A Case Study of Occupational Jargon.

This paper examines the language used by workers in a china factory in order to present the characteristics and underlying features of occupational jargon. The paper shows: (1) jargon is affected by regional-local pronunciation, grammatical expressions and lexical items, and by individual speech styles which result from general linguistic phenomena such as phonological change and folk etymology; (2) terms which are traditionally a part of the industry represent several levels of technical expertise; (3) terms which are acquired through socialization in the factory often undergo a change in form or function; and (4) terms which are innovated on the job result from haste and from incidents which occur in the factory. (Author)