Colloquialism

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Colloquialism (also called colloquial language, colloquial speech, everyday language, or general parlance) is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation among persons in friendship, familial, intimate, and other informal contexts. [1] Colloquialism is characterized by the usage of figurative language, contractions, filler words, interjections, and other informalities such as slang.

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In contrast to formal and professional communications, colloquial speech does not adhere to grammar and syntax rules and thus may be considered inappropriate and impolite in situations and settings where etiquette is expected or required. It has a rapidly changing lexicon and can also be distinguished by its usage of formulations with incomplete logical and syntactic ordering. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Explanation

Colloquialism or general parlance is distinct from formal speech or formal writing. [6] It is the form of language that speakers typically use when they are relaxed and not especially self-conscious. [7] An expression is labeled colloq. for "colloquial" in dictionaries when a different expression is preferred in formal usage, but this does not mean that the colloquial expression is necessarily slang or non-standard.

Some colloquial language contains a great deal of slang, but some contains no slang at all. Slang is often used in colloquial speech, but this particular register is restricted to particular in-groups, and it is not a necessary element of colloquialism. [7] Other examples of colloquial usage in English include contractions or profanity. [7]

"Colloquial" should also be distinguished from "non-standard". [8] The difference between standard and non-standard is not necessarily connected to the difference between formal and colloquial. [9] Formal, colloquial, and vulgar language are more a matter of stylistic variation and diction, rather than of the standard and non-standard dichotomy. [10] [8] The term "colloquial" is also equated with "non-standard" at times, in certain contexts and terminological conventions. [11] [12]

A colloquial name or familiar name is a name or term commonly used to identify a person or thing in non-specialist language, in place of another usually more formal or technical name. [13]

In the philosophy of language, "colloquial language" is ordinary natural language, as distinct from specialized forms used in logic or other areas of philosophy. [14] In the field of logical atomism, meaning is evaluated in a different way than with more formal propositions.

Distinction from other styles

Colloquialisms are distinct from slang or jargon. Slang refers to words used only by specific social groups, such as demographics based on region, age, or socio-economic identity. [15] In contrast, jargon is most commonly used within specific occupations, industries, activities, or areas of interest. Colloquial language includes slang, along with abbreviations, contractions, idioms, turns-of-phrase, and other informal words and phrases known to most native speakers of a language or dialect. [15]

Jargon is terminology that is explicitly defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, or group. The term refers to the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest. Similar to slang, it is shorthand used to express ideas, people, and things that are frequently discussed between members of a group. Unlike slang, it is often developed deliberately. [16] While a standard term may be given a more precise or unique usage amongst practitioners of relevant disciplines, it is often reported that jargon is a barrier to communication for those people unfamiliar with the respective field. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polish language</span> West Slavic language

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A slang is a vocabulary of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of particular in-groups in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. The word itself came about in the 18th century and has been defined in multiple ways since its conception, with no single technical usage in linguistics.

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In sociolinguistics, a variety, also known as a lect or an isolect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety. The use of the word variety to refer to the different forms avoids the use of the term language, which many people associate only with the standard language, and the term dialect, which is often associated with non-standard language forms thought of as less prestigious or "proper" than the standard. Linguists speak of both standard and non-standard (vernacular) varieties as equally complex, valid, and full-fledged forms of language. Lect avoids the problem in ambiguous cases of deciding whether two varieties are distinct languages or dialects of a single language.

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References

  1. ↑ Bańko, Mirosław (2006). Polszczyzna na co dzień (in Polish). Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. p. 84. ISBN   8301147938. OCLC   123970553.
  2. ↑ Kwiek-Osiowska, Janina (1992). ABC... polskiej gramatyki: leksykon szkolny (in Polish). Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego. pp. 101–103. ISBN   8370640486. OCLC   76290254.
  3. ↑ Buttler, Danuta (1982). "Miejsce języka potocznego w wśród odmian współczesnego języka polskiego". In Urbańczyk, Stanisław (ed.). Język literacki i jego warianty (in Polish). Wrocław.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ↑ Furdal, Antoni (1977). Urbańczyk, Stanisław (ed.). Językoznawstwo otwarte (in Polish). Opole: Opolskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk. Wydział Języka i Literatury.
  5. ↑ Buttler, Danuta (1977). "Polskie słownictwo potoczne". Poradnik Językowy (in Polish).
  6. ↑ colloquial. (n.d.) Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved September 10, 2008, from Dictionary.com
  7. 1 2 3 Trask, Robert (1999). Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics. Psychology Press. pp.  27–28. ISBN   978-0-415-15742-1.
  8. 1 2 Trudgill, Peter (2000). Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. Penguin UK. p. 17. ISBN   9780141926308.
  9. ↑ "NGS". German Department, Hull University. 1992. pp. 208–233.
  10. ↑ Trudgill, Peter (1999). "Standard English: what it isn't". In Bex, T.; Watts, R.J. (eds.). Standard English: The Widening Debate. London: Routledge. pp. 117–128. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009.
  11. ↑ Roger D. Hawkins; Richard Towell (2010). French Grammar and Usage. Routledge. p. x. ISBN   9780340991244.
  12. ↑ Šipka, Danko (December 2016). "Exclusion Labels in Slavic Monolingual Dictionaries: Lexicographic Construal of Non-Standardness". Colloquium: New Philologies. 1 (1): 4. doi: 10.23963/cnp.2016.1.1 . ISSN   2520-3355.
  13. ↑ "familiar, n., adj., and adv." . OED Online. Oxford University Press. 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  14. ↑ Davidson, Donald (1997). "Truth and meaning". In Peter Ludlow (ed.). Readings in the Philosophy of Language. MIT Press. pp. 89–107. ISBN   978-0-262-62114-4.
  15. 1 2 Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   978-1403917232.
  16. ↑ Lundin, Leigh (2009-12-31). "Buzzwords– bang * splat !". Don Martin School of Software. Criminal Brief.
  17. ↑ Fiset, J., Bhave, D. P., & Jha, N. (2024). The Effects of Language-Related Misunderstanding at Work. Journal of Management, 50(1), 347-379. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063231181651
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