Features of the functioning of numerals in the substandard lexicon of the African American social and ethnic dialect

Abstract

Language, as an essential means of communication, is a constantly evolving system of sign units. It develops in accordance with established rules and laws, reflecting the living dynamics of society. Reflecting the character of the people, their thinking, culture, each language forms its own mechanism for expressing quantity. Addressing the problems of studying the number structure within a separate social and communicative system in close connection with the surrounding reality is relevant today. The purpose of this work is to study the specifics of the use of numerals in the vocabulary of the African American population of the United States. The research material was substandard lexical units with the numeral name component, obtained from English-language text sources: explanatory dictionaries of the American version of English, general American and African American slang, texts of musical compositions, Internet resources. The works of E. I. Putyatina, Yu. V. Bopp on the consideration of numerals, J. Dillard, J. Smitherman on the study of the African American Social and Ethnic Dialect formed the theoretical and methodological basis of this work. The methods of empirical observation and continuous sampling, statistical and contextual analysis are used in the work to identify functional, historical, socio-cultural aspects of the use of numerals in the colloquial speech of African Americans. The analysis of the expression of the potential of numerals shows the prominence of the manifestation of informational, influencing and conspiratorial functions. The results suggest that, thanks to metaphorical transference, numerals can be used to express evaluative values, expanding their function in the language.  

Keywords

• social and ethnic
• dialect
• african american
• numeral
• lexical unit
• substandard vocabulary