Sociolingvistinis šnekamajai kalbai būdingos leksikos tyrimas

206 Languages and Culture | 81 GIEDRIUS TAMAŠEVIČIUS Lithuanian Language Institute SOCIOLINGUISTICAL STUDY OF SPEAKED LANGUAGE AND SPEAKED LEXIC INTRODUCTION The study of spoken language, and especially of the lexicon that is characteristic of it, is a new subject in Lithuania. English, German, Russian, Scandinavian and other language researchers have been interested in this area for decades. Apparently, this is why there is no clearer agreement in Lithuanian linguistics as to what should be considered as spoken language, slang and jargon (see Miliūnaitė 2005: 47). In the lexicology of the Lithuanian language, Evalda Jakaitienė divides the vocabulary into the general language and the spoken language. The latter consists of dialect vocabulary, jargon vocabulary and slang. slang, which is outside the bounds of the common language, together with the main vocabulary constitutes the common national lexicon (Jakaitienė 1980: 67)1. Gintautas akelaitis clarifies this division by stating that the spoken language in a broad sense includes the whole verbal language. It can be: 1) public, bound by the requirements of common language, 2) private (dialectal or semi-dialectal), 3) jargon (akelaitis 2002: 55). This article presents a study in which, based on G. Akelaitis’s classification, the vocabulary of spoken language includes common language words with a stylistic connotation of spoken language (which have entered the Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian Language – hereinafter DlKŽ), words of dialectal origin known and widely used by the majority of the linguistic community, as well as jargon vocabulary. 1 Most authors agree on the definition of jargon lexicon – “it is words or combinations of words used in the colloquial language of individual social or professional groups” (cf. Jakaitienė 1980: 76). It is difficult to draw a clear line between slang and jargon – both terms are often used synonymously (Орлова 2004), but perhaps the most striking difference is that slang words are known to the majority of the linguistic community and are widely used, whereas jargon – not, unless they have entered the slang lexicon (see Jakaitienė 1980: 66; Орлова 2004). Mr. Tamashevis. sociolinguistic study of the lexicon characteristic of the spoken language 207 tYrIMo pobūdis Studies of spoken language in Lithuanian linguistics have not been carried out much. laima Grumadienė (1996: 190–198) has written about the sociolinguistic aspect of the study of spoken language, studying dialects and their interaction. Examined pertarų (akelaitis 2002), linksnių (savickienė 2000), deminutive use in spoken language (savickienė 2006), children's language characteristics (Kamandulytė 2006). violeta černė has written about the description of spoken language and emotional-expressive vocabulary in DlKŽ (černiutė 2000: 160–179). Although the need to study the vocabulary of spoken language was raised a decade ago (vaicekauskienė 2002), more detailed research in this area is still lacking. Among the works already carried out, one can mention the study of Kaunas teenagers slang, carried out in 1999 (lėgaudaitė 2003). The emergence of new advanced technologies and the compilation of spoken language textbooks often give impetus to various spoken language studies (cf. savickienė 2000). The lack of spoken language data is nowadays identified as a considerable problem both for translators (Kohrs 2007: 148) and for compilers of bilingual dictionaries in which Lithuanian is the main language, as well as for foreigners learning Lithuanian (Melnikienė 2006: 112–113). The gap between the dictionaries and the real usage tends to be noticeable in the public written language, when common language words are used with new meanings, typical of the spoken language, but not included in the DlKŽ. such cases are not uncommon in the press (e.g., „reformatoriai pradeda grybauti“ („reformers are starting to mushroom“), the headline of the article by Algimantas Šindeikis, Veidas, 2008 11 17), in the translation titles of films shown on television (e.g., „vadinasi, „hangbinote“ ją Vatikane?“ („so, you „hanged“ her in the Vatican?“) from the film „vasarvidžio nakties sekso komedija“ („a summer night sex comedy“), shown on Lithuanian television 2008 10 01). Fashionable vulgarity and jargon are often found even in public speeches of politicians (e.g., “be aware that your partners will ‘shot you’ down.” quotation from the speech of Seimas member J. Vellka at the Seimas sitting, Kaunas diena, 18 November 2008) (cf. Miliūnaitė 2005: 47–48). this indicates, apparently, the non-accidental penetration of jargon vocabulary into common language. The aim of the study is to clarify which words typical of the spoken language are more likely to be used today, to determine whether the lexicon of non-common language actually penetrates into public usage. The results of the study could be used to solve the question of the selection of spoken language data for dictionaries. The questionnaire survey method was chosen for this study. the questionnaire asked to answer one question: Do you use these words with the given meanings? 208 Language Culture | 81 four possible answers are given: 1. yes, I use it in this sense, but only when speaking privately. 2. yes, I use it in this sense both publicly and privately. 3. No, but I have heard it used in that sense. 4. No, I have not heard it used in that sense. When asking about public and private consumption (see pupkis 2005: 18), the aim is to find out which words respondents tend to use in public communication and which ones they do not. In addition to the main question about the use of spoken language vocabulary, the aim is to find out the influence of two social variables – age and gender – on the answers. The questionnaire includes 22 examples of spoken language vocabulary (assuming that they are commonly used words; they were selected from television programmes for young people and public written language during the summer of 2008) reflecting the main layers of spoken language vocabulary. The usage of these words in the meaning typical of the spoken language was checked using Google search engine, looking at the online dictionary of youth language www.kriu.lt and Egidijus Zaikauskas’s book Kalbos paribiai ir užribiai: lietuvių žargono žodynėlis. the first group of words in the questionnaire consists of spoken language vocabulary that has entered the DLQ. The following words are assigned to it: nuskilti – “to succeed”, užkalti – “to earn”, susimauti – “to make a mistake, to compromise oneself”, šakotis – “to scream, to be angry, to be annoying”, statyti – “to feast”2. After reviewing the first three editions of the DlKŽ, it became clear that the words of this group reached the dictionary at different times: the word statti with the meaning of “to feast” is already found in the first edition of the DlKŽ (1954), apparently it was already widely used at that time. During the preparation of the second edition (1972) new meanings were added to the dictionary – the word „šakotis“ (to scream, get angry, get annoyed) and the word „užkalti“ (to earn by forging). It is also possible that the word „užkalti“ was soon used with the meaning „to earn“, although this meaning was only included in the third edition of the DlKŽ (1993). The new meanings of the words “succeed” and “make a mistake, compromise” included in this edition have been deleted, although they are presented as examples of semantic jargon in the Lithuanian language lexicology published in 1980 (Jakaitienė 1980: 77). this would indicate that until the new (third) edition of the DlKŽ they were very common in usage and were noticed by the dictionary editors. all these words have the meanings indicated in the examples of regional usage or similar meanings and have been included in the Lithuanian language dictionary (hereinafter – lKŽ), 2 This meaning of the word statyti is apparently not marked in the DlKŽ as characteristic of the spoken language. Mr. Tamashevis. 209 but unlike the other group of words in this study, which are not included in the DlKŽ, they have been widely used for a longer period of time. The other group of words in the questionnaire is not included in the DlKŽ. Some of them are of dialectal origin: žiauriai „very, especially, extremely“, vėjai „nonsense“, laužytis „to contend, to be ashamed“, įkirsti „to understand, to perceive, to delve into“, trenktas „stupid; fool", rising "puffed up", remain on the ice "to remain without anything, to be left behind". They can be considered as examples of dialectal spoken language vocabulary because almost all of them have entered the lKŽ with such or similar meanings (only the idiom sit on the ice "to have nothing" is included in the Phraseology Dictionary) and examples of their use are presented from dialects. Another part is the jargon vocabulary. The third group includes words that have been introduced in a slang sense (new sems). These words have not entered neither the DlKŽ, nor the lKŽ in these meanings: apšalti „to be extremely surprised“, lūžti „to fall asleep“, pakalėjas „ignoring anything“, pakabinti „to get acquainted, to make friends“, užknisti „to annoy, to irritate“, grybauti „not to understand the essence, not to be caught up, to speak nonsense“, klišas „unreasonable“. An integral part of such vocabulary are values from other languages. They constitute the fourth group of words under investigation: izduriti „deceived” (see Russian jargon prokoūd лоть ся „to make a mistake, to deceive”; Gračev 2006: 487), įsipaišyti „to fit in; 2007. (in Russian) "Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года" (in Russian). also included the meaning of the word unreal, “wonderful, very good”, borrowed from spoken English (cf. spoken English unreal, “incredible, wonderful”; Oxford Dictionary of English 2006: 1932)3. 251 residents of Vilnius (159 women, 92 men) were interviewed during the study. the age of the respondents ranged from 17 to 80 years (see Figure 1). The aim of the study was to interview people from as diverse social strata and professions as possible. Although the question about employment was not asked, it is known that among the respondents were schoolchildren, students, workers, officials, athletes, artists, architects, doctors, clergymen, managers, etc. 3 Not only this group, but also all the words selected for the survey questionnaire (except for the cliché – “unreal”) can be found in Egidijus Zaikauskas’s book Kalbos paribiai ir užribiai: lietuvių žargono žodynėlis. The author of the dictionary somewhat unmotivatedly expanded the concept of slang – slang here is considered almost all the vocabulary characteristic of spoken language: from expressive words close to common language to vulgar vocabulary and slang in the narrow sense. In her book review, Inga Mataitytė gives several examples of unfounded attribution of words of spoken common language to jargon (Mataitytė 2007: 22–23). 210 Languages Culture | 81 tYrIMo rEZultatai After reviewing the results of the study, the expected tendencies are revealed. The youngest respondents (17-25 years old) were most likely to use the words included in the questionnaire, while the older respondents (61-80 years old) more often indicated that they did not use these words, but heard them used in this sense. Figure 1: Distribution of respondents by age group The following figures show the prevalence of the four groups of vocabulary included in the study. The most common words in the DlKŽ group are: susimauti and nuskirti (see Figure 2). As many as 83% of the youngest age group responded positively to the question about the use of these words. These words are also popular among respondents aged 36-45 and 46-60 (almost 80% of positive responses). The least positive responses were for the word "jail". As many as 60% of all respondents do not use it, only men aged 17-25 and 46-60 use it more often. Figure 2. Proneness to use words included in the DlKŽ Mr. Tamashevis. sociolinguistic study of the lexicon of spoken language 211 the verb to branch is more common among older users (see Figure 3). Nearly half (40%) of respondents aged 17-35 said they did not use the word, compared to just over one in ten (13%) among respondents aged 36-80. is the only word in this study that older respondents are more likely to use than younger ones. such a tendency would indicate that the word branch may no longer have this meaning among the more commonly spoken words in the future. in the group of words of dialectal origin, the words žiauriai and trenktas stand out (see Figure 4). They are used by the vast majority of respondents in all age groups (more3 Fig. use of the verb branch by age groups Fig. 4. tendency to use dialectal words Include is not popular in any age group (only 212 Languages Culture | 81 more than 80 per cent). Several respondents in the youngest age group added a note to the word „trentas“ that they use it in the meaning of „great“. The least positive responses were given to the word winds, which often occurs in phraseological combinations. Not very popular was the verb to stick. Some respondents in the questionnaires indicated that they were more inclined to use the inverse form of the word inkirti with the same meaning. The words risen, breaking and the phraseology to stay on ice are used by many (more than 60% of positive answers), but the words risen and stay on ice are used much less frequently by older people (only about 50% of respondents aged 46-60 and 44% of respondents aged 61-80 use them). Of all the jargon words included in the questionnaire, the most rarely used word is upright (only 28% of positive responses). The words hang and cliché are more likely to be used by respondents aged 17-25 and 26-35. The words mushrooming, breaking, gnawing are among the most positively responded words in this study (see Figure 5). They are used by respondents in all age groups (except 61-80 years old). Hanging is one of the common words for younger respondents, less relevant for older people (see Figure 6). 83% of 17-25-year-olds, 66% of 26-35-year-olds and only 39% of 46-60-year-olds responded positively to the question. 39% of positive responses) (see Figure 7). Even among the youngest age group, there is a tendency to use new terms in the jargon Mr. Tamashevis. socio-linguistic study of the lexicon typical of spoken language 213 only half of the respondents use it. The most common of the researched words are fake and unreal. older respondents also use them in this sense. As many as 27% of respondents aged 46-60 and 22% of respondents aged 61-80 stated that they use the word unrealistic both in public and in private. Of course, we could talk about the special fashionability of this word, but it seems that some respondents have given such an answer without delving into the different meaning of the word unreal “wonderful, very good” as indicated in the questionnaire, which is not usual in common language. In terms of the respondents’ answers to the question on public and private consumption, only men aged 17-25 distinguished themselves. They are inclined to use part of the questionnaire Fig. 6 use of the verb to hang Fig. 7 use of words influenced by other languages The only more pronounced difference between men and women in the context of this study is the question 214 Languages Culture | 81 words included for both public and private use (cliché, mushrooming, unreal, cruel, angry, broken, broken). girls of the same age group also do not shy away from using such words both publicly and privately (angry, cruel, unreal). The results of the study show that people of this age group, apparently, from adolescence have a desire to stand out from the linguistic community, to express their generational identity in a different language. By the way, the vocabulary typical of the language of pupils and students is considered one of the main varieties of social jargon (Zaikauskas 2004). A sharp change is noticeable when moving to the data of respondents aged 26–35: positive answers about public and private usage practically do not exist, most indicate that they use words characteristic of spoken language only in private communication. This can be explained by the social context of age development: usually people of this age have already finished their studies and started working. The theory of sociolinguistics states that people seeking a career are particularly inclined to use forms characteristic of common language (Holmes 1994: 171). trying to speak a prestigious language (avoiding not only jargon, but also the vocabulary of colloquial language), they seek to emphasize their professionalism and status in society. In the 36-45 age group, career issues are no less relevant, so the inclinations remain the same. only the older respondents are more likely to use more oral vocabulary in public. already mentioned about public and private usage. Women aged 17 to 25 gave significantly fewer positive answers to this question than their male peers. The theory of sociolinguistics explains such results by the necessity of the traditional role of women in society – to use more common language in public, and men to use non-common forms of language may be encouraged by the desire to express their masculinity (Holmes 1994: 171). clearer differences in the language of men and women in terms of vocabulary would probably be revealed by data on the communication environment itself: the gender of the interlocutors, the age difference, their social position in relation to each other4. It can be assumed that the answers of men and women to the question about the frequency of the use of spoken language vocabulary would differ. men should use such vocabulary more often in communication4 A study of profanity in Denmark showed that young people use more and different profanity than the older generation. In addition to the fact that they provide information about the individual, the slang vocabulary is partly linked to the fact that it expresses identity. a study showed that young people stop joking when they talk to older people, as well as when they start to climb the career ladder (rathje 2005).