[Corpora-List] Corpora containing common English words including slang.

[Mike Maxwell]

John F. Sowa wrote:
> Slang is a dialect or sublanguage used by an "in group", and it may
> include a fairly large body of words, syntactic patterns, and even
> modified or stylized pronunciation.  The dialect may be associated
> with modes of behavior and dress that also distinguish the in-group
> from the larger society.

By this standard, Aviation English is a slang: it has
--an in-group
   pilots and air traffic controllers
--a peculiar vocabulary:
   Mayday
   Alfa Bravo Charlie... (names for letters)
   ADF (= Automatic Direction Finder)
--special syntactic patterns (albeit ones based on English):
   "one zero" (instead of "ten")
   "confirm last known position" (omitting "your")
--stylized pronunciation
   less clear, but non-native English speakers do get training
   in standard pronunciation
   At least one word (for the number 9) has a special pronunciation:
   "niner" instead of "nine"
--modes of behavior
   Yeap, they even get fast-tracking at the airport security :-)
--modes of dress
   Pilots have uniforms
   (and in Colombia, they wear gloves in warm weather)

But I think of Aviation English as a jargon, not a slang.  And I think 
the difference is that its speakers are usually looked up to.
-- 
    Mike Maxwell
    What good is a universe without somebody around to look at it?
    --Robert Dicke, Princeton physicist

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