Abstract:
The relevance of the work is due to the need to study sociolects as socially marked
variants of a language that have similarities and differences in the lexico-semantic and
word-formation systems. In this regard, its purpose is to analyze and describe similar
and contrasting elements in the sociolects of traders and criminals on the material of
Russian and English languages. In the course of the study, the method of sociological
observation, experiment, questioning, the method of cognitive semantics, the method
of cognitive derivation, the method of questioning and associative experiment was
used.
The results obtained include: similarity (the presence of the same names of thematic
series, the use of morphological, lexico-semantic methods of word formation), the
presence of contrasts (consisting in the composition of thematic series of vocabulary,
the presence of many polysemantic words, homonyms in the sociolect of criminals,
phraseological units, ambiguous in origin) and stylistic affiliation, in the difference in
the methods of word formation used in the sociolect of traders (abbreviation,
acronymization, truncation).
An integrative approach has been applied to the study of the sociolects of traders and
criminals, based on expansionist, functional and anthropocentric principles. The use
of the anthropocentric principle manifested itself in the description of the specifics of
the social groups of criminals and traders. Expansionism was expressed in the use of
methods of various sciences (cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, contrastive
linguistics). The use of the principle of functionalism consists in describing the
functions of the compared sociolects, in identifying their similar and different
functions.
It is concluded that the sociolects of traders and criminals are indeed socially marked
variants of the language, since the compared subsystems of the language have a
specific system of lexical units, that manifest themselves in the ways of word
formation, and various functions due to the social characteristics of their speakers.
It is noted that the article is notable for its novelty, since the study of the sociolects of
traders and comparative aspect is carried out for the first time. The study of compared
sociolects within the framework of the integrative methodological paradigm is also
new.
