Interesting Borrowing from English in Russian

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An interesting and surprising borrowing from English into Russian is the word «омайгадбл» - [omaiga:dbl]. This word is borrowed from English “oh my god”, which is an exclamation of shock or surprise. The word «омайгадбл» first appeared in Russia on TV in 2009 in a comedy show for young people of 13-25 years of age called “Dajesh molodezh”. This sketch show is broadcasted in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The two characters - Danila and German - who often use English words and phrases in their speech are metrosexuals, and they frequently add the English suffix – able even to Russian words, such as (“You are appetitable”, “Greatable”, “Bez volosable”, “Krutable”, “Happy New Yearable”, “ahhahahable” etc.) “Oh my goddable!” became very popular among the TV-show audience and now is used by many young people in every day speech, blogs, and other TV-programs. “Oh my goddable!” is a core borrowing in the Russian language as it duplicates the existing phrase in Russian – «Боже мой! » or «О, боже! » (“Oh my God!”). The word’s popularity can be traced via the fact of its “attractiveness” , which Myers-Scotton mentions as one of the motivations for borrowing. But this attractiveness is not based on the bilingualism of Russian youth, as English is not the language spoken in Russian society, and actually the percentage of bilinguals in Russian and English is not very high. As it is shown in a sketch-show, those who insert English words into speech, regularly switching codes during the conversation, are trendy, close to the world of fashion and quite rich. The usage of this exact core borrowing “oh my goddable!” is ridiculous, but at the same time is also associated with being successful and modern. Moreover, for most young people the word seems exotic, coming from another culture and thus having a special magnetism [Myers-Scotton]. Interest towards English

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