“Vsaj En Stavek Povej Normally”: Anglicisms and Code-Switching in Slovene Youth Slang

Lea Košmrlj

doi:10.4312/elope.21.2.107-125

Authors

Lea Košmrlj University of Ljubljana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.21.2.107-125

Keywords:

English, Slovene, code-switching, anglicism, language contact

Abstract

The influence of the English language can be observed, to a greater or lesser extent, in virtually every world language, and is recognizable in language contact phenomena like borrowing and code-switching. To date, there has been limited research on the widespread use of English in the language of young speakers of Slovene, who encounter English on a daily basis both through education and entertainment. The present study aims to address this research gap by examining the linguistic behaviour of young adult native speakers of Slovene in their everyday informal communication. Drawing on methods of discourse analysis, we quantitatively and qualitatively analyse corpus data obtained through covert audio recording, exploring how the Slovene-English language contact manifests itself in everyday communication among young speakers of Slovene, with close attention paid to code-switching and anglicisms. The results of the study raise the question of language change and the future of languages like Slovene, whose speakers are in close contact with English every day, and suggest further research possibilities in the field of Slovene-English language contact.

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