In the study of language andliterary style, avulgarism is an expression or usage considerednon-standard or characteristic of uneducated speech or writing. Incolloquial orlexical English, "vulgarism" or "vulgarity" may besynonymous withprofanity orobscenity, but a linguistic or literary vulgarism encompasses a broader category of perceived fault not confined toscatological or sexual offensiveness. These faults may includeerrors of pronunciation,misspellings, word malformations,[1] andmalapropisms. "Vulgarity" is generally used in the more restricted sense. In regular and mostly informal conversations, the presence of vulgarity, if any, are mostly for intensifying, exclaiming or scolding. In modern times, vulgarism continues to be frequently used by people. Aresearch paper produced byOxford University in 2005 shows that the age group of 10–20 years old speak more vulgarity than the rest of the world'spopulation combined. The frequent and prevalent usage of vulgarity as a whole has led to aparadox, in which people use vulgarity so often that it becomes less and less offensive to people, according toThe New York Times.
The English word "vulgarism" derives ultimately fromLatinvulgus, "the common people", often as apejorative meaning "the [unwashed] masses, undifferentiated herd, a mob". Inclassical studies,Vulgar Latin as the Latin of everyday life is conventionally contrasted toClassical Latin, theliterary language exemplified by the"Golden Age"canon (Cicero,Caesar,Vergil,Ovid, among others).[2][3] This distinction was always an untenable mode ofliterary criticism, unduly problematizing, for instance, the so-called "Silver Age" novelistPetronius, whose complex and sophisticated prose style in theSatyricon is full of conversational vulgarisms.[4]
Vulgarism has been a particular concern ofBritish English traditionalists.[5] In the 1920s, the EnglishlexicographerHenry Wyld defined "vulgarism" as:
a peculiarity which intrudes itself intoStandard English, and is of such a nature as to be associated with the speech of vulgar or uneducated speakers. The origin of purevulgarisms is usually that they are importations, not from a regional but from a classdialect—in this case from a dialect which is not that of a province, but of a low or uneducated social class. ... [A vulgarism] is usually a variety of Standard English, but a bad variety.[6]
The moral and aesthetic values explicit in such a definition depends onclass hierarchy viewed as authoritative.[5] For instance, the "misuse" ofaspiration (H-dropping, such as pronouncing "have" as"'ave") has been considered a mark of the lower classes in England at least since the late 18th century,[5][7][8] as dramatized inMy Fair Lady. Because linguistic vulgarism betrayed social class, its avoidance became an aspect ofetiquette. In 19th-century England, books such asThe Vulgarisms and Improprieties of the English Language (1833) by W. H. Savage, reflected upper-middle-class anxieties about "correctness and good breeding".[7]
Vulgarisms in a literary work may be used deliberately to furthercharacterization,[1]: 39 [2][7] by use of "eye dialect" or simply byvocabulary choice.
