Ukrainian diary in diaspora: aspects of the linguistic norm

Ukrainian diary in diaspora: aspects of the linguistic norm

The article deals with the specific features of the diary discourse of M. Halaburda-Chyhryn as a linguistic personality functioning in emigration. It has been found out, that in her diary there are lexical “anglicisms” denoting notions, which are easier to perceive through the prism of English, though they have equivalents in Ukrainian. The author retains “authenticity” of the English prototypes,“naturalizes” the foreign language elements, uses word for word translated “anglicisms” etc. Calked borrowings from English are explained by the functional, ideological, psychological isolation of the Ukrainian language in Diaspora. The use of such words reflects the bilingual`s spontaneous speech. The author often resorts to transcriptional reproduction of words by the Russian phonetic prototype to focus on the negative evaluation of events. Their spelling reflects non-normative pronunciation. There are deviations from Ukrainian grammatical rules caused by interaction with the language of the country of settlement: use of one preposition instead of another, use of passive constructions etc. The frequency of pluperfect tense form is explained by the existence of perfect tenses in the dominant language. Lexical parallelism becomes noticeable when two objective realities are compared. The most illustrative are “russisms” and “polonisms”. Many of them have roots in English. Along with “anglicisms” we come across purisms which make diaspora members the defenders of their native language. There are also lexical archaisms: preservation of letter “e” in the words of foreign origin; use of soft “л”; transmission of diphthongs “au”, “ou” through “ав”, “ов” in accordance with the pronunciation; transmission of final “tr”, “dr” through “тер”, “дер”; preservation of prothetic “г” before vowels in foreign words; transmission of “θ” through the letter “т”in the words of Greek origin; use of letter “ґ” to refer to the phoneme [ґ] both in both Ukrainian and borrowed words. Сonclusions have been drawn, that the language of Ukrainian diaspora diary is a fact of the history of the Ukrainian literary language, a product of its development and a source of its renewal at the same time.

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