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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.55.07.6
How to Cite:
Tang, Y., Du, Z., & Novikov, A.L. (2022). A study of metonymy in compliments to the female gender in Russian youth speech (In
comparison with Chinese youth speech materials). Amazonia Investiga, 11(55), 60-68. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.55.07.6
A study of metonymy in compliments to the female gender in Russian
youth speech (In comparison with Chinese youth speech materials)
К вопросу изучения метонимического переноса в комплиментах в адрес
представительниц женского пола в речи российской молодёжи
(в сопоставлении с материалами речи китайской молодёжи)
Received: July 10, 2022 Accepted: August 19, 2022
Written by:
Tang Yue27
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8542-6726
Du Zihan28
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6290-4206
Novikov A. L.29
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3482-5070
Abstract
This article is devoted to metonymy in the lexical
units of compliments to the female gender in
youth speech of Russian. Metonymy, as one of
the tropes, is an important means of semantic
change and replenishing the lexical stock of
youth speech. This paper collects complimentary
expressions using metonymy in modern Russian
youth speech, divided into 6 different lexical-
semantic groups through component analysis.
The purpose is to analyze the cognitive-semantic
features of metonymy in Russian and compare its
similarities with Chinese compliments for
females in youth speech. As a result of the study,
the following is shown: 1) metonymy, as a
common means of semantic change, is widely
used in youth speech; 2) metonymy of adjectives
is more frequently used in compliments for
females in youth speech based on the cause-and-
result relationship between features of objects;
3) metonymization is closely related to extra-
linguistic factors, in which reflected the aesthetic
standards of youth for female; 4) the comparison
with Chinese materials shows the similar
metonymization of youth speech in two
languages as well as differences in expressions,
which reflects the connection of metonymy with
the national, linguistic picture of the world.
27
Ph.D. Student, RUDN University, Russia.
28
Ph.D. Student, RUDN University, Russia.
29
Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor, is Associate Professor at the General and Russian Linguistics Department, Peoples’
Friendship University of Russia (Moscow, Russia).
Tang, Y., Du, Z., Novikov, A.L. / Volume 11 - Issue 55: 60-68 / July, 2022
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Keywords: compliments, youth speech,
metonymy, female gender, Russian language.
Introduction
As a common sociolinguistic phenomenon,
compliments are extensively used in daily
communications. The term
恭维语
(compliment)
in Chinese corresponds to the Russian term
комплимент. However, definitions of which in
the two languages are slightly different: in
Chinese, it is understood as “to ingratiate
someone with laudatory expressions” (China
Academy of Social Sciences, 2002); while in
Russian, it means “polite, pleasant expressions,
laudatory comments” (Ozhegov & Shvedova,
1996). There is a motivation difference between
the two terms, despite which the laudatory and
praiseful aspects of compliments are emphasized
in Russian and Chinese languages. Therefore,
this article generally comprehends compliments
as words and expressions with positive, laudatory
meanings.
In modern communication, compliments
represent a basic conceptual category of speech
activities with many similarities in different
languages. Among all these similarities, gender
characteristic is one of the most significant
aspects that attracts many researchers' attention
in recent years’ linguistic study. As J. Holmes
mentioned (1988), women give and receive
significantly more compliments than men.
In modern sociolinguistic theories, youth speech
is interpreted as a variant of standard language,
on the one hand, being under the influence of
physiological and psychological characteristics
of young people. However, on the other hand, it
is affected by the rapid development of modern
information technology and the multi-cultural
atmosphere in the context of globalization. These
factors lead to the distinctive features of youth
speech – the chasing of catch words and
unconventional expressions. Furthermore,
compliments also play a significant role in youth
speech as an important component of speech
activities. Among these, complimentary
expressions for the female gender count for a
large proportion.
Metonymy is generally interpreted as a rhetorical
device that consists of the regular or occasional
transfer of an object from one class or a single
object to the object of another class or another
single object, associated with the given one by
contiguity or involvement in the same situation
(Iartseva, 1990). Metonymy is considered a basic
model of polysemy in Russian linguistics
(Shmelev, 1973; Novikov, 1982; Apresyan,
1995). As a kind of trope, metonymy is closely
connected with lexical semantics and is an
important means of forming neologism. As
mentioned above, there is a large number of
catchwords and unconventional expressions in
youth speech. Among them, many are formed
through metonymic transfer. It is an effective
means of replenishing the lexical stock of youth
speech.
Therefore, this paper collects words and phrases
constituted by metonymic transfer in
compliments for the female gender in modern
youth speech of Russian. In this paper, we
describe the cognitive-semantic characteristics of
complimentary expressions of youth speech
utilizing component analysis and divide
materials into 6 lexical-semantic groups.
Language materials chosen for this article are
mainly from the dictionary of Russian youth
slang, jargon, and catchwords; and the dictionary
of network buzzwords: Dictionary of popular and
colloquial speech of the city Arkhangelsk,
volume 2, part 2, youth jargon of Arkhangelsk
(Morozova, 2019), Dictionary of youth slang
(Zakharova, 2014), New Russian-Chinese Slang
Dictionary (Ding, 2008), etc., complemented
with electronic dictionaries and corpora.
In addition, the article also conducts dynamic
collection from major youth user-oriented social
media platforms to ensure the currency of the
materials, mainly referring to the postings and
statements of users on the platforms like Twitter
and Vkontakte.
Theoretical Framework
Basic units of lexical-semantic descriptions
Speaking of component analysis, we must first
introduce the basic concepts in describing lexical
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semantics. It is well known that the main unit of
the lexical-semantic system is the word; as a
combination of sign and meaning, it is a
constituent part of the language system and a
mapping of the real world. These two aspects are
also reflected in the study of lexical meanings:
lexical meanings are systematic, governed by
paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations, and the
influence of extra-linguistic factors must also be
taken into account in the process of lexical
meaning study.
In the context of structuralism, words are divided
into morphemes, the smallest phonological-
semantic combinations; accordingly, lexical
meaning, as a complex object of semantic study,
is also dismantled into basic units: the seme and
the sememe. Sememe is the meaning of a lexeme,
while seme is the smallest semantic component
of a lexeme, which consists of sememe (Sun,
2015).
The understanding of lexeme is relatively
nonconsensual, as V.V. Vinogradov (1938), in
his early works, used the term lexeme to describe
a system of forms that express the corresponding
meaning, while the word as the smallest element
of sentences, i.e., with a specific meaning and
form in context. However, in his later works, the
term "word" was used instead of the original
lexeme. The term "word" was replaced by the
lexical form of the word in order to maintain the
unity of linguistic terminology (Vinogradov,
1938).
L. A. Novikov (1982) adopted another term – a
lexical-semantic variant of the word, the basic
constituent unit of the lexical-semantic system,
which differs in lexical meaning between
variants but has the same form. The lexical-
semantic unit is a combination of form and
meaning, and L. A. Novikov regards lexeme and
sememe as the signifier and the signified of the
lexical-semantic variant.
In addition, as mentioned above, words can be
divided into morphemes, and different
morphemes also have their meanings, called
morpheme meanings. The relationship between
seme, sememe, and morpheme meanings is close
and complex. Seme, rather than a lexical
component, is a linguistic-theoretical building
block generalized to facilitate the depiction of
semantic relationships among linguistic units
(Zhang, 2011). A seme can be derived from
comparing sememes, which correspond one-to-
one to lexical-semantic units. At the same time,
morpheme meanings correspond to morphemes,
which do not necessarily manifest themselves in
sememe.
Cognitive-semantic features of metonymy
In Russian linguistics, polysemy and metonymy
are the semantic relations in language. They
provide a convenient way of preserving
information and linguistic economy, meaning
one sign can mean many objects, properties, and
phenomena (Krasina & Novikova, 2019). While
modern cognitive linguistics views metonymy as
a kind of salience in the same cognitive model
(Lakoff, 1987; Taylor, 1995; Panther & Radden,
1999), replacing the object with its most obvious
feature.
The Russian scholar E. V. Padoucheva in her
study of dynamic analyses of lexical semantics
(2004), argues that metonymic transfer is caused
by shifting the focus from one participant of
conceptual structure to another, raising the
communicative rank of the former and lowering
the rank of the latter. For example, verbs
generally have two participants in their
conceptual structure: agent and patient. In
metonymic transfer, the focus of the word
changes from the agent to the patient or vice
versa, and the meaning of the word changes
accordingly.
E. V. Rakhilina (2010) adds to E. V. Padoucheva
that metonymic transfer includes a shift in the
focus of lexical participants and a shift in the
focus of the verb from process to result. For
instance, "walked over a thousand hills" -
"walked over", where "over" in the former
emphasizes a process, and the latter emphasizes
the result. The author believes that adjectives can
also be metonymic transfer.
However, for adjectives, there is only one
participant: the noun, so E. V. Rakhilina suggests
that adjectives have implicit participants:
participant of participant (part-whole relations,
etc.) or spatio-temporal participant (Rakhilina,
2010).
Adjectival metaphors can be divided into the
following.
1) Partial characteristics → overall
characteristics
2) Individual characteristics → overall
characteristics
3) characteristics → the time/place when /
where it is implemented
4) characteristics → the causer or the result of
the characteristics
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5) characteristics → specific demonstration of
the characteristics
6) Size → Distance
As noted above, the nature of metonymy is the
semantic change resulting from a change of focus
in the cognitive model from one participant to
another. Described in rhetorical terms, it will be
substituting a vehicle for a tenor. Based on the
component analysis, collected materials can be
divided into lexical-semantic groups,
aggregating the same part of speech with
common semis. By dividing the lexical-semantic
groups, it is possible to observe the process of
metonymic transfer based on a word with similar
sememes, i.e., to analyze the substitution process
of tenors based on similar vehicles.
The reason for not dividing materials based on
the metonymical types that the scholars
mentioned above in this paper already
summarize is that it is difficult to present all types
of metonymies limited by collected language
materials.
Besides that, divided lexical-semantic groups
allow for a better observation of the common
types of metonymic transfer in youth speech,
reflecting their cognitive-semantic
characteristics.
According to the collected materials in this
paper, six lexical-semantic groups were divided
through component analysis, and their main
composition is noun or adjective + noun phrase.
Results and Discussion
Table 1.
Lexical-semantic group “beautiful”
Russian
Literal translation
Interpretation
Крутая герла
cool girl
eautiful girl.b
асная девушкаС
sassy girl
very pretty, seductive girl, from the English
"sassy” (saucy, confident).word
няша / няшка / няшная
girl “meow”
” from the -beautiful and sexy girl. “Ня
Japanese word for meow.
Няшная телка
“meow” heifers
a young, beautiful, and nice girl
(The table is made by the authors of this article)
In the lexical-semantic group, "beautiful" exist
typical expression formed by metonymic
transfer.
The Russian expression крутая герла (“cool
girl”) is used to describe the beautiful appearance
of a young lady. The adjective крутой usually
means “decisive, impressive” when describing a
person. In the case of referring to a young lady, a
metonymic transfer of the word can be observed
in its semantic change: when used in compliment
to a female, the focus of this word shifts from the
“general impression” to the “feature of
appearance”, the seme [beautiful] is a cause of
the original seme [impressive], in this word, there
is a transfer from characteristics to the cause of
this characteristics.
In the second example, the adjective сасный
originally means “saucy, overbold”, and is
generally used to describe the "character trait” of
a person. Furthermore, in some situations, it
transferred to the meaning “confident”, which is
the opposite comment of similar behavior. When
this word is used for female, from this sememe
derived the sememe [pretty], [sexy]. In the
process of semantic change, the focus is
transferred from the “character trait” to “the
feature of appearance”, where the “beauty of
appearance generally generates the "confidence".
In other words, there is a transfer from the
characteristics to the cause of these
characteristics.
While the metonymic transfer in the third and
fourth examples is slightly different from those
mentioned above, the word няшный is formed
based on metonymic transfer: its root morpheme
ня- gets the meaning “meow” in the Japanese
language. In the word-formation process, the
focus transfers from the sound characteristics of
a cat to its appearance features, from which
derived the semes [cute], [soft], and [beautiful].
When this word is used for females, there is a
metaphorical transfer based on metonymic
transfer, which compared the appearance
characteristics of a female with a cat, and the
words няша/няшка/няшная got their sememes
beautiful and sexy girl.
Furthermore, the phrase няшная телка is also
based on both metonymic and metaphorical
transfers. The word телка is metaphorically
used to describe a young woman. While the word
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няшная, as mentioned above, is formed based on
metonymic and metaphorical transfers, this complimentary expression is formed by
complicated semantic transfer.
Table 2.
Lexical-semantic group “cute”
Russian
Literal translation
Interpretation
тян / тянка
chan
," a ちゃんlovely girl, from the Japanese word “
suffix used to indicate intimate address, usually
subjects.for younger
чика / чикса / чикуля
chick
lovely and beautiful girl.
цыпочка
little chicken
lovely girl.
малышка
kid
малая
small
крошка
crumbs
a very cute little girl.
Дюймовочка
Thumbelina
a cute and pretty little girl.
(The table is made by the authors of this article)
The Russian word тянка (“chan”) consists of the
root тян- and the suffix -к indicating feminine.
The formation of this word is also based on
metonymic transfer, where the focus of root
morpheme тян- in this word is transferred from
“the address of a younger person” to “age
characteristics”, highlighting the seme [young]
of the object. In contrast, based on this, in
Russian, this morpheme refers in particular to
females, which transfers the focus from [age
characteristics] to the "feature of appearance”,
from which derived the seme [cute]. That is a
transfer from characteristics to the result of these
characteristics.
Likewise, the words чика, цыпочка, and
малышка have the same seme [young], which
when referring to a female, the focus transfers
from “age characteristics” to “feature of
appearance”, from which derived the seme
[cute]. Moreover, based on metonymic transfer,
the words чика and цыпочка are metaphorically
used to describe females, comparing lovely
young girl with “chick” and “little chicken”.
These examples also belong to the transfer from
characteristics to the result of these
characteristics.
While the examples малая (small), крошка
(crumbs), and Дюймовочка (Thumbelina) have
the same seme [small], which in these examples
transfers the focus from “form characteristics” to
the “features of appearance, visual feature”,
metonymically connecting the seme of [small]
with [cute]. Furthermore, except for the
metonymic transfer, the word Дюймовочка
(Thumbelina) obtained its sememe “cute and
pretty little girl” as well based on metaphorical
transfer, which compared the female figure with
a thumb.
Table 3.
Lexical-semantic group “sexy and charming”
Russian
Literal translation
Interpretation
Конкретный агрегат
fitting equipment
Sexy and charming girl. The literal meaning of the
is equipment or device. агрегатword
(The table is made by the authors of this article)
In the lexical-semantic group “sexy and
charming”, the Russian word конкретный
агрегат is used to describe the body shape of a
woman: the original meaning of the word
агрегат is the combination of several different
types of machines or devices. At the same time,
in this situation, it refers to "fitness equipment".
Moreover, in this lexical-semantic group, this
word obtains its sememe “sexy and charming
girl”. In the process of metonymic transfer, the
focus of the situation “getting charming body
shape through using fitness equipment” transfer
from “equipment” to “the charming body shape”,
the two partitions of this situation are associated
with the cause-and-result relationship.
In addition, the adjective конкретный in this
phrase is also metonymically transferred. That is
because the original meaning of конкретный is
“specific”, which is derived from the sememe
“good, great, with high quality" in the youth
discourse. Moreover, in the process of
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transferring, the focus of this word shifts from
"behavioral features" (speaking specific words
and doing specific things) to "evaluation".
Therefore, it is also a transfer from
characteristics to the result of this characteristic.
Table 4.
Lexical-semantic group “kind”
Russian
Literal translation
Interpretation
галабобер
a girl like a beaver
is a Галаloving girl. In Russian, -Very kind, animal means beaver. боберcommon name for women;
(The table is made by the authors of this article)
An example in this lexical-semantic group
clearly shows that the meaning of morphemes
does not correspond to sememes. In Russian, the
word галабобер is composed of the root
morpheme гала- and -бобер. Гала- is a common
name for a female, and the original meaning of
the morpheme -бобер is a beaver. The sememe
of this lexical-semantic variant is the
combination of these two morphemes by
metonymic transfer.
In particular, the root morpheme гала- derived its
seme [women] by substituting the individual for
the whole, гала- as a representative, standing for
the whole group of females.
The root morpheme-бобер gained the seme
[animal] through replacing the whole with the
individual. In this example, as a result of focus
transferring, the participant “person” of the
situation, “a person who loves animals", takes the
center position instead of the participant
"animal", based on which the morpheme derived
the semes [animal-loving person], [kind].
Furthermore, by the combination of the
metonymically transferred meaning of
morphemes, the word галабобер obtained its
sememe “a girl, who is very kind, loves animals”.
Table 5.
Lexical-semantic group “dressed in style”
Russian
Literal translation
Interpretation
хипстерша
girlhipster
very fashionable girl, with an iPad, Starbucks coffee, and
skateboard.
продвинутая
advanced girl
the girl who knows about fashion very well.
элегантушка
elegant woman
dressed female-gorgeously
(The table is made by the authors of this article)
In the lexical-semantic group “dressed in style”,
the word хипстерша (hipster girl) is formed by
metonymic transfer of its morphemes, in which
including the root morpheme хипстер-
(representative of the hipster subculture) and the
suffix -ш used about women. The Russian word
хипстер has come from the English word “hip”
(hipster culture), which indicates the subculture
that was born in the 1940s and 1950s in
opposition to the mainstream culture and was
well received among youth people in those days.
In today's youth speech, its original meaning was
derived from the semes [popular], [trend] by
transferring the focus from the name of the
subculture “hipster” to "the feature of this
subculture". Based on this, it transferred the
overall characteristics to the individual
characteristics, using this word to describe the
feature of its representative. The word
хипстерша (hipster girl) is formed in the context
of the massive popularity of the hippie culture
and the young people's admiration for it.
While the second example in this group,
продвинутая is derived from the verb
продвинуть (move forward), which originally
means “advanced, be in the forefront”. In the
process of semantic change, the focus transferred
from the “feature of behavior (pursuit of the most
modern and recently developed ideas)” to the
“dress style (fashion)” of females, which belongs
to the transfer of characteristics to the result of
this characteristics.
Moreover, in the example элегантушка, the root
morpheme элегант- (elegant) of this word
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derived the sememe [gorgeously dressed] also by
focus transferring, which put the “dress style” in
the center instead of the “qualities
characteristics”. It is a transfer of characteristics
to the cause of these characteristics.
Table 6.
Lexical-semantic group “excellent”
Russian
Literal
translation
Interpretation
самка-альфачка / альфа
alpha girl
cool, confident, and beautiful women sought after
by men. The word came from the initial of the
".αGreek alphabet "
топовая тянка
top girl
sweetest girl, from the most beautiful, the best, the
the English word “top”.
(The table is made by the authors of this article)
In the lexical-semantic group “excellent”, the
Russian word альфачка (alpha girl) is formed by
the root альф- and the suffix -чк, which refers to
a person. The root morpheme Альф- is come
from the initial of the Greek alphabet α, which
obtained its seme [first] by transferring the focus
from the name of this letter to the "feature of it",
and from which gained the semes [excellent],
[best]. On this basis, when using to female, the
formed word means the best characteristics of a
female, which include [cool], [confident], and
[beauty].
When it comes to the phrase топовая тянка, the
original meaning of the adjective топовый is
top; in this example, it gained the seme [best] by
metaphorical transfer. When it is used for female,
the focus of this adjective transfer from the
"overall characteristics" to the “appearance
feature", highlighting the physical characteristics
of female.
Above analyzed the metonymy transfer of
complimentary expression in Russian youth
speech, while in Chinese youth speech, there are
similar transfers, so below is a comparative
analysis in both languages.
In Chinese, the word
正妹
, which translates into
"correct" sister, is used to describe a woman with
good (correct) facial features and a beautiful
appearance. The metonymization of the word
正
is the opposite of крутой in the example крутая
герла, which is the transfer of characteristics to
the result of this characteristic (the good facial
features led to the pleasant external appearance).
In Chinese youth speech also metonymically
associated “small” with “cute”, e.g.,
小 姐 姐
(little sister),
小仙女
(little fairy),
小美女
(little
beauty), etc. The brackets show the literal
translations of these examples, which have the
same meaning – cute girl, just like those
examples in Russian: тян, чика, цыпочка,
малышка, etc., also belongs to the transfer of
characteristics to the results of these
characteristics. However, it can be noted that
unlike the Russian language, where mostly the
two sememes of “small” – [young age] and
[petite figure] are expressed separately (except
for the example малая), in Chinese, they are
more closely related. For instance, the word тян
associated [young age] with [cute], while
крошка [petite figure] with [cute]; while the
word
小
of the example
小姐姐
can on the one
side emphasizes [young age] of the cutie girl, on
the other side – hers [petite figure].
In addition, Chinese youth speech prefers to
associate “cute” with “soft”, e.g.,
软萌
(soft and
cute),
软妹
(soft sister), which are formed by
metonymic transfer based on tactile metaphor.
This process is similar to the example
няша/няшная in Russian, but the order of
metonymic and metaphorical transfer is slightly
different. As mentioned above, the word няша is
formed by metaphorical transfer based on
metonymy. While in the two examples of
Chinese youth speech compared the character of
a person with an object that does not have sharp
angles or hard edges, on this basis, the word
软
(soft) obtain the sememe [gentle] and [nice],
which describe the feature of temper or
personality. While in these two examples, the
focus transfers from the "character feature" to "a
whole feature of person”, transferring the
characteristic to the results of this characteristic,
giving this word a new sememe [cute]. Multiple
semantic transfers form these examples in both
Russian and Chinese. Though the vehicles of
metaphors are different, they emphasize similar
features of this vehicle and use these features to
describe the overall character of a girl.
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Analogous to хипстерша in the semantic group
of “fashion” in Chinese youth speech, the word
洋气
(foreign flavor), where the word
洋
obtains
its sememe [popular] by a similar semantic
transfer. The original meaning of the word
洋
is
wide water, such as
海洋
, which means ocean.
While it has another sememe [foreign(country)],
e. g.:
东洋
, which means orient foreign countries,
and
西洋
– western foreign countries by
metonymization – replace the names of other
countries by their positional features (over the
oceans). In the youth speech, the sememe
[foreign] is further metonymically transferred to
[popular], [novel], where “a whole characteristic
of a region" is transferred to "the characteristic of
an individual in this region”. In contrast, the
example in Russian хипстерша transferred the
focus from “a whole characteristic of a
subculture” to “the characteristic of an
individual, who represents this subculture”. Both
belong to the transfer from overall characteristics
to individual characteristics. Furthermore, these
examples fully reflect the influence of the extra-
linguistic factors: хипстерша (hipster girl)
obtained its metonymic sememe
[fashionable/trendy girl] in the context of the
massive popularity of hippie culture among
young people in the world. In contrast, the
metonymic meaning of
洋气
(foreign flavor) is
closely related to the low productivity of China
in the first half of the 20th century.
Similar to the example альфачка (alpha girl) in
Russian youth speech, in Chinese, the expression
超
A
的
(super A), which means “handsome,
aggressive”, when used for female. The word
"A" in this expression comes from the first Greek
letter “alpha”. It obtains its sememe [first] from
the postural characteristics of this letter. And
then in youth speech, this sememe of this word
metonymically transferred to the features of the
human, female gender, which in Chinese obtain
the sememes [leadership], [aggressive], [cool];
while in Russian – [cool], [self-confident],
[beautiful]. Although the processes of semantic
transfer in two languages are similar and the
vehicles of two metonymies and metaphors are
the same, it can be found that the transferred
meanings are not the same in both languages. The
Russian language emphasizes more on the
characteristics of an outstanding female, while
the Chinese language concentrates on
highlighting their masculinities.
The above comparative analysis of the
complimentary expressions for the female gender
in Russian and Chinese youth speech leads to the
followings:
In complimentary expressions of youth speech of
both Chinese and Russian languages observed,
lexical units with a metonymic transfer share a
similar metonymization mainly manifested as the
transfer from characteristics to the result of this
characteristic and from overall characteristics to
individual characteristics. It shows that
metonymy, as a universal linguistic and cognitive
phenomenon, is widely used in youth discourse.
In addition, a semantic transfer is a complicated
process, usually not always completed by a
single metonymic or metaphorical transfer but by
combining the two. That can be proved by the
examples of Russian and Chinese youth speeches.
As a variant of the standard language, youth
speech, despite its willingness to be different, is
based on standard language. Nation's linguistic,
social, and historical factors subtly influence
speech behavior. For example, the two sememes
of
小
(small) in Chinese and the different
expressions in Russian; and the extra-linguistic
factors reflected behind the expressions
洋
(foreign) and хипстерша (hipster girl).
There are a lot of borrowed words in youth
speeches of both languages, such as сасный,
хипстер from the word хипстерша, альфа
from the word альфачка, etc. Some semantic
transfers happened in the original languages of
these borrowed words. For example, "sassy" and
"hip" of сасный and хипстерша already have
the semems [beautiful] and [popular] in the
English youth speech. At the same time, some
words obtained their new sememesonly after
they entered the new language. For instance,
[cute] of the expression тян / тянка in Russian,
unlike Japanese, which only means a gentle
address; and “alfa” in expressions
超
A
的
and
альфачка in two languages obtained different
sememes.
Conclusions
With the discussion and analysis above, the
followings are observed:
1) Metonymy, as an important means of
replenishing the lexical stock, has many
applications in youth speech. Metonymic
transfer in complimentary expressions for
female gender of Russian youth speech is
mainly formed by adjectives, with a small
number of nouns.
2) In the adjective metonymy, the most
common mode is “transfer of the
characteristic to the result or cause of this
characteristic”, occurring through the causal
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connection between the metonymy's vehicle
and the tenor. Besides that, the metonymic
transfer in the word-formation process can
be observed, where most use the object to
replace the feature of itself, giving the
morpheme the adjective meaning to describe
the female gender.
3) The process of metonymical derivation is
closely connected with extra-linguistic
factors and reflects the female aesthetics of
youth; we can see many qualities of the
female gender are highlighted in the
metonymization of these examples. Such as
the “beautiful and confident” in сасный, the
“young” and “diminutive figure” in крошка
and чика and other examples, and the
“charming body line” in the example
конкретный агрегат, etc.
4) It can be noted that a large part of the
compliments for the female gender in
Russian youth speech is oriented towards
their appearance, emphasizing their beauty,
sexiness, or loveliness; a small part of the
compliments is directed at women's
clothing. Even the most common positive
expressions альфа- and топовой, which do
not have a specific object of compliment, in
complimentary expressions for the female
gender emphasize women's physical
appearance. That is a result of the traditional
female aesthetic, where women's appearance
is always the object of compliments, and
women are used to complimenting each
other's appearance (Coates, 1994).
5) In the complimentary expressions in youth
speech also reflect a subtle change in the
Russian youth's aesthetics of the female
gender, emphasizing their self-confidence
and courage to pursue fashion, such as
сасная, хипстерша, альфачка, etc. Of
course, there are other expressions, but this
article is limited to analyzing the lexical
units with a metonymic transfer, which
presents just a part of the complimentary
expressions in youth speech.
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