American military slang: the influence of the korean war

The article considers the development of American military slang in the course of the Korean War, being a large armed conflict involving over 2 million military personnel from over 20 countries. Lexical units of American military slang of the time are examined and analyzed. The authors classify them thematically. Explanations of the means of their formation are given after each unit. It was shown that they encompass the entire range of means of formation. Loanwords are an important component of any language and, indeed, the vast majority of languages are heavily influenced by loanwords. In the context of the Korean War as a large-scale military conflict involving military personnel from a large number of countries it was shown that loanwords from foreign languages had a significant impact on the development of American military slang during this period. They include loanwords from Korean - the language of both the enemy and the ally. Loanwords from Japanese are particularly prominent in the subgroups 'leave and free time' and 'everyday activity and life of military personnel'. This is not accidental - indeed many American servicemen were sent to Japan for rest and relaxation, which explains the influence of Japanese on slang words in these spheres. A conclusion is made on the significant influence of the Korean War on the development of American military slang. It thus follows that linguists working in the sphere of military translation today ought to pay greater attention to the changes in English military vocabulary which took place during the Korean War.

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