, doctor, fabulous, demonstration, criminal, homosexual turned into dino, armo, termo, grad, techno, exhibit, expo, doc, fab, demo, crim, homo. The word ecstasy developed into “xtc”. This tendency of the substitution of the long words with the capital letters were established during 80's by the rock-groups which used shortenings in the names of songs. So, abbreviation “xyz” means, “examine your zipper”/22/.

Another set of words that may be said to come from below, since it owes its existence to the vast number of people who are incapable of appreciating fine shades of meaning, is exemplified by nice, awful, blooming. Words of this class fortunately never make their way, in their slang sense, into literature (except for dialogue). The abuse of “nice” has gone on at any rate for over the century. But even now we do not talk in books of a “nice day”, only of a “nice distinction”. On the other hand, the slang use makes us shy in different degrees of writing the words in their legitimate sense: “a nice distinction”, we write almost without qualms; “an awful storm” we think twice about; and as to “a blooming girl”, we hardly venture it nowadays. The most recent sufferer of this sort is perhaps chronic. It has been adopted by the masses, as far apart at least as in Yorkshire and in London, for a mere people who know better, after which it may be expected to succeed awful.

So much for the slang from below; the ordinary man can detect it. He is not so infallible about what comes to him above. It is safe to say that the half-dozen words are all at present enjoying some vogue as slang and that they all come from regions that to most of are overhead. “Phenomenal” is from metaphysics, epoch-making is from the Philosophic Historian, “true inwardness” is from Literary Criticism, “cad” is from the Upper Classes. Among these the one that will be most generally allowed to be slang-cad- is in fact the least so; it has by this time, like mob, passed its probation and taken its place as an orthodox word, so that all who do not find adequate expression for their feelings in the orthodox have turned away to bounder and other forms that still admit to emphasis of quotation marks. As for the rest of them, they are being subjected to that use, at once over-frequent and inaccurate, which produces one kind of slang. But the average man, seeing from what exalted quarters they come is dazzled into admiration and hardly knows them for what they are /22/.

By the slang that comes from different sides or from the center we mean especially the many words taken originally from particular professions, pursuit, or games, but extended beyond them. Among these a man is naturally less critical of what comes from his own daily concerns, that is, in his view, from the center. People whose conversation runs much upon a limited subject feel the need of new phrases for the too familiar things.

Show-business workers, although they have largely shed the raffish image of their roving and carnival past, are still a fertile source of slang. Some sources of the slang are entirely or relatively new. Examples of this are the computer milieu and the hospital-medical-nursing complex. In the first case and exciting technological inundation is at the base, and in the other, as in so many other trends of our era, the reason is television /4/.

Sports also make a much larger contribution, with football and even basketball not challenging but beginning to match baseball as prime producer.

World Wars I and II probably gave us general slang than any other events in history.

Railroad slang has been replaced though on a lesser scale, by the usage of airline workers and truck drivers. The jazz world, formerly so richly involved with drug use, prostitution, booze and gutter life, is no longer so contributory, nor has rock and roll quite made up the loss, but taken as a whole, popular music - rock, blues, funk, rap - are making inroads /3/.

2 THE USE OF SLANG

2.1 Different kinds of slang

Slang words, like jargon, are social in character. They are not regional. Almost every social group in Great Britain and the US uses slang. But unlike jargon, slang is not a secret code. Its aim is not to preserve secrecy.

There are different kinds of slang depending on its social orientation. The group studied most persistently is the criminal underworld itself, including the prison population, whose "cant" or "jargon" still provides a respectable number of unrespectable terms. There are special terms of such undercultures as those of hoboes, gypsies, soldiers and sailors, police, drug narcotics addicts, jazz musicians and devotees, athletes and their fans, railroad and other transportation workers, immigrant or ethic population cutting across these other subcultures.

Criminals and police (cops and robbers) still make their identical contribution, and gamblers continue to give us zesty coinages.

Teenagers and students can still be counted on for innovation and effrontery. Yet college slang is not a complete language. College slang does not contain terms for everything the students discuss. However, items that are frequently encountered by college students or are important to college life are often given slang symbols. There are many terms to say something is good or bad and to evaluate persons positively or negatively. College slang is also descriptive and contains many symbols for: food or eating, effective or ineffective performance, relationships, intoxication or college places /24/.

The preliminary data indicate that students do slang because it is cool. Slang is cool in several different ways. First, it is cool in the sense of being "hip" and in style. Using slang artfully is a kind of performance and shows that the speaker is in tune with the time. Slanging says: “I am a cool dude".

Second, slang is cool in the sense of being acceptable. Students do not slang all of the time. Students almost always deny that they use slang intentionally, but they do intentionally slang in the sense that they assess the circumstances and people involved in the communication and choose to use slang or not to do so.

Typically, slang is used in informal environments and avoided in formal settings (like work or the classroom). This is because the use of slang in such circumstances could result in the speaker being evaluated negatively and the desire to avoid the negative evaluation is high among college slang speakers.

Slang terms can be efficient shorthand ways to express concepts. To say, "That party was da bomb" is more than merely saying it was a very good party.

Third, slang is cool in the sense that it is fun. Slanging is creative and often humorous. Slanging can be a form of play. Slang may be entertaining and amusing to both the speaker and the listener.

The most popular term of the moment is "da bomb". It is found to be extremely popular among current college students. So..."da bomb" works pretty hard.

If to look over time, "cool" would have to be the candidate for the hardest working title. "Cool" has been recurring in college slang since, at least, the 1960's. That is pretty cool!

"Trip" is a chameleon. It means "a very good or very bad experience".

However, it probably made its appearance in college vocabulary in the 1960's. The most common use of "trip" these days involves a characterization of something strange or extreme: That dude's trip". Beyond that "trip" can indicate actual outrage or raging.

For example: "He tripped when I told him the concert was gonna to be two hundred dollars".

"Trip" can also imply that someone is acting out of character.

For example "Dr. Smith is always on time but today he was tripping and came to class ten minutes later".

“Trip” can signify not vaking sense.

For example: “I know I am going to fail the test because I was tripping when I was writing the essays”.

“Trip” can be used to indicate disagreement.

For example: “Why are you tripping about my idea?”

It can also imply a common state for college students, being overwhelmed.

For example: “I have got four midterms this week so I am tripping”.

“Trip” can refer to the state of excitement and craziness.

For example: “I always trip out when I see "Star Wars".

“Trip” can be used to describe someone who has the characteristics of being intoxicated (on drugs or alcohol).

For example: “Everybody at the party was tripping".

The notion of a "trip" as a very pleasant experience seems to have faded from college slang.

Another term with a rainbow of meanings in college slang is "dog". It indicates an unattractive female. Youth used it around the turn of the century to mean careful dressing and the word "dogs" was used in order to indicate "feet". Today college students use "dog" in many ways.

For example: my dogs are barking=my feet are hurting;

my boss dogged me for being ten minutes late=my boss criticize me sharply;

did you see his date? She is a dog=she is unattractive one;

they were dogging me about my ride=they were testing me.

There are some terms that were popular in the early 90's but are clearly old now. Some slang words do have staying power. Terms that cab does not found in 1990 are still popular among the college students /25/.

According to the journal of the American Medical Association the development of a typical adolescent includes a craving for individuality. The journal's studies show that one-way teens find individuality is in the uniqueness of their speech. Many teens, believe today's slang is used to keep adults at bay while building a sense of unity among peers. Several teens use slang because it is a tongue that allows them to communicate with each other while they assert a sort of angst-ridden independence from their parents.

To view the problem of slang fullier it is necessary to mention that there is a great number of kinds of slang. The military, naval, merchant, marine slang terms exist. World Wars 1 and 2 gave us more general slang than any other events in history. The railroad slang is widely used by the airline workers and truck drivers. The jazz musician kind of slang gives the way for the rest kinds, such as rock, blues, funk, rap, reggae, and the others.

Except for the kinds having mentioned above there is a great number of the other groups contributing slang terms. They are narcotics users' slang, prostitutes' slang, beggars' slang, scientific slang, etc.

Slang is improper, but it also says something about society.

2.2 The stylistic use of slang

2.2.1 The use of slang in the dictionary

There is a great number of slang words in the English language. Almost every day new slang words are born and die, migrate from slang to the standard language or vise versa. People widely use slang words in every-day conversations, newspapers, magazines, etc. But not all of the existing slang words are used. So, how not to lose the words that are not in great use.

Dictionaries come to existence in order to keep every slang word that has ever appeared. In linguistic any corpus or body of vocabulary is worth recording. Linguistics, lexicography is like a science in that its values have to do with accuracy, completeness, and demonstrability rather than with moral or social good /6:4/. “Dictionaries are popularly thought to have strong influence. They are thought to give validity and authority to their entries, and therefore to have social and moral impact” /6:3/.

The first slang dictionary was published in 1785 and was called “A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar tongue”. Since that time the scholars have been collecting and recording slang in order to capture for our descendants the differing elegancies of standard language. In other words, dictionaries contain almost all the slang words that have ever appeared. In the present research we selected slang words according with the social groups and studied the frequency of their appearance in the dictionaries. The base for the present research comes to be 2286 examples which were taken from the following dictionaries:

1. “American Slang”, by Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.

2. “New Dictionary of American Slang”, by Robert Chapman L.

3. “The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang”, by John Simpson.

The results of the investigation are indicated in the table 1.

Having analyzed the usage of slang words referring to different social groups in the dictionaries the following results have been obtained:

In dictionaries slang words referring to narcotics appear more frequently than slang words referring to other analyzed groups of slang (35%). According to the present data we can conclude that drug addicts' world happens to be the major contributor of slang words than the other subcultures. In other words, this group of slang comes to be the main source of slang.

Here some examples of slang words usage referring to narcotics are represented.

“I've had two joints in my hand…but I never smoked even one”/17/.

In this example the slang word “a join” has the meaning of “marijuana cigarette”.

“I don't think anybody knew anyone who had kicked it.”

Here the slang word “to kick it” is appeared in the meaning of “to rid oneself of narcotic addiction”.

“You've got to get M to get that tingle-tingle”/4/.

In the present case the big letter “M” means “morphine”.

“You got a hot shot, you are dead”/17/.

Here the slang word “hot shot” has the meaning of “a narcotic injection that is fatal because of an impurity or poison.”

“My wife was a little grasshopper herself”/28/.

In the present sentence the slang word “grasshopper” has the meaning of “a person who smokes marijuana.”

“How we s'pose to get off with no water to mix the stuff with”/4/.

Here the slang word “get off” is appeared in the meaning of “to get relief and pleasure from a dose”.

“He has suggested that some of our recent Presidents were acid freak”/17/.

In this case the slang word “acid freak” has the meaning of “a person who uses LSD, esp. one who uses drugs heavily or habitually.

From the present examples it is clearly seen that slang words referring to narcotics are mostly used in order to name the things related with drug addicts.

The frequency of appearance of slang words referring to the underworld group of slang is also worth paying attention. It takes the second place (23%) among others. So, underworld can be also considered to be a very important source of slang.

Here we can present some interesting examples of usage of slang words referring to underworld that can be met in some dictionaries.

“Where would a hot can of corn like Dillinger hide out /4/?

In the present example the slang word “hot” is used in the meaning of “wanted by police”.

“What they call “the nut”, payoffs to the police”/17/.

Here the slang word “nut” means “any illegal payoff to a police officer”.

“The surprise award was a put-up job”/4/.

In the present sentence the slang word “Put-up job” has the meaning of “a prearranged matter”.

“There would be a lot of loose quiff we would meet”/28/.

Here the slang word “quiff” is used in the meaning of “a promiscuous woman”.

“The FBI's suspect was a master paperhanger, the last of a breed”/17/.

In the present case the slang word “paperhanger” is appeared in the meaning of “a person who passes counterfeit money”.

“The cops had gotten a rumble that gangsters were holed up”/4/.

Here the slang word “rumble” has the meaning of “information given to the police”.

“People got shoved off for their money”/17/.

In this sentence the slang word “shove off” is used in the meaning of “to kill”.

It is very interesting to mention that slang words referring to the underworld group of slang mostly name impolite, rude things related with such unpleasant things as prostitutes, murders, misdemeanors, petty offences, etc. In other words this group of slang words contains only the words that have negative meaning.

A social group that contributes the least amount of slang words is police group of slang (9%). Policemen being more educated have no need in creation of slang words. They have their own professional lexicon. In this case we can agree with the statement of most of the scholars that slang is mostly created by uneducated people, which is proved with the results of the present research.

Here are some colorful examples of usage of slang words referring to the police group of slang.

“Brick agent, the federal infantry who…knocks on the door”/28/.

In this example the slang word “brick agent” has the meaning of “an FBI agent of the lowest rank”.

“Thompson was catching in the squad room at Manhattan South”/17/.

Here the slang word “catch” is used in the meaning of “to do desk duty, answering the telephone and receiving complains”.

“The cops cooping in a police car at the corner”/4/.

In the present sentence the slang word “coop” is appeared in the meaning of “to sleep while on duty; nap on the job, esp. in the police car”.

“He has a gun and might try to gease you”/4/.

Here the slang word “gease” is used in the meaning of “to shoot, to kill by shooting”.

“The sergeant complained that the patrolmen were not papering enough”/17/.

In this example the slang word “to paper” has the meaning of “to write parking and traffic tickets”.

“He was a good cop ten years, but never got a see”/28/.

Here the slang word “see” is used in the meaning of “recognition”.

“He made me the minute he saw me”/17/.

In the present sentence the slang word “make” is appeared in the meaning of “to make an identification”.

From the examples it is clearly seen that the slang words are not very expressive. They are neither negative nor positive. They are not used in order to be code words. They name the thing related with the work of police only. People who do not know the specific of their work cannot create and use slang words referring to police group of slang. And as a result this group of slang is not very numerous.

Such social groups as college students (17.5%) and teenagers (16%) are somewhere in the middle. They contribute almost equal quantity of slang words. There are a lot of young people and they take a half of the society. It does not matter if some of them criminals or drug addicts, all of them come to be teenagers or college students and contribute these groups of slang. The mentioned groups happen to be very numerous but not the major sources of slang words.

Here some interesting examples of usage of slang words referring to the college students group of slang.

“I really hit the eco final”/4/.

In the present example the slang word “hit” is used in the meaning of “to pass an examination with good grades”.

“They're afraid of getting hosed”/17/.

Here the slang word “hose” has the meaning of “to turn down, reject, snub”.

“He and LD had been jacking around in practice and LD fell on his leg”/4/.

In the present sentence the slang word “jack around” is appeared in the meaning of “to idle about”.

“We went downtown and had a kicking ass”/28/.

Here the slang word “kicking ass” has the meaning of “a good time”.

“On critical issues of fact and analysis he is out to lunch”/28/.

The slang word “out to lunch” is used in this case in the meaning of “insane, crazy”.

“The guard popped us as we tried to sneak in the back door”/17/.

In this sentence the slang word “pop” means “to catch”.

“I hate to punt, but I just don't have time to finish this job”/4/.

Here the slang word “to punt” is used in the meaning of “to drop a course in order not to fail it”.

The following examples can help to illustrate the usage of the slang words referring to the teenagers group of slang.

“One slurp of gin and he's in orbit”/4/.

In this example the slang word “in orbit” is used in the meaning of “having a free and exhilarating experience”.

“The bomb cannot be exploded by a single kook”/17.

Here the slang word “kook” has the meaning of “an eccentric person”.

“I dug right away what the kicks was, so I said, “Later”, and he split”/28/.

In the present sentence the slang word “later” is appeared in the meaning of “a parting salutation”.

“He swore he wouldn't mark if they caught him”/17/.

In this case the slang word “mark” is used in the meaning of “to inform”.

“I got mega homework tonight”/4/.

Here the slang word “mega” means “much”.

“Fold the table down, and generations of crud and mung apper”/28/.

In the present example the slang word “mung” has the meaning of “anything nasty”.

“I pigged out on a runny Brie”/4/.

Here the slang word “pigged out” is used in the meaning of “overeat”.

It is very interesting to mention that the slang words referring to the teenagers and college students groups of slang have nothing in common with the real meaning of the words. They come to be very interesting groups because slang words express casual attitude of the young people to the world, they add laughing effect to a sentence where they happen to be used.

The present research proves the statement of professor L. Kuleshova that the major part of slang originates from criminal world of drug addicts, robbers, burglars, criminals, killers, etc.

2.2.2 The use of slang in emotive prose

The English language contains a rich array of slang words and phrases. This can be particularly seen when examining the day-to-day language of an average speaker. Some words and phrases are perhaps not suitable for general consumption. It is worth stating that their inclusion is to provide a realistic representation of the language. Every slang word refers to this or that group of slang that represents different social groups. The groups studied most persistently are criminal underworld, narcotics, teenagers, college students, police. Slang words of these social groups come to be the object of the present research.

Every day and every moment people use slang words referring to different social groups. Some of the groups are used rarely but some of them-very often. What does it depend on? To investigate the frequency of usage of slang words referring to different social groups in emotive prose we studied fiction. The analysis of fiction proves that slang words are freely used in every-day life. Having a great thematic range the books reflect all spheres of social life. By definition the fiction deals with social conflicts, i.e. it has a stylistic ground and takes a special place in language. The language material has been selected from the following books: “Generation”, by Douglas Campbell Coupland and “The Death on a Casual Friday”, by Sharon Duncan. Both books come to be the modern representatives of the up-to-date usage of slang words.

The first book is devoted to the young generation and demonstrates the wide usage of slang words referring to the college students', teenagers', and drug addicts' groups of slang.

Being a very popular detective the second book contains a great amount of slang words that refer to the police and underworld groups of slang.

For our research we used 102 examples of slang words usage. Then we selected them in accordance with the social groups.

According to the statistic results slang words referring to narcotics (38%) are used more often than slang words referring to other social groups. They are used to name different kinds of drugs: Marijuana, Heroin, Ecstasy, etc. They also help to name the physical and psychological condition of people who are under the influence of drugs. For example there is no the suitable standard word to describe the person who is out of touch with reality. The slang word “freak” gives the sufficient information about such a person in short. This is one of the main reasons of using slang words in emotive prose. Slang words of the present social group are mostly used by young people because they go under the influence of drugs more than other age groups. Some of them come to be buyers and some of them are suppliers but all of them are in close contact with narcotics. They widely use slang words referring to narcotics in every-day speech in order to understand and be understood by their mates.

Here we can present the most colorful examples of usage slang words referring to narcotics.

“Martin was horrified that an employee had called the inspectors, and I mean really freaked out”/26:20/.

In this case the slang word “freak out” has the meaning of “to go out of touch with reality.” Here the slang word helps to describe the psychological state of the hero. The reader can understand that s/he behaves as a drug addict.

“…now she phones friends and relatives at 2:30 in the morning and scares them silly with idle, slightly druggy chat”/26:23/.

In the present example the slang word “draggy” has the meaning of “a narcotic user.” Due to this word we can understand that the girl takes drugs. The word helps to imagine the way she talks and behaves.

“…he is in London, England this Christmas, doing ecstasy and going to nightclubs”/26:54/.

Here the slang word “ecstasy” means “a variety of amphetamine narcotics.” It is used in order to name the special kind of drugs because there is no the suitable standard word to name this narcotic.

“He was weeping and I could only place my chin on his heart and listen-listen while he blubbered that he didn't know what happened to his youth, and that he had become a slightly freaky robot”/26:45/.

In the present example the slang word “freaky” is appeared in the meaning of “having a qualities of a freak-out”. Due to the usage of the present slang word the reader can imagine the behavior of the man. He seems to be unemotional, dependant person.

“…simply stood beside me while I spoke with the juggler”/27:5/.

The slang word “a juggler” means “a drug supplier, connector.” This word is used in order to give direct name to the seller of drugs. It also happens to be a code word in the conversations of drug addicts.

“The scent of freshly brewed coffee waved up from below and Elyse sniffed”/27:46/.

In the present example the slang word “to sniff” is appeared in the meaning of “to inhale a narcotic powder.” The slang word helps the reader to imagine the way the girl smells freshly brewed coffee. She smells it with pleasure as if drug addict smells narcotic.

“They all preferred to spend this night in this acid pad than to return in the mom-and-pop motel”/26:57/.

Here the slang word “Acid-pad” means “a place (flat) where LSD is taken.” The slang word helps to imagine the place the heroes spend night. Due to its usage we can imagine this place as a very terrible one.

Slang words referring to police group of slang are also widely used (25%) in every-day communication. The book “The Death on a Casual Friday” is devoted to the life of police. This kind of words is mostly used by the people related to police.

Here are some interesting examples of the usage of police group of slang.

“As I remember, Karen was spooked about the Sick Building business more than any of us”/26:18/.

The slang word “to spook” is used in the meaning of “to spy, to investigate.”

“But before I get a lawyer I need evidence: photos, recordings of his phone conversations, a bug or something”/27:43/.

In the present example the slang word “a bug” has the meaning of confidential information, which is got with help of electronic surveillance by installing hidden microphones.” Policemen use this word in order to be short.

“Either way, boss, looks like you got your work cut out for you”/27:65/.

Here the slang word “cut out” is appeared in the meaning of “main business, purpose.” The slang word is used in the conversation between two policemen.

“He looks squeaky clean for the first few pages”/27:65/.

In this case the slang word “squeaky clean” is used in the meaning of “perfectly clean, white.” It comes to be a specific name for the police term.

“I told him about you and he thinks spooks are cool”/26:68/.

In the present example the slang word “spook” is used in the meaning of “a spy”.

“He is furious that the feds might have a file on him”/27:87/.

The slang word “fed” is used in the meaning of “a federal government worker”.

“Nope, he got a booster rabies shot today”/26:76/.

In this case the slang word “booster” is used in the meaning of “a shoplifter”. This word comes to be a specific name for this kind of criminals.

Slang words that are contributed by underworld are not in wide use (5%). Such social groups as robbers, burglars, killers, etc. can be referred to this subculture. These words are supposed to be code words. The people use these words in order not to be understood. So, it is not a surprise that an average speaker does not understand slang words referring to underworld. That is why these slang words are rarely used in the text.

But there are some examples of slang words usage referring to the underworld.

“Oh, My God! It is plutonium! You brought plutonium into my house. This place is a waste dump now”/26:43/!

Here the slang word “a dump” has the meaning of “shabby or ugly place”.

“Check out the Vegas housewife on chemotherapy,” whispered Tobias to me and Dug, misguidedly trying to win our confidence through dump wisecracks”/26:41/.

In this case the slang word “wisecracks” is appeared in the meaning of “a joke”.

“His normally pink cheeks are a dove gray, and his chestnut hair has the demented mussed look of a random sniper poking his head out from a burger joint and yelling, “I'll never surrender”/27:68/.

In the present example the slang word “poke one's head” has the meaning of “to show up”.

“…and their biker-bitch chicks with pale green gang tattoos…”/26:96/.

Here the slang word “chick” is used in the meaning of “a woman”.

“Half the guys were either dead now or in a federal pen somewhere.” In the present sentence the slang word “pen” has the meaning of “a penitentiary prison”/27:64/.

Slang words referring to college students (18%) and teenagers (15%) groups of slang are in the middle. They are mostly used by young people. These words usually name the subjects somehow related with college, streets, pubs, relationships between young people. People who do not contact these things do not use such words and sometimes do not get acquainted with them and their meaning because the life of these slang words is usually short. These facts prove the low frequency of slang words usage referring to these social groups.

Here some colorful examples of usage of slang words referring to teenagers group of slang.

“Hi, Andy,” Elvissa whispers, bending down to peck me on the check.”/26:34/

In this case the slang word “peck” has the meaning of “to kiss”.

“… the buzz-cut love child, spoiled little monster who hands a microwaved dish of macaroni back to mum and commands, “There is a patch in the middle that's still cold. Reheat it”/26:51/!

Here the slang word “buzz-cut” is appeared in the meaning of “nice, lively”.

The word is usually used when speak about something with pleasure.

“I spied Matt Petersen. Looking like a bearded Norseman, stomping down the other side of the wide ramp, red toolbox in hand”/27:61/.

In the present sentence the slang word “stomp” is used in the meaning of “to move quickly”.

“But then, hey! Come 5 o'clock. I'd go nuts”/26:75/!

In this sentence the slang word “go nuts” is appeared in the meaning of “to have fun”.

“Her advisor was a dork”/27:43/.

Here the slang word “a dork” is used in the meaning of “an idiot”.

“Her brown stable boots were dusty, the kind my daughter Melissa wore for a year when she was eleven and horse-crazy and just before she discovered boys”/27:42/.

In the present example the slang word “Horse-crazy” has the meaning of “very young, girlish”.

The following examples demonstrate the usage of slang words referring to the college students' group of slang.

“Chill, boy. This sort of things is misdemeanor”/27:42/.

In this example the slang word “chill” is used in the meaning of “to relax”.

“Elvissa gathered the pooch after leaving the college”/26:48/.

Here the slang word “pooch” is appeared in the meaning of “information”.

“Thanks, god. I'm working tonight. Creepy as it may be, dreary as it may be, representative as it may be, work keeps me level”/27:26/.

In the present example the slang word “creepy” has the meaning of “disgusting, loathsome”.

“At Thanksgiving two years ago, after dinner my mother was bagging all of the dinner trash into a huge nonbiodegradable bag”/27:63/.

In this case the slang word “bag” means “to get rid of”.

“The staff were all bitching about commuting time”/26:57/.

Here the slang word “bitch” is appeared in the meaning of “to complain”.

“She shook her head, then hesitated, “Well, I've been hanging out with Gregg”/27:24/.

In the present example the slang word “Hang out” is used in the meaning of “to pass time.”

“She was dating a hot guy from Brazil who was in her math class; she hated economics and would probably flunk it”/27:53/.

In the present case the slang word “flunk” is used in the meaning of “to fail an examination”.

So, according to the present data we can conclude that slang words referring to narcotics and police groups of slang are used by everybody, while such slang groups as college students and teenagers are used by the limited part of society. Slang words referring to the underworld are rarely used because they commonly name the things related with criminals.

2.2.3 The comparison of slang words usage in the dictionary and emotive prose

The object of the present research is to analyze the frequency of slang words usage in different styles. To achieve the set object we selected slang words according with the different social groups from the dictionary and fiction. We analyzed the frequency of slang words usage within each of the styles. Here we try to compare the obtained results that are presented in the table 3.

From the table 3 it is clearly seen that in the dictionaries the slang group of narcotics (35%) is the most numerous one. It happens because nowadays the quantity of drug addicts grows every day, new kinds of narcotics appear. That is why this class of people needs new words in order to give names to new narcotics. It is well-known that slang words referring to the narcotics group of slang are widely used by the drug addicts in order the police not to understand them. We can suppose that drug addicts create new slang words when the existing words become well-known. So, this group of slang comes to be the main source of slang words. In emotive prose the words referring to the social group of narcotics (38%) are also used oftener than slang words referring to the other social groups. It also can be explained with a great amount of people somehow related with the world of narcotics. It does not matter if the person is a buyer or supplier s/he uses slang words referring to this social group in order to be on the colloquial level, understand his/her mates and be understood. In the other words these slang words are widely used in order to be the means of communication in the world of narcotics. At the same time some slang words referring to the group of narcotics help to describe psychological and physical states of the heroes.

In the dictionary the second place is taken by the slang group of the underworld (23%). This slang group also comes to be one of the main sources of slang words. This also can be explained with a great amount of killers, robbers, etc. Slang words referring to this social group come to be their code words that help them to be on the colloquial level and not to be understood by the others. But it is very interesting to mention that in emotive prose slang words referring to the underworld (5%) group of slang are used very rarely. Though there exist a lot of slang words referring to the social group of the underworld there are only few people who use them. The representatives of the underworld are not acceptable in the society and slang words referring to this group are not understandable for an ordinary speaker. That is why these slang words are rarely used.

Slang words referring to the teenagers and college students groups of slang take the middle position in both dictionary (16%), (17,5%) and emotive prose (15%), (18%). It is known that these kinds of slang words are created by the representatives of youth. Young people take a half of the society. These slang words usually name the subjects related with study, entertainment, relations between young people, their attitude to the world, etc. The people who are not in a close contact with the mentioned things cannot understand these words.

It is very interesting to compare the usage of slang words referring to the social group of police. In the dictionary these words appear very rarely (9%). Policemen are well-educated people and they have no need to create slang words. But in emotive prose the usage of these slang words is on the second place (25%). But it is necessary to mention that slang words referring to the present social group are mostly used in the conversations of policemen or when the things related with police are described.

CONCLUSION

In the present paper we attempted to investigate slang as a very complicated linguistic phenomenon. To achieve the mentioned object we studied the main aspects of slang: the origin of slang, the problem of definition, the ways of slang words formation, different kinds of slang and practical use of slang words.

The problem of definition of slang comes to be one of the main problems for those who study slang. There is a great number of definitions that define slang from different points of view. Summarizing all of them we can conclude that slang is a non-standard vocabulary, an extravagant part of language; it is the spoken form of the language and something, which cannot be met in the books but can be heard on the streets; it is also the instrument to escape the dull familiarity of the every-day life.

The present work proves that slang must be treated very accurately because the life of slang words is not very long. Usually when slang items stay in the general language, they become standard vocabulary. So slang may become "legal", but there is, of course, the reverse side. A lot of standard words find their ways into slang. Sometimes it is difficult to define the precise quality that makes an expression slang. It is often not in the word itself, but in the sense in which it is used. When speaking of soldiers who put down a rebellion, "put down" is proper enough. But it is slang when we speak of a remark, which "puts someone down".

Slang is used in all spheres of language: conversations, books, songs, and mass media. But the origin of slang is still uncertain. There are a lot of ideas about the place and reason of its appearance. Some scientists believe that slang originates from the underworld; some sources give the information that slang was created by the traders as the means to deceive the customers. But actually each social group contributed and still contributes slang.

In our research we studied the frequency of appearance of slang words referring to different social groups in the dictionaries and fiction. For this reason we selected slang words according to the social groups of narcotics, teenagers, college students, underworld, police. Having analyzed the obtained results we came to the conclusion that slang words referring to the narcotics group of slang appear in the dictionaries and fiction more frequently (35%); (38%) than the words referring to the other social groups. The second place is taken with the social group of the underworld (23%). Though in the every-day speech slang words referring to the present social group (5%) can be rarely met because this kind of slang words is hardly understandable by an average speaker. But the high frequency of appearance these two groups of slang words in the dictionaries proves the idea of professor Y.A. Kuleshova that a great part of slang originates from the world of burglars, killers, drug addicts, etc./1/. The social group of the police (9%) contributes the least amount of slang words. It also proves the fact that slang is mostly created by the representatives of the uneducated part of the society. But in fiction slang words referring to the present social group (25%) are in wide use. Slang words referring to the teenagers and college students groups of slang take the middle position in the dictionaries (16%), (17,5%) and fiction (15%), (18%). It happens because these slang words are created and used mostly by the representatives of these classes of the society.

In the present paper different reasons of slang words usage are presented. Slang words can be used to replace taboo phrases. Some people use slang to impress the others. Teenagers use slang words to seem cool, novel and not to be understood by adults. Sometimes due to the usage of slang words we can determine the social status of the speaker. The majority uses slang words just to enrich the language, to make their speech more colorful.

Slang is now socially accepted not just because it is slang, but because, when used with skill and discrimination, it adds a new and exciting dimension to language.

So slang should not be ignored or dismissed, even by those who do not like it. It is impossible to shut our eyes to the prominent part, which it plays in the language. It is the part of the language and cannot be treated a non-existent. We should develop a more objective and scientific attitude towards this gesture of language.

The results of the present research were successfully probated at the student conference in Pavlodar University and can be used for writing the reports and course papers on this topic. Also the present material can be used at the lessons of stylistics, lexicology, and speech practice in both: universities and advanced English classes at schools. This paper can help to create the teaching aids, textbooks, etc. Teachers and students might use the results of the present work for the further investigations.

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