Abstract
This article deals with the English substandard vocabulary as a linguistically and socially significant phenomenon, focusing on its emotional and expressive functions in contemporary discourse. The aim of the study is to analyse how slang, jargon, argot, colloquialisms and vulgarisms encode, intensify and pragmatically deploy emotional meanings in modern English communication. The research is grounded in an integrative methodological framework that combines discourse analysis, contextual analysis, semantic-pragmatic analysis and descriptive-classificatory methods. Authentic examples are drawn from media discourse, digital communication and spoken interaction to illustrate the emotional potential of reduced lexical units. The findings demonstrate that emotionality in substandard vocabulary is not peripheral but constitutive: such lexemes function primarily as evaluative and affective markers rather than neutral nominative units. The study reveals that substandard vocabulary encodes a wide range of emotional meanings - positive, negative and ambivalent, through mechanisms such as semantic shift, metaphorical exaggeration, evaluative reversal and taboo transgression. These mechanisms significantly enhance expressivity and pragmatic impact, enabling speakers to convey attitudes such as admiration, frustration, irony, humor and aggression with high emotional density. The value of the research lies in its contribution to the understanding of the interaction between language, emotion and social context, challenging prescriptive views of non-standard lexis. The results may be applied in Stylistics, Sociolinguistics, Discourse analysis and Language teaching, particularly in analysing media texts and informal communication. The study concludes that substandard vocabulary represents a key resource for emotional expression and identity construction in contemporary English.