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

[Alexander Yeh]

Mike Maxwell wrote:
> 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)

To me, slang has the connotation of being "unofficial",
while as far as I know, at least some of this vocabulary is pretty 
official (possibly needing to know to get a government license), so that 
among other things, people who normally speak different languages (like 
an international flight landing or taking-off from a US airport) can 
communicate well enough to get things done.

-Alex

>    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.



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