Аспектуальна парадигма дієслів сучасного українського молодіжного сленгу

The article presents the first comprehensive attempt to model the aspectual paradigm of verbs in contemporary Ukrainian youth slang, regarded as a unique type of informal speech operating within a specific sociolect. The study aims to identify the structural and semantic features of expressing the grammatical category of aspect, as well as to establish the main trends in the realization of verbal action types within the slang segment of the modern Ukrainian language. The empirical material is drawn from a carefully compiled corpus of authentic examples collected from various sources of online communication – including social networks, forums, and messaging platforms – as well as from the oral speech of youth communities. The research employs a range of methods, including analysis, synthesis, descriptive, modeling, semantic, structural, functional and comparative analyses. For the first time, slang verbs have been thoroughly analyzed and systematized according to their aspectual properties, enabling the identification of three primary groups: binary-aspectual verbs (with a clear opposition between perfective and imperfective aspects), double-aspectual verbs (functioning in two aspectual meanings depending on contextual usage), and single-aspectual verbs (with fixed, unambiguous aspectual semantics). Furthermore, the study identified the most productive word-formation models for creating aspectual forms, particularly through the use of prefixes such as na-, za-, do- and suffixes including -anuty-, -iaty-, -anutys-, among others. It demonstrates that slang verbs possess a complex and highly differentiated system of verbal action types characterized by the semantics of phase, resultativity, intensity, iterativity, delimitation, and inceptivity, all of which contribute to a rich and functionally saturated aspectual paradigm. The cognitive-pragmatic functions of these forms are described in detail, highlighting their role as instruments for expressing intensity, emotional expressivity, subjective evaluation, and the speaker’s social identity. The article proposes an integrated model of the functioning of the category of aspect within the verbal slang segment, significantly expanding the current understanding of grammatical innovations and dynamic linguistic processes in contemporary youth communication. The results of this research have important applications in sociolinguistics, grammatical semantics, discourse analysis of informal communication, and may also prove valuable in teaching modern Ukrainian as a practical tool for modeling vibrant, living communication in real social contexts.