The lexicon of vision in English slang

Slang is a language variety which can be used in informal registers or specific contexts as an alternative to standard language. In both linguistics and lexicography, it is generally defined as an innovative vocabulary, as it introduces into the lexicon new words (neologisms and neoformations) and novel senses (neo-semanticisms) or, at least, new shades of meaning. It is therefore supposed to represent a complicated phenomenon of the lexicon, contributing to increase the complexity of its items and to complexify their conceptual representation (Merlini Barbaresi 2003; Bertuccelli Papi & Lenci 2007). The present study is an attempt to show the complexity of English slang and its ensuing complexification of the lexical system, with special emphasis on the lexicon of vision. We can first of all predict complexity because slang expressions usually exhibit an intricate signans-signatum relationship, and hence require the interpreter’s activation of more complicated cognitive processes to identify their meaning. We can also predict complexity because some slang expressions cannot be exactly assigned to one specific major dimension – classified as ‘perception’, ‘cognition’, and ‘affect’ (Bertuccelli Papi 2003: 101) – as these dimensions may sometimes interweave or some may be foregrounded and others backgrounded (e.g. in Cockney rhyming slang). We can finally predict complexity in relation to interpretation and translation, because English slang expressions tend to assemble multiple connotative aspects which are difficult to reproduce cross-linguistically (Mattiello 2007, 2009)