The article deals with linguo-cultural and linguo-pragmatic characteristics of the substandard based on the material of artistic works of the mid XX - early XXI centuries. Substandard units (jargonisms, slangisms) are a necessary part of artistic space, without using them it is impossible to realistically recreate the signs of the time, describe the inner feelings of characters, verbalize the picture of the world. Lexical units of substandard express the intentions of the authors of artistic texts, their use allows to recreate the linguistic and conceptual picture of the world not only of the characters of the work, the system of their norms and values, but also to rise to the generalization and comprehension of the real reality. The main functions of substandard units are ideological and emotional-evaluative, as well as cognitive and, less often, nominative. The use of substandard units allows writers to express an implicit evaluation and at the same time to draw a conclusion about the worldview basis of Russian society in difficult periods of Russian history.