On the question of defining the concept of "slang"

It is said that slang is not a harmful language, but rather a necessary part of the system of modern speech. It is constantly changing, evolving, and can be instantly formed and disappear forever. All changes in the language associated with the appearance of slang are based on the simplification and understanding of spoken language. Slang itself is a living and dynamic system that is used in various areas of human life. This can be in many different areas of culture. After all, in recent times, almost no one and nothing can do without some so-called "slang". From foreign works, In particular V.Burke's reference book, which is indicative, characterizes literature at almost all levels of General speech. He wrote: "Slang was invented as an antidote to grammar. The rigid school formalism was softened by the frivolous and sometimes obscene democracy of street slang, that eccentric and undisciplined language of disrespectful youth. It is difficult to disagree with the opinion of V.Burke, since "slang" can be called a completely obscene speech that is used in everyday life. But it is absolutely useless to fight it, because it becomes clear to us that "slang" is an integral part of the cultural layer. But it is worth noting that "slang" should not be confused with other layers of non-literary vocabulary, it is an independent phenomenon in the language.

Thus, under youth slang, we mean a set of constantly transforming linguistic means of high expressive power, which are used in the communication of young people consisting of familiar, friendly relations. There are several points of view related to the problem of allocation, without separating slang from a number of others, both as a concept and as a term in internal linguists. Some researchers deny the existence of slang. They attribute the existing slang words of different lexical and stylistic categories.

For example: I.R.Halperin in his article "About the term "slang", referring to the uncertainty of this category, usually denies its existence. His argument is based on the results of research by English lexicographers, mainly on their experience in compiling English dictionaries, which showed that the same word in different dictionaries has different linguistic recognition. The term "slang" in English means:

• -    the speech of a socially or professionally excluded group in contrast to the literary language;

• -    a variant of colloquial speech (including expressively colored elements of

this speech) that do not coincide with the norm of the literary language. Slang consists of words and phraseological units that originated and were originally used in separate social groups. Slang reflected the holistic orientation of these groups. Having become common, these words mostly retain an emotional and evaluative character, although sometimes the "sign" of the evaluation changes.

However, it is not possible to study slang exclusively from the point of view of a linguistic researcher; the phenomenon is not static, but multifaceted. It is also worth noting that slang is present mainly in oral speech. Evidence of the interest of the Soviet language psychological and translation circles in slang issues is the work of G.A.Sudzilovsky. In the section devoted to the concept of "slang", G.A.Sudzilovsky notes that the term "slang" usually combines a variety of concepts. Among the most significant distinctive features of slang, Sudzilovsky includes the following:

• 1)    Slang is a lexical phenomenon.

• 2)    Slang refers to non-literary vocabulary.

• 3)    Slang is a dictionary specific to spoken language.

• 4)    Slang is a dictionary that has an emotional connotation.

• 5)    Slang is characterized by a certain familiar color.

• 6)    Slang is usually called all sorts of joking, ironic, and other expressions. Slang can be divided into well-known, commonly used little-known and narrowly used. Slang is characterized by limited intelligibility. Due to this abundance of distinctive features and conventions of the concept of "slang", many linguists and speech psychologists usually prefer to avoid other concepts and do not use the term "slang".

However, since almost all American and English dictionaries have SL droppings, (slang), you need to know this concept to understand what slang is.

"The most significant characteristic of slang overlaps with a defining characteristic of jargon: slang is a marker of in-group solidarity, and so it is a correlate of human groups with shared experiences, such as being children at a certain school or of a certain age, or being a member of a certain socially definable group, such as hookers, junkies, jazz musicians, or professional criminals. (Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, Forbidden Words. Cambridge University Press, 2006)

"Slang serves the outs as a weapon against the ins. To use slang is to deny allegiance to the existing order, either jokingly or in earnest, by refusing even the words which represent conventions and signal status; and those who are paid to preserve the status quo are prompted to repress slang as they are prompted to repress any other symbol of potential revolution." (James Sledd, "On Not Teaching English

Usage." The English Journal , November 1965)

"The downtrodden are the great creators of slang…Slang is…a pile of fossilized jokes and puns and ironies, tinselly gems dulled eventually by overmuch handling, but gleaming still when held up to the light. "(Anthony Burgess, A Mouthful of Air, 1992)

English and American linguists also understand that the concept of "slang" is too big, but, nevertheless, they continue to use it because of the lack of another. John

S. Farmer writes: "What is slang? In fact, I haven't established this, and I haven't been able to offer any definition that covers this entire area of the dictionary that needs to be kept in mind." Farmer further quotes slang researcher Murray, who claimed that "it is impossible to define slang" at all.

At the same time, as noted above, many scientists recognize this term. For example, I.V.Arnold writes about slang as follows: "the expressed emotional, evaluative expressive character has a special, genetically heterogeneous layer of vocabulary and phraseology, called slang, which is used in colloquial speech and goes beyond the literary norm." I.V.Arnold also gives the following definition: "Slang is called rude or comic purely colloquial words and expressions that require novelty and originality".

In the dictionary of foreign terms, A.N.Bulyko, following Ozhegov, gives very similar definitions: "Argo is a special language of any small social closed group... (for example, thief a.)"; "Jargon is the speech of a social group, full of words and expressions peculiar only to this group and incomprehensible to the rest of the people (for example, an acting lady, a sea lion)]; "Slang words or expressions in oral speech that are characteristic of people of certain professions, for example, sailors, artists, etc." "The great Oxford English dictionary" defines slang as: "a purely colloquial language that is considered below the standard of speech of educated people, and consists either of new words, or of General words used in special senses", as well as "a set of special lexemes used by a group of people belonging to the lower strata of society and having a bad reputation".

Interestingly, from a scientific point of view, interpretation of slang can be found in the article by Stuart B.Flexner: "American slang, a term underlying the name of this dictionary are words and expressions that are used concerning a significant part of wide layers of the American people or that he understood, but, according to most, is not suited to "good" use of them in speech". In the article quoted by Stuart B. Flexner gives eloquent data. According to the author, the General lexicon of the" average American " has about 20,000 words.

Of these, about 2,000 words are slang. Therefore, slang accounts for 10-20 percent of the total lexical stock. It should be noted that this lexical stock, according to Stuart B. Flexner, although known to be fully "middle American", is rarely used completely in real speech practice. In particular, Stuart B.Flexner confirms his conclusions with the following data.

In 1997, the American linguistic magazine "Ask a linguist "(#7) published an article about what" slang " is and what the meaning of this concept is. "Slang is a complex and lively form of language, interesting to linguists not only for its forms, but also for the reaction of people, both to hugging and rejecting slang. Slang often occurs as a form of intra-group communication and attempts to identify with friends, family, social class, occupation, ethnic group, or older men. Here, slang is considered, on the one hand, as a language of "purely personal" nature, which makes it "incognito" for the uninitiated, and on the other hand, as an indicator that allows you to characterize a particular person as a member of a certain group.

Some linguists consider the concept of "slang" within the boundaries of the psychological direction in linguistics.

Slang is understood either as a complete synonym for the word jargon, or as a jargonized colloquial speech close to such entities as interjargon, general jargon (slang), or vernacular. And, in addition, it is recognized as the antipode of the literary language.