Lexical mix in Artem Chapai’s novel «Ponaihaly»

Modern Ukrainian artistic discourse is free from censorship; consequently many authors of literary texts actively use obscene language trying to realistically reproduce informal oral speech. The proposed article analyses the types of non-literary vocabulary used by Artem Chapai in the novel «Ponaihaly» (2015). The purpose of the work is to clarify the structural, semantic, and functional features of the non-literary vocabulary in the novel: slang, the mixture of different languages (surzhyk), barbarisms, etc. The research material includes more than 350 words of substandard vocabulary, taken from the novel. The work employs the following research methods: descriptive; comparative; elements of functional, component, and thematic analysis; as well as quantitative calculations. It was established that the language of the novel is a mix of the Ukrainian literary base and a wide stylistically reduced range of slang vocabulary, surzhyk units, barbarisms, dialect words, and vulgarisms. Each group of the mentioned vocabulary (except vulgarisms) is analysed by thematic groups, structure, etc. In particular, 220 slang words were subdivided into 1) evaluative names of people and their characteristics; 2) slang units for objects and phenomena; 3) slang words to denote human activities and states; 4) slang lexemes presenting an assessment of the particular situation. Among 80 recorded units of surzhyk, several groups were distinguished: 1) Ukrainian lexemes phonetically changed under the influence of Russian; 2) Russian words phonetically adapted to Ukrainian pronunciation; 3) Russian words; 4) linguistic twists formed by mixing morphemes. A group of barbarisms and ways of their functioning in the text was also analysed. The author made the conclusion that such vocabulary mix of the novel is justified because A. Chapai tried to convey the live speech of modern urban teenagers and the specifics of Ukrainian migrants’ communication in other countries.