Šnekamosios kalbos ir žargoninės leksikos paskirtis viešajame žurnalisto diskurse

126 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 REGINA KOŽENIAUSKIENĖ University of Vilnius AND THE PURPOSE OF THE WORDS INTRODUCTION In modern media, the distinction between public and private, between analytical and satirical genres is disappearing. The author of political commentaries, in pursuit of imagery, rhetorical persuasion, moves as far as possible on the border of this genre, which is characterized by unprestiged vocabulary (sometimes extremely harsh, vulgar): “[...] I tried to make it interesting for the reader to read, regardless of whether he agrees or objects. A figurative word, a phrase, a phrase was more important to me than a serious political line in many cases.”1 It is not possible to say that the political line is not important to the author. And the main source of a journalist’s speech – colloquial language, from which the jargon comes – “the most dynamic, constantly renewed variant of colloquial language” (Jakaitienė 2009: 198), in fact helps the author not to be satisfied with the template, to speak in a pictorial, colorful way, to seek a more intimate communication with the reader (I am your own)2, to be original, individual and sarcastic, angry or humorous. However, this article will not talk about the visuality of oral vocabulary, the aim of the article is to reveal the secret functions of such vocabulary in the public discourse of a journalist3, to recognize the authentic 1 Rimvydas Valatka. Pinching of the open nerve. Vilnius: Lietuvos rytas, 2005, 4. 2 Similarly, language culture specialist Rita Miliūnaitė writes about the supplement for young people of Lietuvos rytas magazine Mes kalbą: „...the penetration of slang elements into the public media is particularly noticeable. A large part of them consists of Russian jargon alongside English. [...] The jargon here is the distance between authors and addressees. [...] slangs are given both the function of identifying the interviewee with a certain group of society and the function of creating an image: I am like you, my language is no different from yours.” (See Miliūnaitė 2009: 75–76). 3 The article looks at discourse as a process in a specific situation – as a social action and as a linguistic means of communication, i.e. vartojamos ir be jokio pagrindo, ir kiek su ironija, siekiant patraukti skaitytojus, sumažinti as a complex phenomenon of communication, R. KOŽENIAUSKIENĖ. The purpose of the colloquial language and jargon vocabulary in the public discourse of the journalist is to show the voices of 127 other characters (usually politicians sitting at the top) or their imitation, how and why the author sometimes brings the language of the characters described closer to the vocabulary characteristic of “zeks”. The object of the study is the collection of political commentaries by Rimvydas Valatka Atviro nervo krapštymas (When quoting, mark the abbreviation ANK and the page number) and the following Monday commentaries by this author published in the daily newspaper Lietuvos rytas until October 5, 2009 – A. Kubilius' "national" agreement with B. Lubis. The research method is descriptive analytical. Key words: colloquial language, slang, vulgar vocabulary, jargon vocabulary, jargon phraseology, occasional phraseology, journalistic language ethics, public discourse, political commentary. The public texts of the journalist under consideration clearly distinguish the low-style spoken vocabulary, which is characterized by a strong emotional-expressive connotation. Of the spoken language words, the verbs are the most active part of speech used in political commentaries. In dictionaries they are usually described by special functional stylistic marks: flk., iron., jook., menk., niek., šnek., vulg. and so on. It is true that it is sometimes difficult to discern the clear boundaries of these statements, because what is vulgar almost always has a derogatory, derogatory, ironic connotation4. The following words found in the comments are Lithuanian, they are united by the fact that they are figurative meanings (in the dictionary these meanings are secondary). Many of them, e.g.: pracować, współpracować, wypełznąć, przespiąć, nierąkć, odkąpać, numoilić, odgrybać, zwinąć, are slang5 words. The author has used the following colloquial and jargon verbs on several occasions: apgauti with the meaning of “deceive”; to work – to compromise; apšvarinti – stolen; bluff – brag, lie, deceive; scrap – throw away; encompassing a broad linguistic and social context, allowing to describe the participants in communication (including the recipient himself) and the processes of creating and perceiving the language act. 4 Evalda Jakaitienė writes: “The concept of vulgarity is much broader. Vulgarisms are not only those words that have a strong negative connotation in relation to the interlocutor, but also other words of low stylistic sound, naming “unsightly, rough” concepts, which the society considers as unaesthetic” (Jakaitienė 2005: 257). 5 Semantic jargons are meant, which have crossed professional and social boundaries, entered the universal colloquial vocabulary; they are called a special term – slang. 128 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 sculpted – invented; to work out – to do foolish things; expel – drive out, throw away; Įkalti – to drink a lot (alcohol); not to cry – not to know, not to understand; stolen – to be stolen; nukalti – to knock down, to smite, to kill; muddle – steal, not return, hide; squeal – to squeal; doing something wrong; whistled – stolen; spit – to overtake, to surpass; prašvilpti – to release; probrukti – to secretly insert; putti(s) – to be angry, to rage, to quarrel; ruioti – to run from one place to another; collaborate – to completely spoil the matter; to make a mistake, not being able to do something; wrapped – twisted (deceived); jail – to earn; cut – deadly exhausted, exhausted. Due to the limited size of the article, I will quote only one other typical example, full of colloquial and jargon vocabulary: The same S. S.6, who was in prison for the fact that he smoked a considerable piece of currency for those times. The same S. S., whom the conservatives themselves stole and put in the prison for that. When power begins to slip from under his feet, an ex-robber fits in. With a hump? He's earned it, but he's his own, so he won't hurt his commanders. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 27) B. tą, R. aną. They have lost their shame, toadstool, to banish such a Sejm. All corners are buzzing. What are you talking about? What are you laughing at? Answer a simple question: which is the greater evil: the lying member of the Seimas A. B., who blows the door out of the dorm, or the security chief P. M.? [...] Although A. B. shot the dorm... (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 27) Conservatives and Liberals who consider themselves right-wingers are not crying at all. (Lrytas.lt 2009 10 04) There are also quite a lot of joking words of colloquial language – derogatory, insulting, ridiculous, even vulgar (nouns and adjectives), most often denoting the poor mind or behavior of politicians: plumprotis – a weak-minded man; ‘unripe’ means immature; a great man, but of little judgment; premature – what is not born in time, underdeveloped; šmikis – unreal; ass – not suitable; hungrybis – unfit, worthless, talkative; hunsnukis – a rascal, not fit for anything. The crisis of society seems to be eternal. There are no suitable figures in the Lithuanian political arena to deal with it. Wherever you look, there are only demolishers, narcissists, otherwise ticks on the body of the state and plump people jumping off the rails. (Lrytas.lt 2009 10 05) Because that's what we are. Uncritical. Still suicidally indulgent to any dogsnout, plump or v.-n., as long as it is "own". (Lrytas.lt 2009 07 02) 6 For ethical reasons here and elsewhere only initials of first and last name (words in bold font of the author) – R. K. R. KOŽENIAUSKIENĖ. The purpose of colloquial language and jargon vocabulary in the public discourse of a journalist 129 At the top of the Seimas, where even wine is officially banned, sits a disguised man who hasn’t dressed up since Easter. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 13) Rikiuojame. The Seimas will not find a better mushroom! (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 13) Less frequently used foreign words, e.g., „cypė“ – prison: In a normal state, for this alone, the prosecutors would at least try to familiarize the current European Commissioner, the entire Ministry of Finance and the four heads of the ruling parties with the theory and practice of „cypė“. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 13) The most pronounced semantic jargons from the conjugated parts of speech: piece – at least a thousand dollars, euros or litas; mushroom – fool, fool, fool; roof – backdrop, protection, cover; green – dollars. The same S. S., who was in prison for the fact that he smoked a considerable piece of currency for those days. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 27) Naive. If you already cut a mushroom, then with a dagger. If anyone deserves to sit at the top of the parliament of a totally decayed country, it is only a musmire – a red face with white spots and red eyes every morning and a white leg with black streaks of doctor’s mice. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 13) This punishment is for the fact that several fraudulent companies with the “roof” of Russian officials were caught with smuggling. (ANN 188) It is possible to believe that, as the Avia Baltika manager said, Helisota gave 15 thousand greens. (ANK 213) In the journalist’s texts there are many assimilated foreign words – Russian jargon7 words: breast – a hard, self-confident (man), expensive thing; otkatas (otkatininkai) – illegal interest tax on future profits; the portion of the goods or any other transaction that falls to the intermediary (instigator) for services; šestiorka (lit. six) – petty thief; a person performing small orders, unskilled or dirty work; a servant, a pusher; tupas – stupid; vsio zakonno (everything according to the law), plg. vor v zakonne (thief according to the law) – refers to a recidivist who follows the laws of thieves. Even worse, when a former dissident, a fighter for justice turns into a mafia “six”. „Vsio zakonno“ ketvirtuoju laipsniu ir papūskite jūs premjerui į uodegą. (ANK 302) (ANK 57) 7 See. Elistratov 2000; Mokijenko, Nikitina 2000; Dubiagina, Smirnov 2001. 130 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 In the comments are used slang emoticons that have recently spread in Lithuania: blin – to express various emotions (a euphemism of the Russian curse); dzin – it doesn’t matter to me, it’s the same for me, I don’t care at all; nafik – from Russian na fig, na figa, na figiščia (from fig, figa – shish, kukiš, dulia) – there is nothing for, who needs it; used to object, resent or deny something. Blin, if so, the High Seimas... (ANK 220) After all, A. B. knows that his fans are deeply mad whether he lied or told the truth. (ANK 161) Can the Seimas of such a country remain without a leader? Do we have such a right – to rob A. V. Nafik, to leave him without limousines, without security guards? (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 13) To the words of colloquial language8 the journalist also adapts the jargon phraseology characteristic of a certain social stratum: hang pasta, give a roof, a roof that has gone down, or more frequently vulgar colloquial phrases: put a cross, on the horseradish of foreign “rescuers” to drive to paradise, cover the naked butt, think with butts, spit greased. “What will remain for the budget? The spit is greased.” (ANK 211); ...those who are afraid of reform as the devil is afraid of the cross. (ANK 110) However, it is clear that Prime Minister D. T. and the liberals of the Polish Sejm think with their heads, and A. K. and the conservatives or liberals of the Lithuanian Sejm – at least with the buttocks of the accountants of the Ministry of Finance. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 01) Quite easily the author is able to occasionally use folk phraseologies: Well, and what, that the credit taken to set up the cafe is daily digging interest, and the budget does not receive taxes: not the official's pig, not his beans. (ANK 283) Any other person – God save us from plague, famine, war and the overthrow of A. V. – who replaces the Speaker of the Seimas on Tuesday will be only a blanket to cover the bare buttocks of A. K.’s power. Do you really need that handkerchief here? Do you believe that the disability of the government will disappear with the former Speaker of the Seimas? (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 13) Lithuania, like the greedy old lady in a fairy tale who wanted to ride to heaven on the horseradish of foreign “rescuers”, is now at a broken ledge. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 13) 8 Of the spoken language vocabulary used in the journalist's texts, only part was found in DLKŽ (2000), more was found in LKŽ. R. KOŽENIAUSKIENĖ. The role of colloquial language and jargon vocabulary in the public discourse of a journalist 131 POLITICAL COMMENTARY’S MULTIVOCALITY As can be seen from the examples cited, journalistic comments are strongly influenced by colloquial style. It is commonly said that the use of this style (partly because of the jargon) helps to break away from standard expression and to establish a connection with a like-minded reader. “A friendly, or relaxed, mode of communication is characteristic of equal interlocutors who participate equally in the discussion, who have a lot of common knowledge and attitudes, and therefore can afford hints, ellipses, silence, interruptions, elements of slang (rarely mine. – R. K.) and other attributes of ordinary everyday communication” (Marcinkevičienė 2008: 36). The commentary genre is characterized by the expression of subtexts, implications, language and style, which greatly increase the credibility of the text (ibid., 133). Expressive colloquial vocabulary comes both from the journalist himself and from the lips of certain characters: when characters are described, in this case politicians of different views, people from the street, TV presenters who have become politicians, even characters of novels, then quotes, paraphrases, allusions to their statements clearly stand out9. Where the journalist wants to express different positions in opposition to the authorities, he necessarily uses the multi-voice, otherwise called intertextuality. In this case, the term “polyphony” is more appropriate: the reader recognizes these foreign voices, he has actually heard them. For several years […] on the screen, in a mentoring tone, he explains that […] the Greens and Christian Democrats are thieves and salamancans, and the journalists are “standing”. (ANK 279) The journalist does not directly indicate the authorship of one of the voices, but a certain surrounding of the text as a reference to the addressee immediately suggests it. In other cases it says that it is a foreign voice (write it in quotation marks) or directly names the owner of the voice: „Vsio zakonno“ ketvirtuoju laipsniu ir papūskite jūs premjerui į uodegą. (ANK 302) The author trusts his regular reader, knowing what is being talked about, what character is in mind. Such a reader will not be affected by a rigid language. The openly sarcastic voice of the author, relentlessly denouncing the vices of politicians, intertwines with the voices of the characters described, but not at all9. R. Marcinkevičienė (2008: 73). 132 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 silieja. Even in those extremely rare cases when the author of the comments speaks in the first person, the inserted foreign voice is clearly distinguished (as a one-word quotation): Blin, if that is the case, the High Seimas, you can allocate the signatory’s pension belonging to me to my former professor M. B. – you can’t think of anything stupider anyway. The journalist tries to say what “does not seem to be as it should be, what is upset or pleased with” to him, and sometimes not only to him (ANS 3). The author's voice is heard in the comments, showing two different positions. In one case, he speaks calmly, reflecting, communicating with readers, seriously asking questions, then his speech is correct, with sayings of literary origin and phraseology. This is how correctly the author makes a slight hint to the hero of I. Ilf and J. Petrov, the famous fraudster, the fraudster of all times, the adventurous and machinator Ostap Bender. The allusion is very eloquent: the desire of some politicians to profit, to seek the benefit of themselves rather than the state, to become rich at any cost, indifference to people’s concerns indeed recalls the aspirations of this character. Although the journalist does not mention the name of Ostabs Benders, the reader clearly hears his voice: Is the rescue of the drowning a matter for the drowning themselves? If so, then do not tell us that we must love a failed state. (ANK 188) The author’s voice, representing the first position, can be described as intellectual, intuitive, trained in terms of both general language and style. An experienced journalist knows how to change the tone of his voice, is able to maintain constant contact with listeners. It is not difficult to recognize R. Valatka’s non-boring, convincing and eye-catching voice: he likes pictorial vocabulary, chains of rhetorical questions, emotionally growing enumerations. A few examples: Will the Fatherland Union follow the example of the Social Democrats who were so unscrupulous? Will another Rubicon of Lithuanian anti-politics be crossed? The Conservative Party was divided between conservatives and populists. On the one hand, there is no de facto need to cross anything. Already during the previous term of the Seimas, the joint forces of the Patriotic Union, the Liberal Movement, Paksists and the Labour Party concertedly beat the State Security Department. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 21) The result: A. Šemeta is in Brussels, Lithuania is in the black hole of the crisis, and the Government is in the deepest depression since Lithuania regained its independence. (Lrytas.lt 2009 09 01) R. KOŽENIAUSKIENĖ. The role of colloquial language and jargon in the public discourse of a journalist 133 In other cases, the author speaks sarcastically, outraged by the behavior and actions of politicians who have lied, stolen10, contaminated, and accused of corruption. In order to evaluate such characters, the journalist also uses appropriate colloquial vocabulary, as if we were hearing the cynical voices of the prison environment (whistled, knocked, put into a hole, made pasta, the roof went down, made money, locked up, psychopath, dožatj, vsio zakonno, otkatnik, thief, etc.): He tries to escape in the way he is used to, as suggested by his poor political and legal knowledge, suggested by the narrow-minded chamber of the palace: to bribe, to lie, to dožatj (press) or to escape from responsibility. (ANK 268) Self-respect is not found in the majority of Seimas. More precisely, it was found as much as in the time of A. B.’s rule, when the phrase “vsio zakonno” prevailed. Lithuanians quickly forgot that this figure, together with the whole gang of four11 in power, solemnly promised in December that from 18 to 19 per cent of the GDP would be spent on education. VAT increases are only temporary. Well, temporarily, indeed. Not from that side. (Lrytas.lt 2009 07 02) The selfishness and weakness of politicians seem obvious. The public interest suffers from their selfishness, so it is understandable that a journalist wants to expose the sins of politicians to the public. Nevertheless, the author’s voice is sometimes extremely rude, and it cannot be ignored that he enjoys using a considerable amount of pictorial vocabulary. The journalist often assesses the behaviour and actions of politicians in a hyperbolic way, not sparing the lowest level of vocabulary and phraseology: K. today would deny these words three times, as Simon did on the day of the crucifixion of Christ. In a word, A.K. with his tax policy has already worked like a baby left unattended for the whole day – to the ears. (Lrytas.lt 2009 10 05) 10 “The experience of the elections of the last 12 years would generally allow us to say that when voting Lithuanians give preference precisely to thieves and liars,” – the author states without compromise (ANK 283). “Others argue that the voters are to blame for the ills of our democracy and deserve the government they elect. But it is wrong to blame the wrong choice when there is no choice. Do many choose the representatives of the people according to rational criteria of political good? No, no, no, no. Most of those who go to vote and at least think about their choice criteria choose not good but the lesser evil. If citizens are forced to choose only “lesser evils”, then only evil is elected to power and nothing else: the degree of evil of individual factions or politicians does not have a decisive influence on the overall picture” (see Vladimiras Laučius, “There is no lack of political will, but of political brains.” – www.DELFI.lt 2009 09 03). 11 It is difficult to say whether the author uses the word banda in a slightly milder sense, as a noun of 4th accent (herd, herd), or as a noun of 1st accent (herd; gang of rascals, robbers, murderers). This case would refer to the Russian jargon word. 134 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 When we have something to compare T. Wolfe, J. London, E. Hemingway, [...] then perhaps we will have the moral right to put a cross12 on American culture. (ANK 172) It is understood that the multi-voiced vocabulary of the journalist’s discourse is determined by the communicative aim – to highlight the defects of politicians, to warn about the consequences of such evils. The expression of his opinion depends on the purpose, motives and circumstances of the criticism. However, even knowing that a journalist has the right to express a subjective opinion, to criticize, to provoke, to exaggerate facts, knowing that the role of the media is that of a public-watchdog (see Meškauskaitė 2004: 90) and that “according to the rules formulated by the European Court of Human Rights, the limits of criticism of politicians and official representatives of state power are the widest in comparison with criticism of other state officials” (ibid., 92), vulgar expression in public journalistic texts is not always justified. Especially in cases when politicians are accused of obviously humiliating13, obscene epithets, other emotionally oversalted words or statements: mushroom, dog fungus, political graphomane, reckless, snob, dog-snout, plum-mad, untreated, pathological liar, incurable sick, when vocabulary inappropriate for public discourse is used: to fight, not to cry, to put a cross, to spit, to spit, etc. An opinion, as is known, “is not subject to the criteria of truth and accuracy, but it must be expressed in good faith and ethically, without deliberately concealing or distorting facts and data”14. A journalist cannot be accused of dishonesty, he relies on examples visible to all, but it cannot be denied that hyperbolized vulgar vocabulary sometimes exceeds the boundaries of political commentary as a genre, that it conflicts with the language ethics of a person representing the cultural elite (cf. Koženiauskienė 2001: 79). Because of the coarse, straightforward, “colourful” word (as the author himself admits in the collection of comments!), he has received the most horrible epithets, curses and even threats from his readers: “I don’t even know how to address 12 dėti skersą (on ką) – metonymically abbreviated from an extremely vulgar phraseology, meaning: 13 The words criminal, fraudster, thief, petty, tell-tale, prostitute, liar, rascal, etc. are understood unequivocally and the dissemination of such data causes a nesirūpinti, nepaisyti, nekreipti jokio dėmesio, ignoruoti. negative opinion, so it is not even necessary to prove that they degrade a person’s reputation (see Meškauskaitė 2004: 262). Metaphorical expressions such as pathological liar, derailed fool, dog mushroom, dundle, although not less devaluing the authority of politicians, are ambiguous, and therefore it is more difficult to determine how far the ethical boundaries of journalistic language are exceeded. 14 If they defame – you can defend yourself: www.blogas.lt/innodea/ - 24k - Google copy.