In his new book, Maciej Widawski presents an in-depth linguistic description of African American slang, a highly informal vocabulary coined by or typically associated with African Americans (p. ix). With examples drawn from a database of authentic lexical material, the author examines the forms, meanings, themes, and functions of African American slang in an engaging style that is appropriate both for lay readers and academics. The book comprises five chapters.

Chapter 1 elaborates on the various terminologies associated with African American slang such as African American Vernacular English (AAVE). It also outlines the methodology used in the study, first determining of the scope of lexical material to be examined, then explaining the collection of authentic linguistic data, and elucidating of the method of description.

Chapter 2 addresses the morphology of African American slang by illustrating word-building processes such as combining, shortening, converting, blending, borrowing, and creating, and by demonstrating how these processes function in practice. Widawski compares the morphology of African American slang to that of Standard English and finds the two forms to be similar in many respects.

Chapter 3 explores the semantics of African American slang by analyzing the semantic processes of figuration and semantic shifting. Figuration involves the use of metaphor and metonymy as well as synecdoche, allusion, hyperbole, meiosis, simile, personification, and reification; semantic shifting involves generalization, specialization, melioration, and pejoration. The author finds that both processes are used extensively in African American slang in attaching new meanings to existing Standard English words.

Chapter 4 focuses on semantic fields in the lexicon of African American slang and categorizes semantically related items into two thematic groups: common themes and themes that reflect the African American cultural experience and perspective.

The final chapter examines the pragmatic aspects of African American slang. The author describes how African American slang is used to convey social, psychological, rhetorical, and cultural information. He then shows how African American slang supports social functions such as group identification, interaction, secrecy, and resistance to authority, as well as pragmatic functions such as the expression of emotion, humor, and toughness. As to the rhetorical motives for using slang, the author identifies the traits of informality, stylization, conciseness, and forcefulness of expression. Then, to conclude his study, Widawski investigates the cultural functions of African American slang in terms of wordplay, word battle, and assimilation.

The excellent glossary, which contains 1,500 representative slang words and expressions obtained from diverse contemporary sources and appended with definitions and usage examples, is a useful addition for readers.

This book, which covers a broad range of linguistic topics, will be of great interest to linguists, culture scholars, educators, and anyone interested in surveying the fascinating genre of African American slang.