Tracing Semantic Variation in Slang
This work addresses the under-explored issue of slang semantic variation in natural language processing, offering insights for incorporating historical cultural elements into slang analysis, though it is incremental in applying existing computational methods to new data.
The paper tackled the problem of understanding slang semantic variation across communities by exploring theories of communicative need and semantic distinction using computational models on historical slang dictionary entries from the US and UK over two centuries, showing that the models can predict regional identity of slang meanings and that both factors influence variation with fluctuating importance over time.
The meaning of a slang term can vary in different communities. However, slang semantic variation is not well understood and under-explored in the natural language processing of slang. One existing view argues that slang semantic variation is driven by culture-dependent communicative needs. An alternative view focuses on slang's social functions suggesting that the desire to foster semantic distinction may have led to the historical emergence of community-specific slang senses. We explore these theories using computational models and test them against historical slang dictionary entries, with a focus on characterizing regularity in the geographical variation of slang usages attested in the US and the UK over the past two centuries. We show that our models are able to predict the regional identity of emerging slang word meanings from historical slang records. We offer empirical evidence that both communicative need and semantic distinction play a role in the variation of slang meaning yet their relative importance fluctuates over the course of history. Our work offers an opportunity for incorporating historical cultural elements into the natural language processing of slang.