Features of functioning American youth slang (based on the American animated series The Simpsons)

Abstract

The article studies the functions of slang and carries out the analysis of the peculiarities of youth slang functions in the context. The author deals with the notion of slang, its classification, and functioning. The article aims to single out main functions performed by the examples of youth slang and differentiate them into sections. The subject of our study is American slang, and the object is the functioning of American youth slang in film discourse. The material of the study is a slang samples from the scripts of five episodes of the 30th season of the American animated series The Simpsons. The sampling criterion was the use of a language unit in one or more available contexts. As a result, we selected 50 slangisms recorded by such dictionaries as Green's Dictionary of Slang, Slang Define, and The Online Slang Dictionary. The material and objectives of the study led to the use of an interpretation method to determine the functions of examples of American youth slang in the context of its use. As a result we distinguished 10 slang functions: expression of belonging to a certain sphere of activity, originality, positive and negative selection from the crowd, adequate perception in the team, enhancement of friendly atmosphere, conciseness, concretization, transmission of confidential information, diversity of language, and emotionality. The analysis showed that the most commonly used function of American youth slang is the tenth one expressing emotionality, 15 examples out of 50 stand for 30%, and the least used is the eight function, the transmission of confidential information, non-sampled, 0 examples stands for 0%.