Moreover, in its historical development, a word may undergo a shift in meaning.
Dialect
A dialect is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language’s speakers.
Words that are taboo in one locale may be acceptable in another, and vice versa. For instance, corset, breast, shirt, leg, and woman were taboo words in America in the 19th century but not in England.
Such alternatives to unacceptable terms are known as euphemisms.
Euphemisms
Euphemism is the practice of referring to something offensive or indelicate in terms that make it sound more pleasant or becoming than it really is.
When an act is taboo, reference to this act may also become taboo. Some words may be used in certain circumstances and not in others.
Certain words are considered taboo in all societies -- they are not to be used or at least not in ‘polite company.’ Forbidden words reflect the particular customs and views of the society.
If you ask for a tonic in Boston, you will get a drink called soda or soda-pop in Los Angeles.
In addition, a freeway in Los Angeles is called a thruway in New York. A parkway in New Jersey is a motorway in England, and an expressway or turnpike in other dialect areas.
English Lexicology
Lecture Ten
Words in Use
Our speech varies between social situations.
Speakers of English can talk to each other and understand each other pretty well, but no two speak exactly alike.
Register is a form of language appropriate to a specific situation.
A register is a variety of language distinguished according to context, which consists of the field of discourse, the relations between participants, and the mode of discourse.
Taboo Words
A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group or community. Breaking a taboo may result in embarrassment, shame, rudeness and even legal penalties.
In conversation, people tend to use vague nouns with general content, such as stuff and thing.
Style is seen as the making of conscious and unconscious choices of certain linguistic forms and structures in preference to others.
Regional dialects may differ in the words people use for the same object.
People take a lift to the first floor in England, but an elevator to the second floor in the United States. They get five gallons of petrol (not gas) in London; in Britain a public school is ‘private’, and if a student showed up there wearing pants (‘underpants’) instead of trousers (‘pants’), he would be sent home to get dressed.
As alternatives to using taboo words we can either use medical terms or evasive terms.
For example, the acceptable alternatives to piss are urinate, pass water, relieve oneself, go to bathroom, and even cover one’s feet.
The technique consists of replacing a word which has offensive connotation with another expression, which makes no overt reference to the unpleasant side of the subject, and may even be a positiects are varieties of language used by groups defined according to class, education, age, sex and a number of other social parameters.
For instance, older people may still talk about the icebox and the wireless but they are unlikely to know what is totally stoked.
Different words and expressions can be used in different styles.
Going for a job interview, you may say to a secretary ‘Excuse me. Is the manager in his office? I have an appointment.’ When speaking to a friend about another friend, you may say in an informal way ‘Hey, is that lazy dog still in bed? I gotta see him about something.’
Some differences are the result of age, sex, religion, social group, context of situation, and where and when the language was learned.
Some differences can be found in word choices. The use of some words can be offensive or impolite. The speaker can choose euphemisms to replace words with offensive connotation.
The legal register is unlikely to use some of the expressions in the linguistic register.
For example, the word tone refers to ‘the interval between the first two degrees of a major scale’ in music, to ‘a musical pitch of the voice that serves to change the meaning of a word’ in linguistics, to ‘the color of a photograph’ in photography, and to ‘the state of the body with respect to the health and vigor of its functions’ in physiology.