Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a particular occupation (that is, a certain trade, profession, vernacular or academic field), but any ingroup can have jargon. The key characteristic that distinguishes jargon from the rest of a language is its specialized vocabulary, which includes terms and definitions of words that are unique to the context, and terms used in a narrower and more exact sense than when used in colloquial language. This can lead outgroups to misunderstand communication attempts. Jargon is sometimes understood as a form of technical slang and then distinguished from the official terminology used in a particular field of activity. The terms jargon, slang, and argot are not consistently differentiated in the literature; different authors interpret these concepts in varying ways. According to one definition, jargon differs from slang in being secretive in nature; according to another understanding, it is specifically associated with professional and technical circles. Some sources, however, treat these terms as synonymous. The use of jargon became more popular around the 16th century attracting persons from different career paths. This led to printed copies which are available on the various forms of jargon.
Specifics Jargon, also referred to as "technical language", is "the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group". Most jargon is technical terminology (technical terms), involving terms of art or industry terms, with particular meaning within a specific industry. The primary driving forces in the creation of technical jargon are precision, efficiency of communication, and professionalism. Terms and phrases that are considered jargon have meaningful definitions, and through frequency of use, can become catchwords. While jargon allows greater efficiency in communication among those familiar with it, jargon also raises the threshold of comprehensibility for outsiders. This is usually accepted as an unavoidable trade-off but it may also be used as a means of social exclusion (reinforcing ingroup–outgroup barriers) or social aspiration (when introduced as a way of demonstrating expertise). Some academics promote the use of jargon-free language, or plain language, as an audience may be alienated or confused by the technical terminology, and thus lose track of a speaker or writer's broader and more important arguments. Some words with both a technical and a non-technical meaning are referred to as semi-technical vocabulary: for example, Chinh Ngan Nguyen Le and Julia Miller refer to colon as an anatomical term and also a punctuation mark; and Derek Matravers refers to person and its plural form persons as technical language used in philosophy, where their meaning is more specific than "person" and "people" in their everyday use.
Etymology The French word is believed to have been derived from the Latin word gaggire, meaning "to chatter", which was used to describe speech that the listener did not understand. The word may also come from Old French jargon meaning "chatter of birds". Middle English also has the verb jargounen meaning "to chatter", or "twittering", deriving from Old French.
The first known use of the word in English is found within The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. Chaucer related "jargon" to the vocalizations of birds. In colonial history, jargon was seen as a device of communication to bridge the gap between two speakers who did not speak the same tongue. Jargon was synonymous with pidgin in naming specific language usages. Jargon then began to have a negative connotation with lacking coherent grammar, or gibberish as it was seen as a "broken" language of many different languages with no full community to call their own. In the 1980s, linguists began restricting this usage of jargon to keep the word to more commonly define a technical or specialized language use.
Fields using the term In linguistics, it is used to mean "specialist language", with the term also seen as closely related to slang, argot and cant. Various kinds of language peculiar to ingroups can be named across a semantic field. Slang can be either culture-wide or known only within a certain group or subculture. Argot is slang or jargon purposely used to obscure meaning to outsiders. Conversely, a lingua franca is used for the opposite effect, helping communicators to overcome unintelligibility, as are pidgins and creole languages. For example, Chinook Jargon was a pidgin. Although technical jargon's primary purpose is to aid technical communication, not to exclude outsiders by serving as an argot, it can have both effects at once and can provide a technical ingroup with shibboleths. For example, medieval guilds could use this as one means of informal protectionism. On the other hand, jargon that once was obscure outside a small ingroup can become generally known over time. For example, the terms bit, byte, and hexadecimal (which are terms from computing jargon) are now recognized by many people outside computer science.
Referenced The philosopher Étienne Bonnot de Condillac observed in 1782 that "every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas". As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment, he continued: "It seems that one ought to begin by composing this language, but people begin by speaking and writing, and the language remains to be composed."
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