AGE AND SOCIAL FACTORS OF USING SLANG VOCABULARY

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of using youth slang at different stages of personality development. Youth has been defined as an artifi cially created social phase between childhood and adulthood. The determinants of forming the given phase have been found out. The analysis of the scientifi c literature has shown that there are a variety of viewpoints regarding the defi nition of youth age. Key social factors influencing the duration of the youth phase are education, fi nancial status, participation in activities of subcultural groups, media environment. The activity of using slang vocabulary during preadolescent, adolescent and postadolescent periods has been analysed. The author has found out the determinants of the growth (decrease) in popularity of the specifi c language subcode in terms of age changes and axiological system transformations. The use of slangisms by preadolescents and postadolescents is comparatively insignifi cant. In the fi rst case the
reason for it is an essential infl uence of parents and teachers, in the second case it is determined by professional activity and performing new social roles. The use of slang vocabulary by preadolescents is often a simple imitation and does not correspond to the communicative situation. Postadolesents mostly use specifi c lexical units that are not considered to belong to youth slang vocabulary because of the dynamic changes in the language subcode being studied. Adolescence in turn is defi ned as the most active period of using slang as a means of communication. This is determined by the influence of (subcultural) peer groups, the wish for language experimentation, expressing verbal
protest and self-identifi cation among adult members of society.