URBAN LINGUISTICS IN UKRAINE: ATTAINMENTS AND PROSPECTS OF RESEARCHES

Abstract

The article summarizes the achievements of domestic linguistics in the study of urban speaking. The problems of researching nationally determined urban forms of language communication are outlined. It is emphasized that the analysis of the city language life makes it possible to determine the patterns inherent in the speech behavior of all citizens (universal) and those that are inherent in the language behavior of inhabitants from a particular city that is studied (specific). The issues of functioning urbanolects, urban koine, as well as advertising, street announcements, graffiti as elements of the city language landscape are considered. The “dictionary” of each city contains everyday vocabulary, professional jargon, argot, slang, foreign language inclusions, urbanonims – the official names of urban objects and their colloquial names. The polemic over the use of the term “prostorichchia” to describe the Ukrainian linguistic space realities is highlighted. The need for a comprehensive study of nationally determined urban forms of communication in domestic linguistics is substantiated. Thus, the most urgent task of such studies is to create a database of speech material taking into account regional specifics to identify the following structural elements: “Language of a big city”, “Language of a small town”, “Language of the district center”, “Language of the village” etc. For this purpose, it is extremely important to collect material for oral textbooks. It is emphasized that the speech peculiarities of representatives from different social groups and the level of language proficiency can be studied in groups of respondents with identical sets of ethnolinguistic, gender, professional and other social characteristics using such classical sociolinguistic methods as observation, oral interview, testing, questionnaires, and analysis of written sources. Urban linguistic research should take into account statistical, demographic data and facts of society’s political life. It is concluded that the urgent task for Ukrainian linguistics is to develop general principles of human settlements’ linguistic typology.