Kau VargasMariana Schulz

Dialect/social representation in Trainspotting

Purposemotivation of the author to explore such an interesting and complex language resource as the one used in the book;

scope: first chapter named The Skag Boys, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mother Superior;

The novel is written entirely in a form of colloquial Scottish English, employing both phonetic spellings of words for an accented effect, as well as Scottish slang (MANKOFF, 2015)

The book n the authorThe book was written in 1993 by the Scottish author Irvine Welsh. It depicts the life of Rents, Sick Boy, Tommy, Matty, Spud e Begbie, who spend their time basically going to pubs, getting high, watching football matches and getting into trouble;

Features of the book related to the authors life;

The book n the author Irvine Welsh himself has been involved with heroin and

arrested, which helped him create such a verisimilar world

Trainspotting was his first book and the most intense one

Survey on lexicon items

Survey on lexicon itemswords which are written differently from the standard form are essentially prepositions, pronouns, very common verbs and some slang;

dialect-switchers x style-drifters (AITKEN, 1979).

Sample ay the textThe sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling. Ah wis jist sitting thair, focusing oan the telly, tryin no tae notice the cunt. He wis bringing me doon. Ah tried tae keep ma attention oan the Jean-Claude Van Damme video.As happens in such movies, they started oaf wi an obligatory dramatic opening. Then the next phase ay the picture involved building up the tension through introducing the dastardly villain and sticking the weak plot thegither. Any minute now though, auld Jean-Claude's ready tae git doon tae some serious swedgin (WELSH, p. 3)

Sample ay the text

"Ah'll huv tae stoap sayin' 'ken' sae much. These dudes might think ah'm a sortay pleb." (WELSH, 2013, p. 87).

Survey lexicon itemsTotal of words (chapter 1) - 3554 words (SE - 2582; SC - 972);

Survey lexicon itemsSE SC

one yin

what whit

home hame

together thegither

down doon

my ma

old auld

got goat

get git

would wid

you ye

there thir, thair

their thir

always eywis

Examples of words that are registered/produced in both codes (Standard English and Scots) in Chapter 1.

Survey lexicon itemsMcClures perspective;

Conclusion...The use of dialect is related to the social aspects depicted in the book: the addiction to drugs is stigmatized, as well

as the path they chose.

ReferencesAitken, A. (1979). Scottish speech: A historical view with special reference to the Standard English of Scotland. In: Aitken, A.

(1979). Languages of Scotland (p. 85-118). Edinburgh: W & R Chambers.

Aitkenhead, D. (2012). Irvine Welsh: 'I'm the same kind of writer as I am a drinker. I'm a binger'. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/15/irvine-welsh-writer-trainspotting-skagboys [Accessed 20 May 2015].

Bagno, M. (1999). Preconceito lingustico. Sao Paulo, SP: Edicoes Loyola.

Cliffsnotes.com, (2015). About The Color Purple. [online] Available at: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/c/the-color-purple/about-the-color-purple [Accessed 21 Jun. 2015].

Douglas. F. English in Scotland. In: Kachru, B., Kachru, Y. and Nelson, C. (2009). The handbook of world Englishes. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

LEZARD, N. (1993). BOOK REVIEW / Junk and the big trigger: 'Trainspotting' - Irvine Welsh: Secker, 8.99. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review--junk-and-the-big-trigger-trainspotting--irvine-welsh-secker-899-1464158.html [Accessed 20 May 2015].

Lokotopia.com.br, (2015). Resenha Trainspotting. [online] Available at: http://lokotopia.com.br/resenha-trainspotting/ [Accessed 20 May 2015].

ReferencesLopatiuk, T. (2014). Resenha: Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh). [online] Elvis Costello Gritou Meu Nome. Available at: http://www.

elviscostellogritoumeunome.com.br/resenha-trainspotting-irvine-welsh/ [Accessed 20 May 2015].

Mankoff, S. (2015). Wankers, Burds, and Skag: Heteroglossia in Trainspotting. [online] Empty Mirror. Available at: http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/features/literature/wankers-burds-and-skag-heteroglossia-in-trainspotting.html [Accessed 21 May 2015].

McClure, J. (1979). Scots: Its range of uses. In A. Aitken & T. McArthur (Eds.), Languages of Scotland (pp. 26-48). Edinburgh: W & R Chambers.

Pt.wikipedia.org, (2015). Trainspotting. [online] Available at: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trainspotting [Accessed 19 May 2015].

Trainspotting. (1996). [film] United Kingdom: Danny Boyle.

Welsh, I. (2013). Trainspotting. London, UK: Vintage.

Wikipedia, (2015). Irvine Welsh. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvine_Welsh [Accessed 19 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). Trainspotting (film). [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trainspotting_(film) [Accessed 19 May 2015].

ReferencesWood, V. (2015). Trainspotting for Filth: Irvine Welshs Portrayals of Contemporary Scotland. [online] Theculturetrip.com.

Available at: http://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/scotland/articles/trainspotting-for-filth-irvine-welsh-s-portrayals-of-contemporary-scotland/ [Accessed 21 May 2015].

Zikmundov, M. (2014). The Language of Trainspotting. Masaryk University. Available at: http://is.muni.cz/th/399446/ff_b/?lang=en;id=259506 [Acessed 12 May 2015]