PhD in Philosophy, Petrova Yulia Andreevna
Korotchenkova Anastasia
Vladimirovna
Rostov State University of Economics (RIPE)
Slang is one of ways of self-expression in any youth subcultures. All
pass through that age when the lexicon is hammered with the different
"words" having nothing in common with the literary language and the
general culture. Over time the majority of slang words consign to the past, but
people use some of them during all their life, even without thinking, whom and
when they were thought up.
In the 20th century, American youth slang underwent a
powerful influence of African-American vernacular. Jazz musicians of the 20s -
30s, rappers of the 80s - 90s, the counterculture of 50s, 60s, and 90s, all
this defined the popularity of youth slang of the 20th century.
Young generation does not use slang to conceal the meaning of their
speech from their parents and other people who were the members of other
subcultures. The advocate of the theory of slang and the author of the New
Dictionary of American Slang – Robert Chapman, gave a new standing of the
definition of slang and explained the importance of using slang among youth.
"The function of slang is to defend the infant ego against constant
assault and dismissal by the looming adults" and "youth use slang in
order to stay incomprehensible to the other"[1]. But now most young people
do not even use slang among adults. Teenagers use slang
as the means of separation of representatives of their subculture from another.
Slang serves the
important function identifying other young people as the members of one group.
In the Swedish
Nationalencyklopedin (NE), the usage of slang is
dominated by ‘reversed prestige’ among young generation. The function of slang is to note the
stylistic level of the situation and to show that a person is “a master of the
situation” [2]. In some way it is a “language play”, which shows the creativity
of a person, who uses slang in his or her speech. In such case formal language
transfers into inform, and shows the reference to the defining subcultural
group.
Also the slang of 20th-century
has very little words that are new, which means, that certain words are
cyclical: “groovy”, “mellow”, and “solid” all come to mind as the examples of
words that were popular among youth of the 40s, fell into disfavor in the 50s,
and then reemerged with a vengeance in the 60s. Similarly, words such as
“fly”, “tasty” and “sweet” were popular at the beginning and the end of the
90s.
How does this happen? Could we explain why the word “groovy” was so
thoroughly forgotten as a “big word” of the 40s and sounded so new when it
leapt into the spotlight in the 60s?
Robert Chapman points out that there is no single cause for the
reincarnation of slang "It's what the shrinks call ‘overdetermined,' which
is another way of saying we don't know." Such words as “dope”, “drag”, “freak”,
and “rap” assumed different meanings in different decades. Many words which we
think of as quintessential creatures of the 60s were coined much earlier, for
example such word as: “groovy”, (or, less commonly, "Groovie" or
"Groovey") is a slang colloquialism, popular during the 60s and 70s.
It is roughly synonymous with words such as "cool,"
"excellent," "fashionable," or "amazing,"
depending on context. First, this word appeared in the jazz culture of the 20s,
and meant a piece of music (its rhythm and "feel") [6].
Many slang words, which are used by youth today, are just not as new as
they seem. The following list of words seems so modern, that you can't
imagine them being uttered by someone at the beginning of the 20th
century. We may trace this tendency on such words as: “anxious” (40s),
“brutal” (40s), hung-up” (40s), “mellow” (30s and 40s), “solid” (40s),
“trucking” (40s), “cherry” (50s), or “flash” (60s).
The meanings of slang words in slang dictionaries:
1.
Brutal
(adj.) – bad; horrible;
tough. Example: “Oh Ben, your singing is brutal”.
2. Cherry –
something new or unused [3].
3.
Flash (adj.) – fancy, impressive, cool, showy. Example:
I don't like him, but he does
have a really flash car.
4.
Hung up – to be obsessed about something or someone. Example: I'm
really hung up on Anna! I can't get her out of
my mind! [4, 5].
Literature:
1. Tom Dalzell.
Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang.
2. Anna-Brita
Stenström. From slang to slanguage: a description based on teenage talk.
3. Robert
Chapman. The Dictionary of American Slang.
4. http://onlineslangdictionary.com/
5. http://www.kaplaninternational.com/
6. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=groovy&searchmode=none