ENGLISH BORROWINGS IN THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE

Abstract

The article is concerned with the problem of English borrowings in the Russian language at the end of the 20th century and at the very beginning of the 21st century. The purpose of this paper is to give thematic classification of the borrowings. The tasks of the investigation are to outline the main scientific approaches to the problem, to analyse different types of English borrowings in the Russian language in lexicographical sources and to form the thematic classification of English borrowings. The article introduces the main scientific works on the aforementioned problem. The novelty of the investigation is the thematic approach to the classification of English borrowings around the turn of the 21th century. The paper is illustrated by multiple examples from the online sources and paper dictionaries. The material of the analysis includes about 300 words, which are divided to the twenty-five thematic groups. In accordance with the results of the investigation it is noted that there is a limited number of “anglicisms” linked with specific human activities both in England and in Russia. It is also considered that the appearance of the dictionaries of “anglicisms” is the best proof of the function of English as a donor-language. The authors conclude that the basic approach to the problem of the paper can be an initial stage for further, more sophisticated and scientifically more elaborate studies of language contacts in general.

Keywords

• borrowings
• anglicisms
• lexeme
• thematic group
• lexicographical source