Anglicisms: Evolution and Degradation Essay

In linguistics, there are two main standpoints when it comes to language changes: evolution and degradation. Evolution supporters see any changes in the language as a natural progression which cannot be stopped. Borrowing from English into Russian is one of progressive parts. However, what we are seeing now in modern Russian is the language being flooded with Anglicisms (a word borrowed from English into another language) via mass media, the Internet, and marketing industry. We want to understand the reasons of such a great flow of Anglicisms in our language First: The emergence of new terminology (computer language, economics, the Internet): due to the rapid development and diffusion of information technology in everyday life, many items that require name: e-mail, laptop, byte, site have appeared. It’s easier to use the existing words of another language than to invent new ones. 2) Borrowings for certain reasons (easier to pronounce, shorter) replaced the previously undeveloped or native Russian language units, such as the price (instead of preckurant), image (instead of obraz) Of course, another point must be a tribute to fashion: the knowledge of English language is considered highly prestigious. And often people use Anglicisms in order to look fashionable thus: presentation, rating, talk shows. 4) The expressiveness of novelty: many firms and companies use Anglicisms as a name to highlight the novelty of sound. — Spheres– As you know, foreign words are one of the major sources of the young people’s language, particularly youth slang. The USA and Great Britain are increasingly becoming the center of attractive goods, especially in the minds of Russian young people. Anglicisms have become a sort of a fashionable hobby; due to it stereotypes and ideals are created by youth society. Adding in the speech English borrowings, teens in some way are attached to American culture and lifestyle. With the advent of social networks there has emerged a certain group of words that people, especially teenagers, are using to communicate. We have analyzed the vocabulary employed in one popular social network. Needless to say, there are words like ok, hi, yes, no, like, thanks, sorry, which are related to the social sphere. Did you know that â€Å"ok† is the most popular word in our world? It was first used as a joke in the Boston Morning Post on March 23, 1839, a shortening of the phrase â€Å"oll korrect,† itself an incorrect spelling of â€Å"all correct.† The joke should have run its course, and OK should have been forgotten but we have been using it every day till now. Conclusion Through this research, we came to the conclusion that the process of borrowing from English into Russian amplified now, because the English language is the basis of a much professional language and as the new Latin of XX century, is widely used in the youth slang. On the one hand, this process is inevitable, but on the other, the cultural basis of any language must be preserved. So, we guess that Anglicisms must meet the following requirements: any borrowing must be necessary, if you can’t find the word in the Russian language, foreign words should be used correctly and accurately in the sense that it has in the original language, it should be clear to those who use it.