Stylistically marked groups of words

The majority of words in the language are stylistically neutral. They can be used in any style (at random without causing any effect.) On the other hand, there are stylistically marked groups of words which can roughly be divided into literary (formal) and colloquial (informal).

Literary/bookish layer includes words of bookish character alien to colloquial speech, poetic diction, archaic words, terms, foreign words. When used outside elevated styles they produce humorous effect or characterize individual speech.

e.g. The expression escaped me inadvertently. (Wodehouse)

Poetic words are used exclusively in poetry:

e.g. “realm”, “foe”, etc.

Archaic words are no longer in active use. They are either replaced by other words: “thee”, “methinks” or used in literature for creating the genuine atmosphere of historic events. Due to their elevated or solemn nature they are a common feature in poetry and the Bible.

Terms denominating different phenomena, processes, concepts are used in the style of scientific prose. Words of this layer constitute International Scientific Vocabulary (or ISV). E.g. cyberspace, haploid, monoploid.

Marginal layer. Due to their novelty, words can go either to literary or to colloquial layer. It depends on a social group which accepted them or an author who used them in his/her book. What’s more, once they are in a new language with new surroundings, they can migrate within the boundaries of the recipient language from one social dialect to another.

Foreign/loan words came from other languages and were not phonetically or graphically assimilated in English. Foreign accent/image makes them unusual and attractive. They are used in diplomacy, politics, newspaper style and literature. Mostly they are French or Latin words with their specific pronunciation: e.g. “coup d’etat”, “sang-froid” (cool-headedness).

Neologisms comprising the fourth item offered for the students' investigation are represented only by the group of stylistically coloured individual neologisms (or nonсе-words, or occasional words), which are created on he basis of the existing word-building patterns but have validity only in and for the given context. Usually they are heavily stylistically loaded, their major stylistic functions being the creation either of the effect of laconism, terseness and implication or that of witty humour and satire, e.g. hole-in-the-wall means an automatic cash dispenser.

Colloquial layer includes words used in lively conversation and emotional description of events or feelings. They are more expressive than their neutral synonyms due figurative meaning or some element of unexpectedness or a humorous touch, e.g. She had darted at me, kissed me, and legged it from the room. (Wodehouse)

Slang is a group of highly expressive colloquial words of humorous character marked by the novelty of use. They come into the language with every new generation who exercise their creative talent and linguistic imagination. It’s a sort of protest against the wear and tear of words. Familiar words are used in new and unexpected meanings or acquire a strange but recognizable form: e.g. to bug/it gets smb’s goat=to annoy: what bugs me/really gets my goat is that he is always asking for money.

Jargonisms are words used by limited groups of people united either professionally or socially – students’ jargon, military jargon, etc. Eg. ‘Freddy’ for fighter controller , ‘Scotsman’ for a cable (in the Navy and Aviation).

Dialectal words, as it is well known, are introduced into the speech of personages to indicate their origin. The number of dialectal words and their frequency also indicate the educational and cultural level of the speaker (cf. Scottish dialect: aye=yes, kirk=church, brig=bridge, etc.).

Nursery words – “children’s” language, elements of which are used by adults to sound helpless, mockingly, flirting, etc. Eg. tummy, yummy mummy, yum-yum, etc.

Vulgarisms are coarse words with a strong emotive connotation not habitually used in polite conversation: e.g. damn, bloody, hell, etc.

The border lines between the layers of the vocabulary can be vague. For instance, the term firewall, meaning a computer or network device used to filter network traffic, was coined as technical slang.