ENGLISH WORDS IN THE TALK OF POLISH TEENAGERS. A REVIEW OF SOCIOLINGUISTIC ASPECTS
Marek Krawiec
Wielkopolska Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna JarocinAbstract
The following article primarily deals with the notion of lexical borrowing. It particularly emphasizes the process of adopting English loanwords by Polish teenagers who in this way reflect their views, beliefs and feelings as well as accentuate their sense of belonging and their presence in the society.
Apart from encapsulating opinions and observations of scholars on this subject, the article provides an extensive amount of empirical data which comes from the survey conducted among young Poles in March 2007. This data is presented by the author with the aim of issuing a list of English loanwords commonly adopted by Polish teenagers for whom these words function as an important part of their daily communication. The use of these items is exemplified in the article by various sentences which were quoted by teenagers participating in the research. The sentences in fact illustrate how foreign units are incorporated to the Polish system and in what social contexts they are applied by the youth.
An analysis of the data is also carried out here to assist the author in classifying English loanwords into certain semantic fields and in distinguishing and comparing the codes developed by boys and girls at the gymnasium and secondary school level.
The article in the final part enumerates the reasons for adopting English words teenagers and discusses the most influential channels by means of which the transmission of lexical borrowings takes place.
Keywords:
linguistic code of teenagers, lexical borrowings, English loanwords, reasons for use, means of transmitting English loanwordsReferences
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Wielkopolska Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna Jarocin
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