Anti‐Languages

Abstract

A t certain times and places we come across special forms of language generated by some kind of anti‐society; these we may call “anti‐languages.” An anti‐language serves to create and maintain social structure through conversation, just as an everyday language does; but the social structure is of a particular kind, in which certain elements are strongly foregrounded. This gives to the anti‐language a special character in which metaphorical modes of expression are the norm; patterns of this kind appear at all levels, phonological, lexicogrammatical, and semantic. The study of anti‐languages offers further insights into the relation between language and social structure, and into the way in which text functions in the realization of social contexts.