The term jargon has a number of interrelated meanings, but there are two basic uses for this term which are relevant to this course. Firstly, it is used for special languages associated with a trade, profession or well-defined social sub-group; secondly, it is applied in a critical or negative way to language that seems unnecessarily obscure, pretentious, or over-complex, in particular where the suspicion is raised that the ultimate purpose is to hide the truth. The term also has a complex history within language studies: it is used for example to refer to trading jargons, i.e. what we might call today a trading pidgin (a simplified or highly modified version of a language used as a means of simple communication for trade). It has sometimes been used in a vague way to refer to linguistic varieties that are felt to be unrefined, mixed or unstandardized. In everyday English the term "jargon" has acquired negative associations, but one of the German equivalents, Fachsprache, means simply the language of specialists in a particular field or area. Jargons may be primarily technical, as in the expert terminology used in particular trades or professions (lawyers, engineers, doctors), or informal, for example the poetic, mythic or slang-like jargon used by taxi-drivers, police officers, prisoners, actors, gamblers, hospital workers, restaurant staff, and so on. This course focusses primarily on the first meaning of jargon, in particular on informal registers used “backstage” in a range of institutional and sub-cultural contexts,

 

This course aims to give students insight into an important aspect of the role of language in society. In this course we approach this topic through sociolinguistic issues such as language in relation to individual and group identity, institutional culture, language and power, language in the media, metaphor, and notions of social marginality and deviance. We also examine the close links between jargon and slang, and look at the relationship in terms of language change. Through the study of language and jargon we can gain an understanding of the fundamental role language plays in the everyday social world.

 

Students learn how to plan and implement an innovative research project or essay, and how to analyze jargon data in terms of sociolinguistic issues such as language change and language and identity, as well as in terms of metaphorical and other meanings. While the course offers an academic introduction to issues in the study of jargon it must be emphasized that this is primarily a research course. Students must produce advanced quality research work which shows the ability to collect, organize and analyze linguistic data in the light of sociolinguistic theory, or to produce an essay which draws on aspects of the theory of jargon or the history of jargon studies.

Students attend a two-hour weekly lecture-workshop session. In addition, students will be offered individual or group consultation times to help them with their essays or project design and implementation, or their essay planning. These arrangements will be finalized once the number of students registered is known.

 

This course is assessed by 100% coursework. The primary requirements are (1) an in-class test (10%), (2) a mid-term research project or research essay (40%), and a final research project which may be done individually or in a small group (50%). Research projects should involve the collection and analysis of original data, from interviews, on-line sources, popular culture, published and unpublished material, etc., with application for ethical clearance where appropriate. A research essay involves the in-depth investigation into the history of a particular jargon or a particular tradition/topic of jargon research. Final research projects may be done singly or in groups of up to three.

 

There is no textbook. Students will be given extensive handouts and notes to assist them in their studies. Readings are available from journals such as American Speech, Journal of Sociolinguistics, and Language in Society.
 

Selected sources

Allen, Irving Lewis (1993) The City in Slang. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Burke, David (1993). Biz talk 1: American business slang & jargon. Los Angeles: Optima Books.

Burke, Peter and Roy Porter (1995). Languages and jargons. London: Polity.

Chaika, Elaine (1980) Jargons and language change. Anthropological Linguistics 22: 77-96.

Coleman, Julie (2004) A History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries. Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dalzell, Tom (1996) Flappers 2 Rappers. American Youth Slang. Springfield; Merriam-Webster.

Green, Jonathon (1984) Newspeak : a dictionary of jargon. London : Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Green, Jonathon (1987). Dictionary of jargon. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Halliday, M.A.K. (1976) Anti-languages. American Anthropologist 78: 570-584.

Johnson, Michael (1990). Business buzzwords : the tough new jargon of modern business. Oxford: Blackwell.

Partridge, Eric (1949) A dictionary of the underworld: British & American; being the vocabularies of crooks, criminals, racketeers, beggars and tramps, convicts, the commercial underworld, the drug traffic, the white slave traffic, spivs. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.