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Unit 1 – The Linguistics of Slang
Lesson 6 – Slang Form and Meaning
Class time: 57 minutes
Objective: To introduce students to the word formation processes of slang words, and how they come to be, as well as troubleshooting for data collection.
Materials Needed:
· PowerPoint (Interactive Slides: Slang Form and Meaning)
· FOR INSTRUCTOR USE ONLY: Answer key to form and meaning of Bay Area Slang Terms (In-Class Activities: ANSWERKEY Bay Area Slang)
INTRODUCTION (10 min)
Collect any remaining permission forms and recorders. Make sure all recorders that are turned in are taken back to UCSB immediately so the data can be returned to the students in the following class period, which will be a lab day. Inform students that they will all receive their recordings on a flash drive in class the following day.
Ask students about their data collection. Do students think they managed to get some slang on their recordings? What terms do they remember? Were there difficulties with the recording process? Did the group explicitly talk about slang?
If a student feels they don’t have any slang, they can borrow a recorder to collect data once again during lunch today, but this isn’t ideal because they won’t have the recording to work on tomorrow. Use only in case of dire need.
ACTIVITY: SLANG FORM AND MEANING (15 min)
Show powerpoint slide 2, about how slang is created. Begin by showing only the title of the slide and ask students how new slang terms arise. Push them until they come up with the idea that people either (usually) adapt existing terms or (rarely) make up entirely new terms, and then go through each bullet point.
Advance to slide 3: Changes in form. This slide will provide examples of specific ways that the form of a term can change to become slang (or new slang). Go through each term in turn (click to advance bullet points).
· Students should be asked to define the term first, if they can (it’s okay if they don’t know the words, but it’s fun to guess)
· Then they should be asked how the term reflects a change in form. They should just describe it; we aren’t going to introduce a lot of jargon
o gleek: blending of “geek” and “Glee”
o ownage: adding the suffix –age to a verb to make it a noun
o cray cray: shortening of the word “crazy” AND repetition of the shortened form
o mfeo (I think this is read as letters, but they may know otherwise): an acronym
o fly: shift from verb to adjective
· They should also notice that there is also a change in meaning with fly
Advance to slide 4: Changes in meaning. Go over the terms item by item again.
· hoops: the use of an object associated with basketball to refer to the game of basketball; some may know the term “metonymy” but they don’t need to know this
· dope: change from negative (stupid) to positive meaning
· wasted: metaphor (they should think of other terms for drunkenness; most are metaphorical and violent/negative)
· shorty: change from a general meaning (a short person) to a more specific meaning
Advance to slide 5: Borrowing and invention, and go over the following terms as well:
· uber: what language is it from? what does it mean there and in English? Other borrowings from other languages?
· hinky: As far as I know, this is just made up; no clear relation to any existing word (but they may have theories...)
ACTIVITY: CHANGES IN FORM/MEANING IN BAY AREA SLANG (30 min)
For this exercise, have students get into groups and make notes of which slang terms in the handout reflect an interesting change in form and/or meaning. Students don’t have to work on the same words as before; they can work on the whole list and choose the ones they think they can say something about. Let them know it is okay if they can’t comment on every term, especially the phrases.
Instructor’s Note: This activity proved rather difficult for many students because they were unfamiliar with many of the slang terms, or their origins as no-slang references. Guide students to words that may be easier to think about, and help them reference back to the powerpoint slides to think about the processes that may have occurred.