Slang and Language The purpose of this research is to examine the

The principal lesson to be derived from the definitions of slang found in the instant research is that it is a form of symbolic language. To be sure, language itself is a symbolic form of communication, and there appear to be a number of theories of language as such. Nevertheless, slang is further symbolic for the reason that its usage may be said to stand in an informal way for more conventional concepts, objects, or names. Additionally, as will be seen hereafter, slang may be viewed as an emblem of the culture or subculture in which it is employed. In this regard, Fowler describes slang as a variant form of jargon, which he says is the name given to a whole range of words "that are in different senses interchangeable, and under it [jargon] the distinctions between them [types of jargon] may be pointed out."1 Fowler further distinguishes slang as a form of usage, describing it as "the diction that results from the favourite game among the young and lively of playing with wrods and renaming things and actions." He continues,

[S]ome invent new words, or mutilate or misapply

. . .
eems more likely to pass into the language of general usage when it is formalized by means of being reduced to the written word. In this view, once slang usage has been formally translated and/or transmitted via the symbols of the conventional culture, it has an increased chance of passing into common use. As more and more people read the slang expression "as if" it were entirely appropriate linguistic construction, aswriters of conventional language employ the slang expression for literary or emphatic effect, and as increasing credence is given to the slang expression, the source of the expression (for example, the streets of the ghetto) may disappear from immediate knowledge and the term or symbol assumes a legitimate place within the culture. The symbolic code of slang need not be metaphorical exclusively with regard to offcolor phraseology. Indeed the metaphorical form of Cockney diction serves as a concretely poetic expression which can readily pass into the common language. Ashley cites the term "getting down to brass tacks" as a Cockney form for the word "facts."8 This is at once a form of versification and a definite image for the abstraction of fact. There may be a pejorative connected with the Cockney designation tr
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2977
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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