OTHER TYPES OF SEMANTIC CHANGE
HYPERBOLE /hai'p3:bali/ = exaggerated expression
e.g. A thousand thanksl
LITOTES      /lai'tauti:z/ -> affirmative by negation of its contrary
emphasize a positive meaning
e.g. Not very clever. (=stupid), not a bad singer, not unhappy,...
EUPHEMISM /'ju:famizam/ = substitution of words of mild or vague meaning
for expressions rough, unpleasant or for some other reasons unmentionable, e.g. pass away (die), queer (mad), in the family way/in a delicate condition (arch.), (pregnant) base for politically correct (PC) English
POLITICALLY CORRECT ENGLISH
• Sapir and Whorf s hypothesis (c.f. Lucy, 2015)"
Language:   - reflects our society
- the major force in constructing reality
- change the way people behave - language referring to that behaviour
PCL   - potential to change society
- American university campuses 1980s
- grew out of the feminist movement 1970s
- brought about new sensitivity
- controversial subject, exaggerated/being laughed at
Areas of usage of PC language
• Groups which have less power (gender/ethnic/health ... groups)
e.g., cripple: handicapped/disabled/differently abled, spinster: single-by-choice, mankind: humankind, OAP - senior citizen, history - his/herstory ©
• Relationships: e.g., people living together: partners,
First Lady: presidential partner, unmarried mother: single parent
• Groups with a certain physical appearance, e.g., short - vertically challenged, fat: horizontally challenged, later: excessively round
• Jobs: e.g., dustman: refuse collector, housework: domestic labour
How to be politically correct
• Webber (2012) How to be politically correct:
do not use HE as a generic pronoun (only to men and boys) do not use SHE as a generic pronoun (only to women and girls) do not use THEY as a singular pronoun avoid phrases „he or she" „he/she"
do not use feminized nouns (e.g., manageress) when the normal noun (e.g., manager) covers both sexes
• Weber (2012) How to avoid it:
bypass the problem (2nd p. you or 1st p. pi. we)
use plural nouns and plural pronouns
(e.g. Users should provide their login names and passwords)
avoid pronouns completely (The teacher should know the pupil.)
rephrase the whole sentence
PC language
• Gender-neutral writing
- using language that does not stereotype either gender or refer to only one gender when that is not the writer's intention
- do not forget about this when writing your paper
• Interesting note:
The term PC itself is no longer politically correct, instead it is recommended to use:
non-oppressive, culturally sensitive, inclusive language.
SLANG
• informal kind of vocabulary
• people who know each other well
• not usually written
• considered out of place in formal communication
• psychologists: swearing = form of mental relief and helps avoid stress
boozer = Br.E. inf. pub/person who drinks a lot of alcohol prat = Br.E. inf. fool/stupid, e.g. You look a real prat in that outfit, shove off= Br.E. inf. go away, e.g. Shove off and leave me alone, bust = Br.E. inf. broken, e.g. Sorry I'm late, my watch has bust\
Slang/argot/taboo words for/of prostitutes:
any sex escort, street walker, night walker,
mostly woman    hooker, whore, call girl, nussy, tramp, out girl, working girl,
woman of 'abilities', masseuse /mae's3:z/ mostly men        rent boy, man whore, player, gigolo brothel/bordello cat house
SLANG
• things that people feel strongly about, expressive form of language e.g. family relationship, friendship, drink, drugs, social conflicts, physical and mental illness, death, e.g.
God, we got smashed last night! (drunk) I've got some sort of bug. (illness) He's lost his marbles, (gone mad)
When I kick the bucket, I want you all to have a big party, (die)
- members of particular social and professional groups
- used between people who know each other well/share the same social background
- not a convenient communicative strategy for foreigners
(impression that you are claiming membership of a group that you do not belong to/the slang may be out of date)
- wait until one has become accepted as part of a community -> using their slang naturally and correctly along with the rest of their language
JARGON & ARGOT
JARGON /'d3Ci:gan/
words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group of people, and are difficult for others to understand/technical language of a special field/obscure use of specialized language
e.g. medical/legal/computer/employer/wine connoisseur/,kona'ss:/ /academic/military/classy talk/tough guy talk, etc.
Try to avoid using too much technical jargon. ARGOT/'a:gau/
words and phrases that are used by a particular secretive social group of people and not easily understood by others, originally denoting the jargon or slang of criminals (secret languages)
e.g. argot of teenagers, footballing argot (e.g. FC Baník argot),...
TABOO WORDS & SWEAR WORDS
• words considered dangerous
used in certain situations/by certain people constrained by the culture/religion/generation/social group,... indispensable part of primary (family and school) education -> constitute emotional barriers
• Taboo words
In order not to break social rules, people refer to a taboo topic indirectly using a euphemism, e.g. pass away (die), push up the daisies (be dead), adult video (pornography), expectorate (spit), tired and emotional (drunk),...
the stronger the taboo, the larger the variety of substitute forms
• Swearwords
taboo words used in swearing - the meaning of a swearword is always different from its literal (taboo) meaning.
Classification of Taboo Words
Four main groups of taboo words and expressions:
1) RELIGION, e.g. damn, hell, God, Jesus, Christ, ... (used to blaspheme)
2) PARTS OF THE BODY, e.g. arsehole, tits, ...
3) SEXUAL ACTIVITY, e.g. f*** (have sex with), sod (homosexual/sodomite),
bastard (child of unmarried parents), ...
4) ELIMINATION OF BODILY WASTES, e.g. shit, bullshit, fart, ...
Difference between taboo and swearwords
TABOO WORD
What are you doing f***ing in my bed?!?
SWEAR WORD
What are you f***ing doing in my bed?!?
Functions of swear words
Swearwords
taboo words used in swearing - the meaning of a swearword is always different from its literal (taboo) meaning.
Exclamation of annoyance, e.g. God domnl/My God!/S***!/F***! Exclamation of surprise, e.g. Oh my God! Look at that! Surprised question, e.g. Who/What/Why the hell... Insult (nouns), e.g. You bastard. You son of a b****! Insulting request to go away, e.g. F*** off! Violent refusal, e.g. Get stuffed!
Intensifiers (adjectives/adverbs), e.g. damn(ed), bloody goddam,...
Model example S*** (after Crystal)
• Positive (wonder, sympathy, embarrassment, etc.), e.g. Aw SI a cute little S, Sheiiitl, Hot SI,    (drugs - cannabis), e.g. Want some S?
• Negative (personal abuse), e.g. He's a little S!
• Negative (dirty activities), e.g. S-work (menial housework)
• Negation, e.g. Not give a S!
• Trouble, e.g. be in the S
• Fear, e.g. S scared
• Deception/tease, e.g. NoS\
• Nastiness, e.g. That's a S-ty thing to say!
• Rubbish, e.g. bull-S
• Euphemistic, e.g. sugar
ARCHAISMS /'aikeiizam/
• It is an old word or phrase no longer in general spoken or written use; the use of such a word or style.
• Typology:
- lexical archaisms, e.g. behold, hither, smite, yonder,...
- grammatical archaisms, e.g. ye, thou shalt, hath,...
- semantic archaisms, e.g. curious - careful, skilful, nice - foolish,...
• Usage:
- historical poems, novels, plays, e.g. King Arthur, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe,...
- children's historical stories, fairy tales, nursery rhymes,...
- religious and legal language
- trade names and commercial advertising
- place names
Diminutives /di'minjativ/
• a word or an ending of a word that shows that somebody/something is small, e.g. piglet (= a young pig), kitchenette (= a small kitchen)
TYPOLOGY
• native English diminutives
e.g. bullock, kitten, puddle, reddish, Wills, bitsy, kiddo (pi. kiddos),...
• loanwords and native English words using foreign-language diminutives
e.g. ON darling, F-L cockerel, N-F jail, squirrel, It-L burrito, cigaretee, tajita. senorita, wallet, Charlotte, F leaflet, hamlet, Sc-D cookie, Debbie, D catkin, napkin, F/Sp/lt/L nucleus, particle, armadillo, organelle, bureau, bambino, zucchini, mini- (commercial compounds, e.g. minibar, minibus, minimall, miniskirt - 1965, minivan,...)
• Scots
in Lowland Scots diminutives are frequently used,
e.g. suffixes -ie, -ock, - ockee, - ag; -Ie, -er (for frequentative or diminutive emphasis); kin (less frequent after -ie, -lin): burnie (small burn), Nessie (Loch Ness Monster),...