Учебно-методический комплекс по учебной дисциплине «стилистика» для специальности «современные иностранные языки (перевод)»

special colloquial English
. At the first glance, substandard English is a chaotic mixture of 
non-grammatical or contaminated speech patterns and vulgar words which should be 
criticized without regret. For example, the universal grammatical form 
ain 't
is a simplified 
substitute
 for am (is, are) not, was (were) not, have (has, had) not, shall (will) not, there is 
(are, was, were) not
: "
I ain't sharin' no time. I ain't takin' nobody with me, neither
" (J. 
Steinbeck). 
"It ain't got no regular name"
(E. Caldwell).
Substandard English speech abounds in obscene words marked in dictionaries by the 
symbol "
taboo
", vulgarisms (
bloody buggering hell, damned home-wrecking dancing devil
), 
slangy words {
busthead
= 
inferior or cheap whisky
, 
a pin-up girl = a sexually attractive 
young woman
) and specific clichés (
dead and gone, good and well, far and away, this here
...).
Language means the colloquial style: 
•
Phonetic means:

intensive modification of sounds in fluent speech, positional changes: 
reduction (weakening) of vowels in unstressed syllables;

complete reduction: apokopa (the drop of the final consonant or final part of 
the word), synkopa (the drop of a vowel or several sounds in other positions);

wealth and variety of intonation patterns (rhythm, tempo, timbre, melody 
peculiarities). 
•
Vocabulary: 

conversational (everyday life) vocabulary, 

priority of neutral widely-used words with concrete,

wide use of non-literary vocabulary,

expressive-emotional vocabulary,

means of verbal imagery, 

well-developed synonymy and polysemy. 
•
Stylistic s: the use of stylistic devices, including pun. 
•
Grammatical means:

in morphology - frequent use of pronouns and particles, wealth and variety of 
aspect and tense form of a verb (Present Continuos, Present Indefinite, Present 
Perfect); 

in syntax: ellipsis, variety in the use of communicative types of the sentence, 
priority of short sentences, wide use of expressive constructions, exclamatory 
sentences. 
Substandard English is used by millions of people in English speaking countries. It is a 
conspicuous indicator of low language culture and educational level. Being introduced into 
books, it becomes a picturesque means of protagonists` characterization.