MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE

LVIV POLYTECHNIC NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF COMPUTER SCIENCES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

Department of Applied Linguistics

American slangisms and their equivalents in the Ukrainian language

Presented by
The student of the group FL-35
Lolita Melnyk

Supervised by
Associate Professor
Tetiana Bryha

Lviv – 2021
 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................3
CHAPTER I.THE CONCEPT OF SLANG AND ITS ROLE IN MODERN
LINGUISTICS...............................................................................................................5
1.1.Slang as a phenomenon in modern linguistics.........................................................5
1.2Typology of slang.....................................................................................................7
CHAPTER II.YOUTH SLANG IN THE GENERAL SLANG SYSTEM.................12
2.1.Variety and variability of Ukrainian and American youth slang...........................12
2.2Linguistic features of American and Ukrainian youth slang..................................16

2.3Analysis of the means and methods of translation of lexical units of American

youth slang in the TV series "Friends..........................................................................21

CONCLUSIONS.........................................................................................................23
REFERENCES............................................................................................................25
APPENDIX.................................................................................................................28
 3

INTRODUCTION
The concept of slang is beginning to gain more and more attention in modern
philology. Currently, there are a large number of definitions of slang, which often
contradict each other. These contradictions concern primarily the scope of the concept
of slang: the dispute is, in particular, whether to include in slang only expressive
words that are synonymous with literary equivalents, or even all the non-standard
vocabulary, the use of which is condemned.
Youth slang reacts most vividly to all events in life. It reflects new phenomena
and itself changes in the process of their transformation. However, at the present
stage of development of linguistics and translation studies, slang is still an
understudied problem that needs further study. Thus, our course work is devoted to
the peculiarities of the translation of youth slang.
The object of research is colloquial vocabulary, namely American slang and
their equivalents in the Ukrainian language.
The subject of research is the features and means of translating slang units from
English into Ukrainian.
The aim of the research is to determine the place of slang in the vocabulary
system, to compare and consider the peculiarities of the formation and functioning of
American and Ukrainian youth slang, to determine the peculiarities of the translation
of American youth slang into Ukrainian.
In accordance with the purpose of the study, the following tasks are set and
solved in the work:
1) determine the place of the term "slang" and its role in modern linguistics

2) define the features of youth slang

3) analyze the sources and areas of use of youth slang;

 4

4) review and analyze the processes and problems of translation of American

youth slang the example of the TV series "Friends".
Research methods: comparative-historical, descriptive, comparative, method of
comparative analysis.

CHAPTER I. THE CONCEPT OF SLANG AND ITS ROLE IN MODERN

LINGUISTICS
1.1. Slang as a phenomenon in modern linguistics
The issue of the history of slang formation and its origin has concerned many
generations of linguistic scholars. According to many studies, the emergence of slang
as a special layer of vocabulary is attributed to the emergence and formation of the
so-called colloquial norm of language, developing and taking shape over the
centuries in the linguistic element of slang, along with other language layers on the
periphery of the literary norm. There are different views on the problem of selection
or non-selection of slang from a number of others as a concept and as a term by
national linguists.
G. Menken argues that slang is a general distribution category that is outside
the generally accepted language standards. G. Menken, studying the evolution of the
slang, identified patterns according to which the "life expectancy" of some slang units
is determined by centuries, while others "unbelievably" die, barely born [Menken].
J. Greenock and G. Kittridge describes the slang as follows: "slang is a vagrant
language that wanders around literary language and constantly tries to enter into the
most sophisticated society" [J. Greenock and G. Kittridge].
The term slang is also interpreted as words that are often considered as
violations of standard language. They are expressive and ironic words that serve to
indicate objects that are talked about in everyday life [Skrebnev].
Thus, we can conclude that, in spite of the popularity (or perhaps precisely
because of it), "slang" currently has no terminological accuracy.
 5

However, the above points of view allow us in some way to generalize its most
essential properties:
1. Slang is not a literary vocabulary, i.e. words and combinations that are out of
the standard English literary standard in terms of modern literary standard
requirements.
2. Slang is a vocabulary that appears and is used mainly in oral language.
3. Slang is an emotional vocabulary.
4. Depending on the range of the slang can be divided into common slang
(General Slang) and little-known special (Special Slang). 5. Slang is a living and
moving language that stands at the same pace as time and responds to any changes in
the life of a society.
Slang is usually referred to as social dialects. The dialect is a type of territorial,
temporal or social language used by a more or less limited number of people and
differs in its structure (phonetic, grammar, symbolic and semantic) from the linguistic
norm, which is itself the most prestigious social dialect. The linguistic standard is an
exemplary and standardized language, the standards of which are perceived as
"correct" and universally obligatory, and which are opposed to dialects and
colloquialisms. Any dialect is made in one or another language quantity. In
sociolinguistic literature, the linguistic group is usually considered as the starting
point of sociolinguistic analysis, in connection with which the terms "language
community" and "linguistic community" are often mixed unequally.
You can note such varieties of American slang as:
a) "basic slang", for example: yob instead of boy;
b) "central slang", for example: ilkem instead of milk;
c) "rhyming slang", for example: artful dodger instead of lodger;
d) the so-called "medical Greek", for example: douse - hog instead of house -
dog, to poke a smike instead of to smoke a pipe, etc.
All these types of pseudo-slang are used solely to make the language of a social
group incomprehensible to the non-initiated. The jargon is charactarized not only by
 6

the distortion of the existing words of language, but also by numerous borrowings,
whose appearance is often modified in such a way that they do not differ from the
other tokens of the language [Zeninin].
Moreover, some authors see slang as a vulgar, thieving language that should be
avoided and which is therefore doomed to extinction; others, on the contrary,
consider slang a sign of life,development,language renewal

1.2. General and special slang

V.G. Vilyuman, having studied the problem of slang for many years,
formulated some of its features in brief theses, in particular, the author proposed
distinguishing between two types of slang:
a) general slang - figurative words and phrases of emotional and evaluative
color, which are outside the literary language, common and widespread in the
colloquial language, claiming novelty and originality and in these qualities are
synonymous with words and phrases of literary language;
b) special slang - words and phrases of one or other professional or class
jargon[Vilyuman].
General slang has a number of different features that can be found when
comparing statements about the slang of foreign and domestic Englishmen. These
features should be taken into account to prevent subjective allegations. Let's call
the main:
1) general slang is widespread and understandable for all social groups;

2) has a pronounced emotional and evaluative nature

3) not homogeneous in its genetic composition, being created from various

sources (jargon, professionalism, barbarism, etc.);
7

4) sometimes has phonetic, morphological and syntactic features;

5) differs genetically and functionally from special slang (jargon)

The vocabulary of general slang can be supplemented to some extent by
jargon and professionalism. Many of them seem to be between general slang and
special slang, others can be included in social jargon as well as professional
speech. Probably some part of non-literary vocabulary and phraseology is inside
some blurred borders, it is impossible to stick some definite label on it.
Special slang as a social language microsystem is very heterogeneous in its
composition and genetic structure. The analysis of different approaches to the
definition of slang and the study of practical material leads to the conclusion that
slangs are characterized by different degrees of stylistic decline and, therefore,
belong to different layers of lexical and stylistic. In addition, most of the slang
functions in the language of some social groups, and even after passing into
national use, slang always carries a trace of its social origin. The special slang is a
non-standard lexicon of a particular social group, which may consist of a non-
standard heterogeneous stylistic vocabulary [Khomyakov].
General slang, or simply slang, has become widespread and understandable
to all social strata of the population, without causing difficulties in interpreting and
understanding the semantic content of the relevant lexical items; it has a
pronounced emotional and evaluative character with the dominance of the
expressive function over the nominative one, which aims only to name objects or
phenomena, for which neutral vocabulary is called; general slang is relatively
stable for a certain period, although slang and easily turn into colloquialisms, and
also disappear from use; this type of slang is not homogeneous in its genetic
composition, as it is formed by various sources (jargon, slang, professionalism,
barbarism, etc.); it is heterogeneous in the degree of approximation to the
colloquial language, although in general it opposes it as a component of
vernacular; general slang sometimes has phonetic, morphological and syntactic
8

features; it differs genetically and functionally from special slang (slang, jargon)
[Halperin].
 9

CHAPTER II. TYPES OF SLANG AND ITS ROLE IN MODERN

SOCIETY
2.1. Variability and changeability of American youth slang
Slang has a wide range of uses. Many people, especially young people, use
slang in their speech because they want to be modern, stylish. Others use slang as a
means of communication, which has a touch of openness, informality, expresses
sociability and ease of communication.
The term "youth slang" is understood as a set of linguistic means of high
expressive power, which are constantly transformed and are used in communication
by young people who are in friendly and family relations [Foursa].
Slang words and expressions are emotionally colored and are often used
figuratively. Slang is a piece of vocabulary that changes too quickly. If a word or
phrase loses its novelty, it is replaced by a new slang. This is alternative vocabulary.
It cannot exist in the past, it is constantly updated. His life is short and has a dubious
reputation. It either settles in the language, or it is forgotten. American slang
traditionally absorbs any bright word that came to him [Beregovskaya].
According to age, the language of young people and the language of older
generations are traditionally distinct. The modern jargon of American youth includes
student slang, teen slang - fans of modern rap and hip-hop music, among other
inclinations and preferences.
What's the difference between juvenile slang and another slang? Slang words are
used to communicate with people of the same age, and are used as synonyms of
words in English, different from those in emotional color.
As we can see, youth slang helps today's youth to express their feelings, emotions,
thoughts. In general, the slang vocabulary is characterized by a rich vocabulary. Also,
youth slang as a kind of national language has its own system of idioms and
phraseologies. However, there are a few idiomatic words and expressions specific to
a particular region. It should be noted that when using slang words and expressions,
stylistic rules and standards must be strictly adhered to.
 10

It is well known that emotional slang can be expressed by creating neologisms

that show some resilience, moving to other stylistic layers (for example, rentals =
parents ; digethead or tool - someone who works a lot with a computer, brainiac - an
intelligent student; floppy disc - zubryla, iron pimp - school bus, metal mouth - a
teenager wearing a metal denture to correct teeth, etc. In addition to this way of
expressing emotions, there are more than 100 adjectives with evaluative connotations
that make the language of young expressive and emotional. adjectives with a positive
connotation are as follows: awesome, bomb, biggity / diggity, bommy, boss, brad,
chounch, coolarific, doke, dope, fantabulous, 42, groovycool, killer, etc. Adjectives
have a negative connotation: bunk, bogus, booty, buttery, doobs, schwag, shady,
skadip, jankety, etc.
11