5. MARCO REFERENCIAL
5.2. MARCO TEÓRICO
5.2.2. TECNOLOGÍAS DE LA INFORMACIÓN Y LAS COMUNICACIONES
Due to the aforementioned obstacles to the quantitative analysis- of lexical phenomena, it has not as yet been possible to carry out
systematic studies or contextual and stylistic variation in this
field. However, some evidence on this matter is available.
of. Appendix,
There exist, of course, characteristic of a very here is only in such exp at least some members of and is confirmed by pars
numerous trade and ; ■ restricted social : xocsions as have gs. ' the public at larg
oral experience in
pro fess i.onal j argons
group,
but my interestineu acceptance among e.
fogota and Cali. (6)
Q6 -
Informant II, an unusually fluent and. willing speaker, is an
interesting case© In the first conversation recorded with him there is a remarkable switch from a formal style at the beginning, marked by use of Ud©, formal syntax, long sentences, some semi-learned vocabulary and seriousness of tone, to a casual style in the latter part of the conversation marked by use of tit, informal style, short sentences interspersed with interjections and much joking and * laughter© This casual style also characterised later conversations with him, The occurrence of slang- vocabulary in the early formal section is nils it gradually increases as the conversation. continues until in the casual final section it reaches a high level, which was maintained during subsequent conversations9
Other lower class .informants showed a similar though less extreme stylistic variation© In .a formal style which most adopted when
being recorded slang occurrence is very lev/, vrhile if would generally rise steeply in unrecorded informal conversation©
Middle class stylistic and contextual variation is also-striking in those cases where it was possible to observe informants in a variety of situationsc for example, informants 16 and 17 when lecturing, or informants 19 and 110 when conducting an interview, although apparently using a fairly informal style k1• , did. not employ slang vocabulary
f s) as they habitually did in truly casual speech among friends x .
(?) Joos’s ’consultative’ style (eh© 111), Labov’s ’Style B* (1976c s 79-80),
(3) Joos also considers slang one of the defining features of s ty 1 e t £“ i’ / &
ao
There is clear evidence then that among both ‘lover and middle classes slang is a. feature of c&fnxal speech and not of formal speech«, .
Answers to the question whether the range of contexts to be defined
as ’casualr and ’formal’ varies significantly between classes must
await the development of techniques for analyzing extralinguist,ic
variables and techniques r< lexical elicitation*
9«4 ® Slang and education
We have seen above (Section 7*1®) that one of the most important
functions of slang is as a vocabulary stretcher ■« a means for bringing a greater range of experience within the scope of our limited
vocabulary* It seems not unreasonable to suppose then that the more limited the vocabulary of a group, the greater will be their tendency to develop an extensive slang usage thereof* Moreover, since slang .is frequently used to give concrete expression to abstract concepts (of* Section 4*2«3«) it seems likely that those groups who do not control an extensive abstract terminology will make greater use of
this type of speech, .
If we assume with it
that education, and the levels of literacy which go is one of the major factors in the development of
vocabulary, and the determining factor in the development of abstract terminology, then the above suggestion Is verified* If we look at the figures for educational levels in Rebolo{ the lower class sector of
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O -O
Barrauquilla. where most of the lower class informants (and anonymous
informants) live, we find that of the population over five years of
age 5-UO4 percent have only primary education and 20,64 percent have
no education at all We have seen that a large part of slang
vocabulary is created by the lower class and used more by them than
by the middle classj it can therefore be said ’that the greatest inventors
and users of slang are people with little or no formal education and
a consequently restricted vocabulary. This notion is further
supported by the similarities which were established •*n Chapter 6
between slang and other forms of linguistic expression whr’oh are
characterized by independence of formal education,
The question whether habitual use of slang rather than sore formal or
abstract vocabulary has any effect on the individual’s prospects for success in formal education is much mere difficult to answer. As we have seen in Chapter 4» theories which claim that the capacity of lower class children for forming cognitive structures is adversely affected by the type of language they speak, are not supported by the evidence; on the contrary, all the evidence suggests that lower class language is as well adapted to the formation of such structures as middle class language.
However, it does seem probable that such class language differences
(10) Bala and Mendoza s 140, The same authors inform me that there is no evidence bo suggest that these figures differ -widely from those for other 'Jewer class sectors of the city,
(11) of, Barnes for some good examples of a break-down in teacher-pupil, ccmnunicatien due to the use of complex or abstract language on the part of the teacher.
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who is generally middle classc This may have serious consequences In alienating the child from the school activity and lowering the - teacher’s expectations of him/her, which have been shown, to have
(' 1 ? )
great influence on the child’s performance x ~/* There is
therefore an urgent need for some form of linguistic training for teachers so that they may cope with the difference better). their own speech and that of their lower class pupils without jumping to any false conclusions about the cognitive capacities of the latter.
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CHAPTER 10 * TUS CORPUS
10 o1© A, note ,pn, presentation
Each entry in the corpus takes the same form* The word or phrase to be analyzed appears at the head of the entry immediately followed by its slang meaning rendered into English; this is generally in the form of a description in. standard English followed by the English slang equivalent where there is one© Then follows a list of derivative ' forms, if any, and, below that, quotations from any ro'evant entries'’
in the dictionaries and reference books consulted, The Real Academia Espanola, Alonso, Santamaria and Sundheim, which provide comparison with the standard and with earlier Barranquilla usage (cf, Sections 1,2*1© and 1*2®2, above) are mentioned whenever they give an entry
for the expression under consideration* The comment ’no fig,’ indicates that they recognize the word or phrase but do not give any figurative sense for it; ’no related sense’ indicates that they do give a
figurative sense or senses but none related to the sense under discussion* No entry in BRAE or Alonso, of course, infers that these sources do not recognize the existence of the expression, while no entry in
Santamaria or Sundheim merely that they do hot recognize them as used in any special sense in America or on the north coast of Colombia respectively. Other sources are referred to only where they give a sense related to the Barranquilla slang sense, and are presented in the order given in the list of abbreviations, i,e, grouped according to the country to which they refer. Ail relevant Colombian references are mentioned; for other countries if more than one writer gives the
same sense only the first is mentioned, References to geographical distribution are placed outside the inverted commas for countries<
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inside them for regions.
After these references, an example of Barranquilla usage is given; one
(1)
example for each sense discussed ' 7 and one for each derivative form
mentioned. Letters and numbers after the examples refer to informants
and other sources listed below (Section 10,5®)* In some examples, I
have attempted to represent a very typical Barranquilla intonation pattern
involving a very heavy stress on the /u/ of un and una by doubling or
trebling the vowel, e.g. me da uun dolor (v„ chiquito, el).
Following the example is an analysis of the semantic processes involved
in the slang use of the expression (cf. Chapters 2 and 5 above) and of
any secondary effects thereof (cf. Chapters 5 and 4)« Any local or
group-specific aspects of the reference (cf. Chapter 7) are mentioned
next, followed by a class categorization which refers to the general
distribution of the usage (cf. Chapter 9) not to the example in the
entry, (the two generally coincide but not always).
The classification of tenor and vehicle (cf. Chapter 5) follows, and
then any further comment such as, for example, comparison with
expressions used in other areas. Comparative forms given at the end
of each entry, except where otherwise stated, refer to other entries
in the corpus which are used in the same sense.
Entries are alphabetized by head word. Phrases including both noun
and verb appear under the noun, e.g. muela, dar, except in the case
(l) In a few cases I have given more than'offe-example “ for a single sense, where I have felt this to be necessary for clarification of the meaning.
104 ~
of invariable formulae which appear in their accustomed order,
e.g. mamar gallo.
10. 2. List of abbreviations
a) Dictionaries and reference books (for full details see Bibliography)
DRAE — Real Academia Espanola Ca - Calcano
A - Alonso H - Hildebrandt
Su — Sundheim P - Pino
S - Santamaria BN - Bendezil Neyra
Cu - Cuervo BA - Bonilla Amado
DP - Di Pilippo Gu - Guarnieri
P1I - Fldrez (1955) Te - Terrera
PHI . - FlcSrez (1957) L - Lomas
P1III - Fldrez (1969) Tr - Trejo
P1IV - Fldrez (1975) M - Malaret
Bol - Bolanos Ba - Barker
Gon ~ Gonzdlez 0 - Omstein
W - Wagner Co - Corominas
LR - Ledn Rey Bei « Beinhauer
GI ~ Gdmez de Xvashevsky Bes ~ Besses
A1 - Alvarado Ce - Cela
b) Place names
A - Antioquia Ast - Asturias
Am — America Bog — Bogota
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Arag. Aragdn Arg. — Argentina
Cald. - Caldas C. Am. - Centro America
Col* - Colombia C. R. - Costa Rica
Cimd. - Cundinamarca Ecuad. - Ecuador
Guat. - Guatemala Hond. Honduras
Mex. - Mexico Kav. - Navarra
Pan* - Panamd P. R. - Puerto Rico