Abstract
The problem of swearing by youth in public is becoming acute nowadays. A growing tendency can be traced in Ukraine that young women are on equal terms with men in this respect. The authors of the article explored the reasons of using non-standard language by Ukrainian students under modern conditions and specified what should be done to improve their speech culture and eliminate their swearing. The primary aim of the research is to find out the motives why Ukrainian university students swear in their everyday life. To achieve the goal a special questionnaire was designed. All in all, 118 respondents of 2 age groups participated in the survey. Differences and similarities in using swear words by junior and senior students were investigated according to 3 criteria: motives, types of emotions, recommendations of eliminating or at least minimising this phenomenon. As it is shown by results of the research, the most typical motive of using non-standard language for males and females is the opportunity to express both negative and positive emotions. Neither juniors nor seniors considered it to be extraordinary. Yet, they agreed that various educational activities should be arranged to eliminate the usage of swear words and uplevel the speech culture of university students.
Highlights
Language is considered the most valuable treasure of every nation
It was of particular interest to find out if the place of origin influences the Ukrainian students’ speech culture
19% of males and 7% of females rather often use the swear words in their everyday life
Summary
Language is considered the most valuable treasure of every nation It reflects the culture of the people. Young people are observed to be using swear words in public without any humbleness and shyness It has become a growing trend in the Ukrainian society. Another noticeable tendency is that Ukrainians prefer to use swear words in Russian, even those whose mother tongue is Ukrainian. For the majority of young people addressing to non-standard words in Russian seems a good way to avoid breaking social and literary norms of the Ukrainian language. Ljung (2011) investigates cross-cultural linguistic aspect, analyses shape, use and manifestations of swear words in mother tongue and compares the corresponding lexical units, their meaning, grammar constructions in a number of other languages. Fägersten (2012) presents the problem of swear word usage in a new light focusing on its pragmatic functions, underlining the relationship between swearing and impetus, offensiveness and context from a sociolinguistic perspective. Formanova (2013), a Ukrainian scholar, studies swear words, their types
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