VARIATIES OF LANGUAGE I

SLANG, JARGON, ARGOT, CANT

By :
Erwan sholeh
Rudi Romadloni
Zaenul Arifin
Susilo umar Dani

English Department
FACULTY OF TEACHING TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
2010


VARIATIES OF LANGUAGE I
SLANG, JARGON, ARGOT, CANT

SLANG
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the
speaker's dialect or language. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things
considered taboo (see euphemism). It is often used to identify with one's peers and, although it
may be common among young people, it is used by people of all ages and social groups.
Indicators and characteristic
Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo (see
euphemism). It is often used to identify with one's peers and, although it may be common among
young people, it is used by people of all ages and social groups.
Defining slang
Few linguists have endeavored to clearly define what constitutes slang. Attempting to remedy
this, Bethany K. Dumas and Jonathan Lighter argue that an expression should be considered
"true slang" if it meets at least two of the following criteria:
It lowers, if temporarily, "the dignity of formal or serious speech or writing"; in other
words, it is likely to be considered in those contexts a "glaring misuse of register."
Its use implies that the user is familiar with whatever is referred to, or with a group of
people who are familiar with it and use the term.
"It is a taboo term in ordinary discourse with people of a higher social status or greater
responsibility."
It replaces "a well-known conventional synonym". This is done primarily to avoid the
discomfort caused by the conventional item or by further elaboration.
Slang should be distinguished from jargon, which is the technical vocabulary of a particular
profession. Jargon, like many examples of slang, may be used to exclude nongroup members
from the conversation, but in general has the function of allowing its users to talk precisely about
technical issues in a given field.





The Examples
American slang
Dude, pal, Buddy : man or friends
Airhead : stupid person
Mad : angry
Cop : police officer
Big cheese : a very important person
British slang
Bobby : police officer
Mad : Insane
Broke : No money
Trampy: disgusting
Jammy : Lucky



JARGON
Generally speaking, jargon, in its most positive light, can be seen as professional, efficient
shorthand. The word "jargon" can be traced to 14th century Old French, but the actual origin is
unknown. Jargon is derived from the fourteenth century term for twittering or warbling of
birds, which in turn has the root garg from which also stem such words as gargle, and
gurgle. The original meaning was to make a twittering noise or sound,but by modern
standards, it has three derivations. One current or modern definition of jargon is an outlandish,
technical language of a particular profession, group, or trade. Another meaning is
unintelligible writing or talk. Yet another definition is specific dialects resulting from a
mixture of several languages. Since the reoccurring problem with jargon is that only a few
people may understand the actual terminology used by different groups, this may explain its
origin from twittering which, of course, would be misunderstood by most people. However, a
jargonaut, one who studies jargon, may claim that jargon was invented simply as a professional
shorthand, developed out of convenience rather than intentional trickiness.
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity,
profession, or group, terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific
activity, profession, or group. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science
requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of
the Enlightenment he continued, "It seems that one ought to begin by composing this language,
but people begin by speaking and writing and the language remains to be composed.
In other words, the term covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or
who have a common interest. Much like slang,

it can develop as a kind of short-hand, to express
ideas that are frequently discussed between members of a group, though it can also be developed
deliberately using chosen terms. A standard term may be given a more precise or unique usage
among practitioners of a field. In many cases this causes a barrier to communication with those
not familiar with the language of the field. As an example, the words RAM, bit, byte, CPU, and
hexadecimal are jargon terms related to computing.

Indicators and characteristic
Jargon is commonly used by groups that have a similar interest, like trades and/or professions.
However, it can be used by people involved in sports or other casual groups. Most people
associate jargon with the medical or law professions rather than everyday conversations. People
may use jargon to leave an impression of intelligence or to confuse a person.
Examples
Indonesian Criminal
Mangsa, means the target/things
Bapak, Means the police
Ayam, means female prey
sikat, means attack or take
Americans Thieves
Chruzo : a term to call jewelry (diamond, gold and pearl)
Bleir : a term to call a cop
Rowl : a term to instruct someone to escape.

Argot
Argot is a secret language used by various groupsincluding, but not limited to, thieves and
other criminalsto prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is
also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby,
job, sport, etc.
The author Victor Hugo was one of the first to research argot extensively. He describes it in his
novel, Les Misrables, as the language of the dark; at one point, he says, "What is argot; properly
speaking? Argot is the language of misery."
Bruce Sterling defines argot as "the deliberately hermetic language of a small knowledge
clique... a super-specialized geek cult language that has no traction in the real world." For
example: "He philosophized and recited baseball statistics in a Brooklyn argot that was fast-
fading."
The earliest known record of argot was in a 1628 document. The word was probably derived
from the contemporary name, les argotiers, given to a group of thieves at that time.
Under the strictest definition, an argot is a proper language, with its own grammar and style. But,
such complete secret languages are rare, because the speakers usually have some public language
in common, on which the argot is largely based. Argots are mainly versions of other languages
with a part of its vocabulary replaced by words unknown to the larger public. For example, the
term is used to describe systems such as verlan and louchbem, which retain French syntax and
apply transformations only to individual words (and often only to a certain subset of words, such
as nouns, or semantic content words).

Such systems are examples of argots clef, or "coded
argots.
Indicators and characteristic
The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field
of study, hobby, job, sport, etc.
Examples
Indonesian Criminal
Mangsa, means the target/things
Bapak, Means the police
Ayam, means female prey
sikat, means attack or take

Americans Thieves
Chruzo : a term to call jewelry (diamond, gold and pearl)
Bleir : a term to call a cop
Rowl : a term to instruct someone to escape.


CANT
Cant is the jargon, argot or cryptolect of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead
people outside the group.
Indicators and characteristic
Cant is often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group
Usage
The Thieves' Cant was a feature of popular pamphlets and plays particularly between 1590 and
1615, but continued to feature in literature through the 18th century. There are questions about
how genuinely the literature reflected vernacular use in the criminal underworld. A thief in 1839
claimed that the cant he had seen in print was nothing like the cant then used by gypsies, thieves
and beggars. He also said that each of these used distinct vocabularies, which overlapped; the
gypsies having a cant word for everything, and the beggars using a lower style than the thieves.
In June 2009 it was reported that inmates in one English prison were using "Elizabethan Cant" as
a means of communication that guards would not understand, although the words used are not
part of the canon of recognised cant.
The word was also been used as a suffix to coin names for modern day jargons such as medicant,
a term used to refer to the type of language employed by members of the medical profession that
is largely unintelligible to lay people.
[1]

Barallete, from Galicia, Spain
Bargoens, from the Netherlands
Bron from Len and Asturias
Fala dos arxinas, from Galicia, Spain
Fenya from Russia
Gacera, from Spain
Germana, from Spain
Grypsera, from Poland
Klezmer-loshn, from Eastern Europe
Lunfardo, from Argentina and Uruguay
Javanais, from France
Louchbem, from France
Meshterski, from Bulgaria
Polari from Britain
[6]

Rotwelsch, from Germany
Thieves' cant, from Britain
Verlan, from France
Xriga, from Asturias

Example
Beggar : nyuwon sewu le, kulo nyuwon welas asihe sampean, niki kulo dereng
nedha mulai wingi.
Person : Mboten wonten mbah
Beggar : Sak ikhlase mawun, nyuwon tulung
Person : Mboten
Beggar : Ojo medit le, kualat koe engko