The correct selection of words in spoken and written language in different situations requires great caution and a lot of knowledge. Some words are absolutely neutral, and therefore they can be used in any life situation. Others, on the contrary, carry a certain emotional connotation, and can both emphasize the feelings that the speaker wants to express, and give out what he would like to hide from others.
There is a separate category of words related to the so-called vocabulary of limited use. It may differ from common vocabulary, for example, by the territory of its distribution or the sphere of professional activity to which it belongs, or by a social group resorting to these expressions. Therefore, it is very important to understand what is common vocabulary, and what words refer to vocabulary of limited use (the diagram is given below). First of all, you should understand the division of the vocabulary of the Russian language.
General information
Starting a conversation about the division of the lexical structure of the Russian language into groups, they primarily speak of general vocabulary and vocabulary of a limited sphere of use. The latter, as has already been said, is divided into dialectisms, professionalisms and jargon, which includes both words used by “declassed elements” and ordinary youth slang, and the first is more monolithic and is divided into only two groups: stylistically neutral vocabulary and emotionally colored . Guided by this classification, you can outline for yourself an approximate framework for the use of certain words.
General vocabulary
This category is the most extensive, including the main lexical stock of the Russian language, in fact, representing its lexical core. This part of the vocabulary is also called nationwide, since words of general use are used in their speech and understood by all native speakers of the Russian language or their vast majority. This is a kind of literary language base, the use of which is possible in both oral and written language. Moreover, the vocabulary of general use is the foundation on which then the elements of vocabulary of limited use are located - terms, slang, professionalism.
The following words can be cited as examples: go, eat, work, read, book, food, water, fruit, animal, winter, spring, summer, word, girl, head and others.
Besides? general vocabulary can be divided into two broad groups: stylistically neutral words and emotionally colored. The latter is more common in oral speech, journalistic or literary text. She makes the speech more lively, prevents her from becoming like a dry text in a dictionary or encyclopedic article, helps to express the speaker’s feelings or the author’s attitude to what he writes about.
It should also be noted that between the common and vocabulary of a limited sphere of use, there is a constant interchange. Sometimes neutral words go into the category of jargon or professionalism, and, for example, dialect words become vocabulary of common use.
Limited use vocabulary: types
This part of the lexical composition of the Russian language includes several groups, within which you can also make some separation. The vocabulary of limited use, for example, includes words inherent in any dialects, special vocabulary, which includes terms and professionalisms, any jargon (including slang). At the same time, the first and last types are not included in the literary norm of the Russian language and are often used only for oral communication.
Dialect vocabulary
The language in each individual region of the country has its own specific features: phonetic, grammatical, and, of course, lexical. Often, it is precisely the lexical features that greatly complicate the understanding of the speech of the local population for visitors. In general, dialect vocabulary can be divided into several groups:
- phonetic dialectisms;
- grammatical dialectisms;
- lexical dialectisms.
Phonetic dialectisms differ from the literary norm only in the pronunciation of words, and therefore do not complicate the understanding of what has been said. As an example, the replacement of the sound “c” with the sound “h” and vice versa in some northwestern dialects: man, mute. Or the mitigation of the syllable “ka” characteristic of southern dialects: bocchia, Vankya.
Grammatical dialectisms are words used differently than in the normalized version of the language. For example, South Russian dialects are characterized by the use in the feminine of those words that, according to literary norm, are words of the middle gender: the whole field, whose meat.
Lexical dialectisms are the most specific, often it is they that distinguish the dialect of one locality from the dialect of another locality. In dialectic vocabulary, there is a special group called ethnography - words that denote objects and concepts specific to a particular locality. Such words are often used in fiction, due to which the literary text is given special expressiveness, and the characters ’speeches - authenticity," naturalness ".
Special vocabulary
Limited vocabulary words include professionalisms used exclusively in a certain field of activity. Often these words are commonly used words that have acquired an additional meaning that is understandable to all representatives of a profession. At the same time, part of professionalism is an unofficial name for an object or process, and the official name will already be a term.
For example, the term used to denote a metal frozen in a ladle is impregnated, but at the same time, metallurgists themselves call it a "goat". In this case, the “goat" will be professionalism.
"Skin" - professionalism, used also outside the environment of specialists. The corresponding official name will be sandpaper.
It is worth noting that professionalisms are less "systemic" - they are born in oral speech, there is a certain amount of time, and then disappear, replaced by new words. But sometimes they are fixed, becoming full terms. There is an exchange between professional words and terms, similar to the exchange between general vocabulary and vocabulary of limited use - some of the words constantly move from one group to another.
Subtype of special vocabulary - terms
The term is a word denoting a certain subject or concept, and, as a rule, having no additional meaning, unambiguity is a mandatory feature for words of this category, and the terminological “base” of any sphere covers all objects, phenomena and processes taking place in it . Unlike other words and their meanings, terms are created specifically. Careful work on them implies the elimination of the ambiguity of the word and the establishment of a clear framework for its use, its relationship with other terms from this field of activity.
Jargon
Argo, or, as it is also called, jargon, is that layer of vocabulary of the Russian language, the use of which is characteristic of certain social groups, these are words that are understood only by "one's own." Over time, part of the slang words seep into the vocabulary of general use, becoming words that are used by all native speakers, regardless of social status and social circle. Examples include the words rogue, nimble, linden (meaning "fake").
Slang words are also found in fiction, performing roughly the same role as dialect vocabulary. Due to them, the speech of fictional characters becomes more natural. In addition, with their help, the author can embody the stylistic idea and the general idea of ​​the work, which justifies the use of “reduced” vocabulary.
For example, in the novel “After the Wedding” by Granin, in the speech of the main characters you can find the expression “It's me in the order of idle talk,” that is, “I'm just chatting about nothing.”
Youth slang
Since youth is a rather extensive social group, its slang should be taken out as a separate item, since it is very extensive, even if you do not touch slang of various subcultures and trends. Here you can find many examples of "rethinking" commonly used words, which is why the "car" becomes a synonym for the word "car", parents become "ancestors", and they say "he faded" about an imperceptibly gone person.
A separate group are the words of student slang. Therefore, the “tails” of the failed exams are woven behind the negligent student, the “boa constrictors” nest (the grade is “satisfactory”) in the set-off, and the “late Styopa” or “scholarship” turns out to be just a scholarship that fellow students can’t wait for.
Conclusion
Summing up, we can say that the lexical stock of the Russian language is incredibly vast and only enriches over time. Moreover, the division of words into any groups is very conditional, because the process of moving words from one category to another is continuous and inevitable. It helps to avoid creating rigid frames and unnecessarily strict rules for the use of a particular word, leaving the speaker a wide choice of means that correspond to the purpose of a particular utterance.