The influence of the English language on the Russian youth slang



The influence of the English language on the Russian youth slang

Фадевнина Анна Аркадьевна, учащаяся 11 класса

Научный руководитель: Деркач Татьяна Павловна, учитель английского языка

Slang is an important part of everyday speech of teenagers that makes the vocabulary lively, more teen-like, brightens the language.

We studied youth slang of our area which makes our study original and special.

So we think that our work will be quite useful for those who are interested in modern Russian and English languages. Besides, some students use different slang words in their everyday speech not knowing about their English origin, so it may be surprising for them to get to know the fact. So there is a serious side to analyze young people’s slang and the usage of English loan words in teen’s everyday talks.

Slangwords and phrases are used informally in everyday speech and writing and not for formal or polite use.

Slang language is peculiar to a particular group its informal nonstandard vocabulary is composed typically of coinages.

Slang words cannot be distinguished from other words by sound or meaning.

Such words dо not change their sound or meaning when they becоme slang. Many slang words, such as blizzard, mob, movie, phone, gas,have become informal or standard and, of course, did not change in sound or meaning when they did so. In fact, most slang words are homonyms of standard words, spelled and pronounced just like their standard counterparts, as for example in American slang,cabbage means money, (kapusta) and cool is relaxed (krutoi).Of course, the wordscabbage and coolsound alike in their ordinary standard use and in their slang use.

Few linguists have endeavored to clearly define what constitutes slang. Attempting to remedy this, Bethany K. Dumas and Jonathan Lighter argue that an expression should be considered "true slang" if it meets at least two of the following criteria:

 It lowers, if temporarily, "the dignity of formal or serious speech or writing"; in other words, it is likely to be considered in those contexts a "glaring misuse of register."

 Its use implies that the user is familiar with whatever is referred to, or with a group of people who are familiar with it and use the term.

"It's a taboo term in ordinary discourse with people of a higher social status or greater responsibility."

 It replaces "a well-known conventional synonym". This is done primarily to avoid discomfort caused by the conventional synonym or discomfort or annoyance caused by having to elaborate further.

We began our practical work with collecting material: slang words and phrases used by teenagers in our area. Nearly…. people took part in our questionnaire. They were to name slang phrases they use and hear in talks and answer some questions about this expressions.

All the examples were analyzed and the rating of the most popular slang words was made:

These words were divided into semantic categories:

 Words describing relations between young people

 Words devoted to leisure activities

1) Adjectives expressing the attitude of young people to everyday life

2) Words connected with computers

3) Words naming people

4) Emotional and expressive words

From the list of words you can see that most of this words express relations between young people (коннектиться, фан, бэйби, дарлинг).

Some adjectives are used to show the attitude of young people to everyday events (кульно, окейно, зебестный).

Quite lots of words connect teens with the world of computers (комменты, лайкикликать, геймер).

Some words are used to show people’s emotions (уау, кульно, супер).

There are also words which call somebody (френды, пэрэнты, бой, гёрл).

But we can say for sure that all the slang expressions are the words from young people’s everyday talks and usual events.

Thus, this part of our research work shows that social relationships and peculiarities of life and leisure are reflected in youth slang.

And now it’s high time to prove our words, and give you some vivid examples.

The bulk of slang is formed by short lived words. E. Partridge, one of the best known specialists in English slang, gives as an example a series of vogue words designating a man of fashion that superseded one another in English slang.

They are:

macaroni (1760)	swell (1811)
macaroni (1760)	dandy (1820-1870)
buck (1720-1840)	toff (1851)

American and Russian youth slang peculiarities slang are mostly based on metaphor, though. Let's blow (leave) (слиняем) is a metaphor based on the movement of the wind. When something exciting is called the bomb (implying a nuclear bomb) or‘зомбоящик’, slang is relying on hyperbole. These words can also be divided into semantic categories.

1. Words describing relations between young people: ’dawg,’ ‘hommie’, ‘sista’,’bro’;
2. Words devoted to leisure activities: ‘danan’,’chillen’
3. Adjectives expressing the attitude of young people to everyday life: 'It’s the bomb’, 'glitzy', ‘coolie’;
4. Words connected with computers:

‘Virus’, ‘клава’

5. Words naming people: 'redneck,' 'fire detector';

5. Emotional and expressive words' Your 'special,'' 'Yo' ‘O, майгод!
6. Words may acquire new meanings (cool, cat);

We have asked the pupils of our school some questions on the topic “English borrowings”. In our questionnaire we wanted to know if interviewees often use slang words. The question was:

1. How often do you use English words in your speech?

Often -88 %

Sometimes- 9 %

Do not use-3 %

2. What such words do you use in your speech? Just examples?

Russian word	Meaning	English equivalent
бойфренд	друг, парень	boyfriend
окей	все в порядке	OK
уикенд	выходные	weekend
хай	привет	hi
кул	круто, прикольно	cool
вау	Вот это да!	wow
бай	пока	bye
мэйк ап	макияж	make up
шоппинг	Походпо магазинам	shopping
респект	уважение, уважать	respect
сорри	извини, прости	sorry
Кока-кола, спрайт, айс-ти и т.д.	названия напитков	Coca-cola, sprite, ice-tea
триллер, соуп-опера, и т.д.	названия жанров фильмов	thriller, soap-opera
вискас	корм для кошек	Whiskas
педигри	корм для собак	Pedigree
космополитан	журнал	cosmopolitan

3. Where do you learn these words?

TV -22 %

Magazines -9 %

Stores -33 %

Friends-36 %

Slang is a universal fact of culture. We can find the equivalents of modern slang in the Antiquity, in the Middle Ages, and in the modern era. All slang passes through the same developmental cycles.

Today any writer may use slang freely, especially in fiction and drama.

It has become a tool in the hands of master satirists, humorists, and journalists. Slang is now socially acceptable, not just because it is slang but because, when used with skill and discrimination, it adds a new and exciting dimension to language. At the same time, it is being seriously studied by linguists and other social scientists.

The processes by which words become slang are the same as those by which other words in the language change their form or meaning or both. Some of these are the employment of metaphor, simile, folk etymology, distortion of sounds in words, generalization, specialization, clipping, the use of acronyms, elevation and degeneration, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, borrowings from foreign languages, and the play of euphemism against taboo.

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