New borrowings in Russian: functional and methodological aspects

Abstract

The influx of a huge number of foreign words to the Russian language – at the text, speech and system levels – that began in the late XX century, observed today, has created serious problems faced by ordinary native speakers as well as linguists. Genetic typology; thematic typology; classification based on the degree of development of foreign language words; typology, which is based on the principle of the nomination – a sign of the presence / absence of an equivalent in the language of the recipient are the best known in the native linguistics. Due to significant changes observed in the nature of borrowing and the new foreign words’ development in the Russian language, there is a question of the facts borrowing traditional theory’s adequacy to language interaction. The numerous examples’ analysis of the foreign words usage shows that quite often their different ranks are deprived of their individuality. This is reflected in the fact that the properties that were considered typical for one category of words we find in the other, and vice versa. This is confirmed by a number of facts: the active use of Latin at foreign words’ registration, word-formation activity of not only borrowed, but also other ranks of foreign words, their functional convergence in modern texts.