The role of the ahglo-american loanwords in the Ukrainian computer slang at the beginning of the 21st century

At the beginning of the 21st century, along with the processes of intercultural communication, the internationalization of the English language is taking place. Anglo-Americanisms have _ filled various fields of the modern society. Technological process has led to the emergence of new lexical units in the computer area. The names of the new digital phenomena and technological innovations have appeared in the recipient language. The development of the digital technologies has led to an increase in the amount of the lexical material connected with it. The article is devoted to the study of the computer slang loanwords in the Ukrainian language caused by the process of intercultural communication and language integration. The main material is the Anglo-American loanwords of the computer area. The attempt to investigate the types of the loanwords according to their _ forming and the degree of assimilation in the recipient language has been made. The sociolinguistic interview of the Ukrainian speakers of the different age groups has been conducted to determine the extent to which the Anglo-American loanwords are adapted to the speech, which is related to the development of the digital literacy in the Ukrainian society and the technological progress. The main hypothesis of the study is the integration of Anglo-American loanwords in the Ukrainian language and the internationalization of English in the world. The young people are well acquainted with the loanwords and use them in everyday life, the proportion of older people is smaller. Therefore, it can be concluded that the Anglo-Americanisms are actively used in the Ukrainian language, namely in the area of computer and ITtechnologies, and this tendency indicates the processes of internationalization of English in the world.

Key words: loanword, assimilation, intercultural communication, language integration, language internationalization.

Introduction

Language is a dynamic phenomenon. It is constantly evolving: new words and expressions enhance, and the lexical material of any language is replenished with them. The various slangs and dialects are quite common for the language. But in recent years, the computer slang has received the main distribution.

The emergence of the loanwords is associated with the rapid growth of computer technologies since the second half of the 20th century and, in particular, the mass introduction of personal computers and computer devices into everyday life of an ordinary person (Gorshkov, 2008: 32).

The computer terminology is in constant development. The words, some commonly used lexemes change their meanings, while others become obsolete and out of use (Nechayevskiy, 2011: 67). Today, most of the computer vocabulary is borrowed, the loanwords come into the Ukrainian language mainly from English, which indicates the tendencies of its internationalization. This is due to the rapid and ubiquitous development of the Internet and network technologies.

Review of recent sources of research and publications

The communication with the help of the computer covers millions of people and changes not only the habitual way of life, but also our thinking. All these processes reflect the language. So, the researchers of various levels follow the development of the computer language with great interest.

The Internet as a unique linguistic phenomenon draws philologists' attention. Many of them actively studied the specificity of the computer discourse (Gorshkov, 2008; Nechayevskiy. 2011), the genre features of electronic (computer, network) communication, and a new form of language interaction in the Internet vocabulary (Yasynska 2009; Hoffer 2002). It has already become the subject of the special studies. So, an attempt to comprehend and interpret the words associated with the Internet is given in the series works by E. M. Beregovskaya and N. V. Vinogradova. The loanwords of the IT-area as the means of a game language are also considered (Shchur, 2001).

Setting an objective. Our work is devoted to its specific variety - the area of information technology. The processes of formation and development of the computer slang, its interaction with other varieties of the computer communication language are still not clear enough.

The object of study is the Anglo-American loanwords related to the area of information technology.

The subject of this research is to study the formation and development of the computer slang, its classification and the degree of its adaptation by the Ukrainian speakers.

The purpose of our work is to identify and describe the features of the Ukrainian computer language, to establish the reasons for its forming and the functions it performs. In addition, it was interesting for us to collect information about the ways to replenish the field of information technology, to draw some conclusions about the distribution and further development of such vocabulary.

The main tasks of the work are:

- to identify the role of the Anglo-American loanwords in the area of information technology;

- to analyze the ways of their formation and types of assimilation in the Ukrainian language;

- to determine the degree of their use by the Ukrainian speakers.

Presentation of basic material

Initially, the computer vocabulary was formed as a highly specialized one related to with the information technology industry. It was inherent to the professionals working in the area of high technology and was often understandable and applicable only in the specific environment (Shchur, 2001: 13). However, as ITtechnologies spread and become common in the society, the computer vocabulary converts into generally accessible and understandable to many people, not connected with the area of information technology professionally.

The loanwords can be divided into two groups. The first group includes wordsprofessionalism. They were previously used only by IT specialists. However, for twenty years they have entered the active lexical material of the Ukrainian language. Computer technologies penetrate our lives, and we can no longer imagine life without the Internet, computer, telephone (Beregovskaya, 2009: 37). Along with these objects, their names also have come, pervaded our speech. We can mention the words such as комп'ютер - computer, вінда - windows (windows), мишка - mouse. The second subgroup includes words that came to us along with the Internet. Their source is mainly English. This group of the loanwords not only has come into our language, but also replaced many Ukrainian words: френд - friend (друг), юзер - user (користувач), софт - soft (програмне забезпечення), треш - trash (мотлох).

The computer slang primarily consists of terms, but it also includes the professionalism used mainly in the speech of the specialists. As the information technology industry is constantly evolving, the computer vocabulary is also actively changing.

The rapid growth of the computer technologies since the second half of the 20th century, and in particular, the use of the personal computers and computer devices have introduced a huge number of the special words and expressions (Beregovskaya, 2009: 39). The English terms and abbreviations, often in English spelling, have filled the speech of the Ukrainians: мережева мапа, мікропроцесор, операційна система, форматування, інсталяція, вінчестер, піксель, діалогове вікно, дісплей and others.

Along with the new technology, computer games also infiltrated the human world, where certain individual designations of things are also present, such as квест, RPG, дефматч etc. Most of the technology comes from the USA, so the influence of the English language is very strong in this area.

However, unlike computer slang formed on the basis of the English language and functioning on the basis of Latin graphic system, the Ukrainian language has not only to borrow the elements of the foreign lexical and grammatical system, but also to adapt them to Cyrillic writing. Not only substantive, but also formal assimilation of the elements of the foreign language code, on the one hand, significantly complicates this task, on the other hand, makes it more diverse and interesting. This determines the specificity of the Ukrainian computer slang in comparison with the European languages that are structurally closer to English.

At first, unusual uses gradually become the norm, new words and meanings are fixed by dictionaries exactly in the form in which they are strengthened in oral and written speech (CD-плеєр, IBM-сумісний, DVD-фільми, SMS-повідомлення, IP-телефонія, ITпроект).

In the conditions of the technological revolution, each new phenomenon must receive its verbal designation, its name. And since almost all of them (with rare exceptions) are invented in the USA, they naturally receive it in English (Beregovskaya, 2009: 33). And for their vast majority, of course, there is no equivalent in the Ukrainian language.

The people working with the computer technology are quite young specialists who often use the loanwords in their speech. Recently, there has also been a craze for young people in computer games. This is a powerful source of the new words (Gorshkov, 2008: 47).

The computer vocabulary has received the greatest influence from the English language. It is a branched system, which includes the names of: the computer specialists and users (прогер (proger), юзер (user), геймер (gamer), флеймер (flamer), декодер (decoder); the human actions and computer responses (намилити (mail) - відправити по електронній пошті); computer failures (бізувати (to bizz) - не додзвонитись); the computer components and parts (toaster - периферійний пристрій, tru-killer - принтер); the computer games (Needfor Speed, Call of Duty).

One of the common ways, standing next to a certain terminology, is the transformation of the term, as a rule, large in volume or difficult to pronounce (комп -- комп'ютер (computer), вінт -- вінчестер (Winchester).

The sources of such vocabulary can also be professional terms of the English origin, which already have an equivalent in the Ukrainian language (morphological rendering): хард-драйв (hard drive), хард-диск (hard disk), хард (hard drive); конект (connecting) and конектитись (to connect); джойн (join) and джойнитися (to join); апгрейдити (to upgrade); програмер (programmer); юзер (user) and юзати (to use); клікати (to click).

We can distinguish such types as the direct loanwords, calques, partial calques, translation and mixed borrowing (Vinogradova, 2001: 210).

The transferring the literal loanwords into the Ukrainian language computer terminology is апгрейд (upgrade); байт (byte); браузер (browser); кєш (cache); адаптер (adapter); інтернет (Internet); сервер (server), девайс (device), хард драйв (hard drive), Аватар (Avatar), Баг (Bug).

The semantic calques are the native Ukrainian words that have received the meaning of a foreign word as a result of the literal translation of the foreign words into Ukrainian: висновок (output); завантаження (loading; downloading); вузол (node); швидкодія (speed of operation).

The partial calques, or loan blends, translate some parts of a compound but not others: прикладна програма (application), сідіромка (CD-ROM), a^er (unregistered), бекапити (backup), Варик (WarCraft), гуглити (google).

The type of translation is інфекція, вірус (virus), буквар (user's manual), вікна (Windows).

Mixed borrowing involves the simultaneous use of the direct and translated loanwords in the term, as a result of which hybrid terms are formed, such as: тимчасовий файл (temporary file); тш-пам'ять (cache-memory); поштовий сервер (mail server); відеокарта (video card).

In the process of the translation, the mechanism of associative thinking works (Vinogradova, 2001: 212). The resulting associations or metaphors are very different:

• in the form of an object or device: плитка (adapter card);

• according to the principle of work: латка (patch file).

There is the group of the loanwords represented by acronyms. These are English by origin and by the method of formation they are compound abbreviated words, which are not yet involved in the process of their assimilation (Vinogradova, 2001: 213) in the Ukrainian language: ака (also known as); гусак (gravis ultra sound); оля (object linking and embedding).

These examples also prove that the computer slang tends to simplify, minimize and standardize language tools to a large extent (Yasynska, 2009: 235).

An interesting and new, previously uncharacteristic for the Ukrainian language, is such a way of forming compound abbreviated words, in which the word is replaced by an identically sounding name of a letter or number: 2-to, G2G (got to go); 4-for, B4N (bye for now).

A fairly large number of the words in this group came from various abbreviations: айпішник (IP); ікспішка (XP (Windows).

The grammatical assimilation of some loanwords by the Ukrainian language is accompanied by their derivational adaptation (Nechayevskiy, 2011: 68): зіпувати, зазіпований, зіповський (zip); юзерський (from юзер), юзаний (from юзати) (to use).

In accordance with the fact that one of the characteristic features of the slang is the reduction of long and compound professionalisms, we can single out a technique of univerbation (Nechayevskiy, 2011: 68): анрег (unregistered), бренд (brandname), софт (software).

During the grammatical assimilation, the English term comes at the disposal of the Ukrainian grammar, obeying its rules. Nouns, for example, acquire case endings: симка (sim-card).

Due to the fact that the source language is analytical and the recipient language is synthetic, there is an addition of inflections to the verbs: апгрейдити (to upgrade); гамати (game); гуглити (google).

There is the classification of the computer loanwords according to their pronunciation. The first group is a direct transliteration of the English word while maintaining the main meaning of the lexeme: гаджет (gadget); гейм (game); геймер (gamer); офтопік (off topic).

The second group of the loanwords is represented by examples, regarding which we can no longer talk about transliteration, but about phonetic and grammatical distortion of the original word (Hoffer, 2005: 60): дебажити (debug), гамати (game); гуглити (google); думати (doom).

Many stylistically neutral Ukrainian words, being used and reinterpreted by the computer dialect speakers, acquire additional meanings. These are the Ukrainian words chosen for the reasons of phonetic similarity to the English originals: батон (button); мускул (MySQL); пага (page).

The phonetic mimicry (based on the coincidence of the semantically dissimilar common words and English computer terms) (Vinogradova, 2001: 213): ерор (єітог), лазар (laser printer), джемпер (jamper), шаровари (shareware), батон (button).

In order to study the problem of the Anglo-American loanwords assimilation in the area of information technology, a sociolinguistic survey has been conducted with the Ukrainian speakers. 100 respondents became its participants: 50 students (25 people at the age of 15-18 and 25 people aged 19-22) and 50 older speakers (25 people aged 23-30 and 25 people aged 31-50). The respondents were offered the Anglo-American loanwords from the area of IT-technologies, which are used not only by the specialists: акаунт, конекшн, фоловер, скриншот, юзер, софт, браузер, кеш, аватар, гуглити, банити, клікати.

The participants had to determine if they know the meaning of: all the loanwords, more than a half, less than a half (Table 1).

Table 1

General statistics of informants' answers to the definition of the meaning of the loanwords

The difference between the first three groups is insignificant, because the young people are well aware of the loanwords meaning. Most people who do not know the meaning of all the words of the computer area in the fourth group. The study presented the data according to such age groups on purpose to show the difference. As claimed by the sociolinguistic research, we can confirm that the younger people use computer loanwords more than older ones. They take them for granted because the Anglo-Americanisms have become a part of their live. Despite this, the respondents of the fourth group also showed a high level of awareness.

The younger generation responds more quickly to the language changes. The development of digital literacy of the Ukrainian society caused a good adaptation of the loanwords of the computer area in the Ukrainian language.

Conclusions

The development of the information technologies has influenced the formation of the vocabulary of the modern generation, which led to the emergence of the computer slang in the language system.

However, the scope of the use of the computer language, including slang, is quite wide and will continue to expand even more in the future.

The Ukrainian computer vocabulary is rapidly changing. The loanwords of the ITtechnology area is losing signs of slang and the Ukrainian Internet language is being formed. The functioning of the slang has an impact on the development of the Ukrainian language in all the areas of its use which shows the development of the English language internationalization in the world.

The prospects of the further study include the analysis of the ways to form computer slang and research it in the diachronic aspect.

Бібліографія

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References

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