Collecting language material as one of the stages in the study of the argotic component of a literary text (based on the material of modern French criminal prose)

Abstract

Language material is the foundation of any linguistic study; therefore, great importance is traditionally attached to its collection and in some cases, its description may be a priority. The aim of the research, carried out during the approbation of the intermediate results obtained when analysing the argotic component of the modern French crime novel, is to determine the key elements peculiar to the stage of formation of the language data corpus. The scientific novelty of this micro-research lies in the proposed approach to the formation and systematisation of an argotographic source by extracting argotic elements from a modern literary text. The research findings amount to a glossary of 930 argotisms presented in the form of an alphabetical list and provided with primary information: the explication of lexical meaning, the source of borrowing with the indication of pages and the number of word occurrences. The collection of unconventional vocabulary units was based on the texts of modern French criminal prose. The frequency of argotisms and their concentration in the text served as an important indicator in the choice of literary works. The phenomenon of the crime novel is also considered and the criteria according to which the works can be attributed to the specified literary subgenre are indicated. Verification of the linguistic data obtained was carried out involving authoritative argotographic sources without the use of field methods. Special attention is paid to the review of lexicographic sources followed by the representation of selected dictionary entries, each of which explicates the meaning of argotic lexemes.