English Words Adopted and Used by Polish Graffiti Writers. A Review o f Socio-Linguistic Aspects
English Words Adopted and Used by Polish Graffiti Writers. A Review o f Socio-Linguistic Aspects

Summary/Abstract: The issues presented in the article concern English loanwords and their role in the process ofshaping a specific variety of the language which is characteristic of the subculture of Polish graffitiwriters.The article describes various forms, styles and techniques by means of which young peoplesignal their presence and express their thoughts and feelings. The paper is, first of all, an analysisof the linguistic component and an attempt of classifying English lexical units which are borrowedand most frequently used in the conversations of Polish graffiti writers. This study also concentrateson the categorization of the linguistic content which is adopted from the English language tovarious forms of Polish graffiti writings.The article presents the results of the survey which was conducted at the turn of April andMay 2006. The obtained results suggest the widespread use of English words in the daily talk ofPolish graffiti writers, the evidence of which comes from the quoted expressions and utterancesthat are applied by artists in their environment and their description of the so called "crime work".The article in the final part also enumerates the main factors which are believed to havea significant impact on such frequent use of English words among Polish graffiti writers.

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