Global English Slang

Global English Slang brings together nineteen key international experts and provides a timely and essential overview of English slang around the world today.The book illustrates the application of a range of different methodologies to the study of slang and demonstrates the interconnection between the different sub-fields of linguistics.A key argument throughout is that slang is a function played by specific words or phrases rather than a characteristic inherent in the words themselves- what is slang in one context is not slang in another. The volume also challenges received wisdom on the nature of slang: that it is short-lived and that slang is restricted to verbal language.