3.3.3. Vulgar Words or Vulgarisms
The term vulgarism, as used to single out a definite group of words of non-standard English, is rather misleading. Vulgar means a) words or names employed in ordinary speech; b) common, familiar; c) commonly current or prevalent, generally or widely disseminated.
Vulgarisms are:
1) expletives and swear words which are of an abusive character, like 'damn', 'bloody', 'to hell', 'goddam' and used now as general exclamations;
2) obscene words. These are known as four-letter words the use of which is banned in any form of intercourse as being indecent. Historians tell us that in Middle Ages and down into the 16th century they were accepted in oral speech and after Caxton even admitted to the printed page. All of these words are of Anglo-Saxon origin.
Vulgarisms are often used in conversation out of habit, without any thought of what they mean, or in imitation of those who use them in order not to seem old-fashioned or prudish. Unfortunately in modern fiction these words have gained legitimacy. However, they will never acquire the status of standard English vocabulary and will always remain on the outskirts.
The function of expletives is almost the same as that of interjections, that is to express strong emotions, mainly annoyance, anger, vexation. They are not to be found in any functional style of language except emotive prose, and here only in the direct speech of the characters.
The language of the underworld is rich in coarse words and expressions. But not every expression which may be considered coarse should be regarded as a vulgarism. Coarseness of expression may result from improper grammar, non-standard pronunciation, from the misuse of certain literary words and expressions, from a deliberate distortion of words. These are improprieties of speech but not vulgarisms. But vulgarisms are also rude and emotionally strongly charged and are not very discernible as to their logical meaning.
3.3.4. Colloquial Coinages (Words and Meanings)
Colloquial coinages (nonce-words), unlike those of a literary-bookish character, are spontaneous and elusive. Not all of the colloquial nonce-words are fixed in dictionaries or even in writing and therefore most of them disappear from the language leaving no trace.
Unlike literary-bookish coinages, nonce-words of a colloquial nature are not usually built by means of affixes but are based on certain semantic changes in words that are almost imperceptible to the linguistic observer until the word finds its way into print.
It is only a careful stylistic analysis of the utterance as a whole that will reveal a new shade of meaning inserted into the semantic structure of a given word or word-combination.
New expressions accepted by men-of- letters are not literary coinages but colloquial ones. New literary coinages always bear the brand of individual creation and have precise semantic boundaries. Their meaning can be grasped by the reader because of the use of the productive means of word-building and from the context.
Colloquial nonce-formations are not new words but new meanings of existing words.
There are colloquial nonce-words which enjoy prospects of staying in the vocabulary of the language. The nature of such creations is such if they appear in speech they become noticeable and may develop into catch-words. Then they become fixed as new colloguial coinages and cease to be nonce-words. They have acquired a new significance and a new stylistic evaluation. They are labeled as slang, colloquial,vulgar.