Specific features of word formation and functioning of slang units in the english language

Аннотация

English slang, a colloquial or familiar type of speech in a specific area, is one of the subsystems of the English language. It is usually classified as a social dialect. The term “slang” usually refers to something that does not coincide with the norm of the literary language. Linguistics of the last twenty years has actively switched from the study of written language to the study and analysis of direct live communication. Functional varieties of the use of the language are derivative from the colloquial forms. The study of colloquial speech is extremely important because spoken language is the only true language and the norm for evaluating all other forms of speech. Key words: slang, discourse, sociolect, context, word formation The rising interest in language determines the relevance of researching a variety of collective linguistic subjects as one of the categorizing foundations of the nature of different types of communication. Slang is a social variety of a language used by a more or less limited number of people and differing in its structure (phonetics, grammar and semantics) from the standard normative language. Standard language, on the contrary, is an exemplary, normalized language, the norms of which are perceived as correct and obligatory, and which is opposed to dialects and vernacular, whereas slang is inherent in a particular group. In modern linguistics the term “slang” is used in several senses because of the shift in its meaning. This complicates the understanding of the specifics of the grouping of the vocabulary of the English language designated by it. Therefore, before talking 89 Topical issues of language training in the globalized world about the variety of ways of word formation, one should dwell on the main division of all slang units into general and special. General slang is a commonly understood and widespread in colloquial speech figurative words and phrases of emotional and evaluative coloring, claiming novelty and originality in these qualities and acting as synonyms for words and phrases of the literary language. Special slang includes words and phrases of certain social strata or professional jargon [Viluman, 1960 p.137]. I. V. Arnold offers a similar division of slang into general and special, which is based on the characteristics of the sphere of use. However, she notes that according to the semantic system of the vocabulary of the English language, if slang denotes a new and necessary concept, they can gain a foothold in standard English. If the semantics of slangism is marked only by novelty, then the existence of such a unit does not differ in particular duration, it disappears from the language, thus forming the most variable part of the vocabulary of the language [Arnold, 1959 p.251]. For a deeper and more detailed description and explanation of the mechanisms of using the language elements of interest, the individual often resorts to the selection of such theoretical tools that would be able to correspond to the properties of the selected material and which could reflect the functional component of a language unit in a particular context. A similar theory, which was able to contain “a sufficiently broad context for structural units of the utterance level”, carries the name linguistic pragmatics [Dranko, 2006]. During pragmatically directed research, linguists developed a conceptual framework and examined a number of phenomena as products of the functioning of the language. Sociolect or slang is a is a pragmatic discourse since it actualizes a certain kind of communicative verbal strategy. A communicative strategy is understood as a supertask emanating from the addressee, which is aimed at achieving a practical or communicative goal and is designed to produce a perlocutionary effect: manipulation of the feelings and thoughts of the individual. In other words, the pragmatic orientation of any youth text or statement, first of all, lies in the irresistible intention of prompting 90 Topical issues of language training in the globalized world the addressee to make a decision that is beneficial to the manipulator or simply to retaliate. The formation of the slang dictionary occurs due to the same sources and means that are characteristic of the language in general and the English language in particular. The difference between word formation in the language as a whole and specifically the formation of slang units is only in proportions and combinations [Kulkarni et.al., 2018]. All the main types of word formation are represented in the youth vocabulary: conversion, affixation, compounding, contraction, etc. The main role in replenishing this stylistic group in the English language is played by the rethinking of words in connection with their figurative use, narrowing and expanding of the meaning. Many slang words arise by shortening and blending of the words [Roth-Gordon, 2022]. The role of affixation in the formation of slang words is insignificant. Borrowings that have