Word-Formation and Origins of Ethnophobic Terms in the American and Ukrainian Non-Standard Languages

Abstract

The article aims to outline extralinguistic factors of the emergence of American and Ukrainian ethnophobic terms and to study the means of their word-formation. The methods applied in the research include the analysis of dictionary definitions, as well as semantic, structural, conceptual, comparative, and linguocultural analyses. Metaphor, metonymy, and antonomasia are established as the semantic means of ethnophobic terms formation, whereas compounding, suffixation, clipping, and onomatopoeia – as the predominant means of structural word-formation in both American and Ukrainian nonstandard languages. Blends and acronyms are established as typical of American ethnophobic terms formation only, while the combination of semantic and structural word-formation is evident in both languages. Borrowings are determined as a significant means of replenishing the corpora of ethnophobic terms in both American and Ukrainian non-standard languages.