TEA TOPIC IN RHYMING SLANG

The purpose of the article is to present a linguistic and sociocultural description of units of rhyming slang that reflect the English national tradition of tea drinking. The analysed rhymes are borrowed from dictionaries of rhyming and general slang and Internet sources, illustrative examples are taken from the works of modern English-speaking authors and dictionaries of rhyming and general slang, while the sociocultural information is taken from linguistic dictionaries and dictionaries of culture. Research methods are determined by the purpose and objectives of the study. The main method is descriptive, implemented in methods of systematisation, generalisation and interpretation of linguistic material. Linguistic methods include contextual analysis, definitional analysis and semantic interpretation method. Results: the authors’ catalogue contains 50 tea rhymes. Rhymes that code tea as a drink, contain the name of tea and tea attributes in their composition, or are associated with tea drinking are commented on. These are British rhymes in origin, 5 rhymes have Australian roots. The rhymes encoding tea are predominantly onomastic, based on proper names. Some rhymes are polysemous and name several referents. Frequent and popular rhymes are reduced and begin to be used in an abbreviated form. The rhymes give a clear idea of the significance of the tea tradition in English linguistic culture. The main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in solving problems of intercultural communication, in lectures and seminars in linguistic and cultural studies of Great Britain, cultural linguistics, stylistics, lexicology, and cognitive linguistics. The results of the study may be useful and interesting to specialists developing topics in intercultural communication, linguoculturology, and contrastive linguistics of the Russian and English languages.