Comparative study of the structural and semantic features of youth slang in German and English

The purpose of this work is to conduct a comparative study of the structural and semantic slang features in German and English. Slang used by young people in speech reflects changes taking place in the world around them. Youth slang contains a unique vocabulary with specific properties, a variety of phrases. It is interesting to consider the common features and differences in the ways of replenishment and the meaning of slang units in different languages – German and English. The subject of the study is the structural and semantic features of slang in German and English. The research material consisted of 100 German slang units taken from the texts of German–language media – Deutsche Welle, Der Spiegel, Stuttgart Nachrichten and 100 English slang units from the texts of English-language media - The Guardian, Daily Mail, Times Live. The work uses the continuous sampling method, comparative linguistic analysis of slang units, quantitative data processing methods. The scientific novelty of the study consists in a multidimensional description of German- and English-speaking units of youth slang, isolated from modern sources for the period from 2018 to 2023, and in their comprehensive comparison. The results of the study show that youth slang, in general, reflects the general trends in language development. Indeed, word-formation models are the most productive way to replenish slang in both languages. At the same time, the most productive way to form German slang is to combine various word-formation models and borrowings, primarily from English. The semantic analysis data shows slight differences in the compared languages, which allows us to conclude that German- and English-speaking youth are interested in the same spheres of life. This comparative study provides an opportunity to study youth slang in sufficient detail, its formation trends and usage in German and English.