Web slang and the main trends of its development

Abstract

The article identifies the main ways of web slang units formation and evolution, basing its conclusions on the material of languages different in their structure (English, French and Russian). The purpose of this study was to describe the structural and functional features of modern web slang. The material for the study was data from online dictionaries of computer slang, computer forums, text and audiovisual documents of the relevant subject matter. The article clarifies the concept of “slang” and provides its main features. The authors of the study define the differential characteristics of web slang: the abundance of Anglicisms, the tendency for word shortening, emotionality. The authors draw conclusions about the relationship between the functional load of this given lexical layer and the ways of its formation on the basis of a detailed comparative analysis of the lexical units belonging to these three language systems. Allo- and isomorphic features of slang formation in three languages are identified in this paper. Thus, all three language systems form the new web sphere vocabulary by means of semantic transformations. Borrowing is a specific feature of French and Russian languages (including calquing (modelling words and constructions after foreign patterns) and hybridization of borrowed vocabulary, i.e. affix derivation of borrowed stems), while English language forms new words to a greater extent by means of clipping (abbreviation or truncation of word stems) or conversion.