JARGON

Jargon refers to a set of technical phrases or terminology which is peculiar to a trade,

profession or occupation. It comes from an Old French word which means 'the twittering (or
warbling) of birds'. In English, jargon now has three principal meanings. First, it can mean the
technical vocabulary of a science, trade or other hermetic group. It can also mean pretentious
language which is conspicuous for its circumlocution and avoidance of plain English. The third
type of jargon refers to a medley of more than one language, also known as gibberish.

Types of Jargon
The first type of jargon is true jargon. This consists mainly of words of Old French, Latin
or Ancient Greek origins. They are made up mostly of short words with or without affixes. This
kind of jargon is indispensable because the expressions have no proper English equivalents. This
is jargon in its positive sense. Examples of true jargon are:
Law
addendum, alibi, assault, arson, bail, battery,
defendant, exhibit, felony, treason, equity,
fiduciary, litigant, lien, tort, libel, res, slander,
murder, trespass, manslaughter, etc.
Journalism
byline, dateline, deadline, blurb, bulletin,
bromide, columnist, copyreader, exposé
italics, masthead, newscast, proofreader,
editor, screamer, stringer, bugman, etc.
Science and Technology
metabolism, cell, hormones, embryo, stem
cells, fossil fuel, hydrocarbon, ethanol,
antibiotic, atom, molecule, halogen, protein,
calorie, nuclear, etc.
Business and Economics
accrue, abeyance, binary, bond, bogey,
capital, contango, contraband, credit, defray,
debit, deficit, equity, etc.
 The second type of jargon is referred to as popular or pseudo jargon. This kind of jargon
refers to a style of writing which embodies long-winded and involved expressions often used for
their own sake. This style of writing is at once verbose, pompous, and replete with with clichés
and hackneyed expressions which only obscure the intended meaning of the piece of writing.
Unlike true jargon, popular jargon is not indispensable or necessary because many of the
expressions have better English equivalents, but they are often preferred by certain users of
English in order to show off learning.
Jargon as a style of writing is still very popular in government offices where it is often
referred to as officialese, and in journalism where it is known as journalese. In almost all the
cases, the characteristic features are the same: 'unrestrained, almost profuse use of stilted phrases
and compound nouns', for example:
terminological inexactitude (lie)
management overview (official summary)
evaluation instrument (test method)
exchange process (talk method)
resides (lives), surplus income (extra money),
predicated upon the availability of (because of)
Locomote generally in the direction of the speaker (come).

Consider the following passage:

PASSAGE A

In home situations, punishment is often delayed beyond the

completion of the deviant behaviour. Does the timing of the
administration of punishment affect its effectiveness as a means of
inhibiting undesirable behaviour? Mowrer (1960) has provided a
theological framework predicting the effect of the timing of
punishment. According to him, each component of response
sequence provides sensory feedback in the form of response
produced kinaesthetic and propriocentric cues. …

What this piece of verbose jargon asks is whether it is right to punish a naughty child while he or
she is actually being naughty or wait until afterwards. The passage believes that the response
produced by a child while being punished will reveal the effects of the timing of the punishment.
But this information is obscured and rendered ineffective by the use of unnecessarily abstruse
language consisting of long-winded expressions such as 'response sequence', 'sensory
feedback', 'response produced kinaesthetic', 'propriocentric cues'. This is an example of
popular jargon. The following are common expressions of popular jargon in the field of law:

ab initio (from the start)

amicus curiae (friend of the court; person not directly involved in a case but advises
the court)
prima facie (at first sight)
pari passu (side by side)
quid pro quo (something for something), etc.

The third type of jargon refers to specialised vocabulary. These are expressions which
belong to everyday English, i.e. they consist of general English expressions mostly nouns, verbs
and adverbs, but which have been appropriated by specific professions and made to become
jargon through formal usage. Ike (2002, p.12) defines specialised vocabulary as 'words or
phrases in the professions which embody technical as well as general meanings...words that have
different meanings in general English from their meanings in the technical sense. Examples are:

NOUNS
contempt, custody, minor, declaration (law);
bond, tenor, equity, capital (finance)
seed, fishing, harvest (religion)

VERBS
depose, exercise, deem, specify, state (law)
liquidate (finance)

ADVERBS
herein, hereinafter, hereof, hereto, hereunder,
therein, thereof, therewith, theretofore (law).

These expressions often jargonise simple expressions, making them more formal and prestigious
in their new contexts than in their normal everyday contexts. Thus, a law court:

holds someone in contempt

remands in/grants custody
 makes a declaration
The Uses of Jargon
First, jargon, i.e. true jargon, is a kind of shorthand. It is much easier and quicker to refer to
'lien' than to 'a right to retain another person's property pending the discharge of a debt'.
Similarly, it is easier and more convenient to speak of 'syncope' rather than 'the omission of a
syllable, letter or sound in the middle of a word and replace it with an apostrophe in order to
maintain the metre or rhyme of a verse'. Second, it is more exact than everyday language; being
drawn largely from 'dead' languages like Latin and Ancient Greek, it does not change its
meaning as living English does, altering its connotations or acquiring new meanings. Third, in
social terms, jargon helps to create and maintain connections among those who belong to a
particular profession or group and see themselves as 'insiders' in some way, and to exclude
'outsiders'.
However unintelligible to the layman, therefore, jargon may be, it is never obscure if used
in its proper context. Used by an expert to a layman, however, it is both a form of bad manners
and barrier to communication. As a discipline interested in the language of the specific
professions and groups, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) naturally focuses on jargon.