A new perspective on the problem of borrowing: linguistic frustration vs marketing strategies

The article reveals linguocognitive mechanisms as well as social reasons for active functioning of new borrowings in the modern public discourse and in commercial enterprises naming. The material for the analysis is a sample of the most frequent lexis in the micro synchrony that are not yet part of the host language lexicon, and comprises over one hundred and fifty lexical units, selected from the national corpus of the Russian language, public internet discourse, the author’s collection of brand names (and names of businesses), radio and television programs. As a result of a comprehensive analysis, two main isomorphic types of borrowing functioning are identified. They are supposed to be motivated by multi-level linguistic, social, and pragmatic factors. Hence, the evidence of linguomental transformations of meaning is linked to the condition of linguistic frustration. This justifies considering it as a state of linguistic personality (at both the first and second levels, according to Yu.N. Karaulov), wherein the constraints of linguistic norms are lifted, and foreign-language word usage is motivated in specific speech act. A tendency of duplicate (native and foreign) naming in explicitly nominative and implicitly subjective-pragmatic functions has been established. It is suggested that the synergy of these functions conveys the speaker’s subjective intentions and can be regarded as a marketing strategy of self-positioning in the act of foreign-language use in the nomination process, or as a commercial move, emphasizing the value of the product / service (i.e., commercialization of the nominative unit). Thus, the discourse becomes either status-oriented or conative. The linguistic phenomena under consideration introduce changes into the national concept sphere, as they contain features of a different language world view.