YOUTH SLANG IN MODERN STUDENTS’ SPEECH

Abstract

In the article the peculiarities of speech of modern Ukrainian students as well as problems of using elements of such non-standard language phenomena as youth slang are revealed. It is stressed that youngsters find it difficult to form the system of values in the situation of constant uncertainty. The important task of higher education is to create the national-linguistic personality, able not only to master language competencies, but also to resist the leveling of national interests and to preserve the identity of the Ukrainian nation. The essence of such non‑standard lingual phenomenon as youth slang is revealed. The authors observe slang as means of self-affirmation of the young person in the adult world, and also a specific way to avoid control of older people by rejecting language norms and engaging in sublanguage, accompanied by association with peer groups with common interests and lifestyle. Among the reasons for the use of slang are such as insufficient vocabulary of young people, protesting against the norms and rules of the surrounding reality, secrecy of speech for misunderstanding by adults, diversification, expressiveness and originality of young people’s speech as well as reduction of the cultural level of youngsters due to the simultaneous crisis of spiritual, social and material life of the majority of the Ukrainians. Considerable attention is paid to the causes of deviations in students’ speech. The decline in the level of spiritual culture and social uncertainty affects the speech etiquette of students, which is rich in slang and borrowings from the other languages. It is argued that there is a clear correlation and dependence between the level of education, general culture and human speech, and therefore low language culture is a sign of limited and poor inner world of the younger generation. There are such factors having a great impact on the culture level in general and speech level in particular as person’s environment during the childhood, social environment, information space and education. Youngsters often use the information products of bad quality and become similar to the national anti-heroes. Youth slang and surzhyk as signs of low speech culture are typical for the modern students’ speech. Specificity of the national and lingual personality of the students’ education lies in the consolidation of the teachers’ attempts. Key words: slang, borrowings, surzhyk, youngsters, national-linguistic personality, speech deviations, culture of speech.