Variability as a specific feature of online dictionaries of slang and colloquial lexicon

The article examines the specific features of a new type of lexicographical sources -online slang and colloquial lexicon dictionaries that represent collections of words and expressions constantly renewed and enlarged by Internet users. The article aims at revealing the variability in these dictionaries. The object of the research is represented by Russian online dictionaries at www.slovonovo.ru,www.teenslang.su and www.slovoborg.su. The article considers different types of variability. First, the dictionaries abound in phonetic and morphological variants due to the sociolect nature of the described lexicon. Similarly to the traditional printed dictionaries of such type, the majority of these variants can be explained by adopting borrowings from other languages. Second, online dictionaries are marked by the presence of graphic variants of lexical units. It is regarded as their specific feature since printed dictionaries contain mostly the vocabulary of oral communication. Graphic variants outnumber phonetic and morphological ones, which can be attributed to the functioning of modern youth slang in its written form in the Internet. The peculiarities of the graphic presentation of such units make it possible to regard graphic derivation as a method of derivation new for sociolects. Third, the research elicits lexico-semantic variability. As in other dictionaries, it is represented by lexico-semantic variants, though in online slang and colloquial lexicon dictionaries they do not differentiate between polysemy and homonymy. In contrast to traditional dictionaries, lexico-semantic variants are not included in a single dictionary entry, most often they are described in separate entries with the same headword. Thus, duplicate entries are not only accepted but also appreciated. The fact that a word or an expression may have 2-10 and sometimes many more duplicate entries (as many as 33 for ололо (ololo) in the slovonovo dictionary) is the most vivid manifestation of variability of the so-called ''folk lexicography'', i.e. creation of online slang dictionaries of this type. The character of lexicographic description in duplicate entries suggests that the above described duplication is facilitated by the desire to provide another meaning of the word or expression or specify it as well as to express a personal attitude to the notion in question or even to argue over the semantics of a word with other dictionary users.

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