The author proposes the division of sociolects into three basic groups, based on their relation to the dominant culture. Cultivated sociolects reflect the dominant culture of the society; their principle is euphemism. Marginal sociolects acknowledge the superior status of the dominant culture, but are relatively estranged from it; their principle is dysphemism. Excess sociolects do not acknowledge the dominant culture and replace it with their own value systems: subjectivity instead of rationalism, extremism instead of moderation, hedonism instead of spirituality, etc. They semantically subvert and ironise other sociolects: their principle is intertextuality. The presentation of the basic concepts is followed by an analysis of two corpora of private letters written in a cultivated and a marginal excess sociolects respectively: through quantitative and qualitative analysis, the different value systems that underlie both sociolects are illustrated.
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