PHONETIC MIMICRY AS A STRATEGY FOR ADAPTING ENGLISH BORROWINGS IN UKRAINIAN IT DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article explores phonetic mimicry as one of the leading strategies for adapting English borrowings within the Ukrainian IT discourse. The relevance of this study is driven by the rapid digitalization of society and the intensive influx of computer terminology into the Ukrainian language, which often bypasses official codification. The focus is centered on the specific professional communication environment of programmers and system administrators, where anglicisms undergo creative reinterpretation. Phonetic mimicry is viewed not merely as mechanical transliteration, but as a conscious linguo-creative strategy that "domesticates" a foreign lexeme by likening it to existing words or morphemes in the recipient language. The article analyzes scientific perspectives on the phenomenon of mimicry in science and linguistics in particular. The term "phonetic mimicry" is presented as the most accurate descriptor for the adaptation ("imitation") of the sound form of borrowed IT anglicisms to the phonetic appearance of Ukrainian morphemes or entire words. Key adaptation models are identified, including: 1) Phonemic substitution (replacing English sounds with the closest Ukrainian equivalents); 2) Morphonological correlation, represented by paradigmatic adaptation (morphological assimilation of anglicisms by assigning nouns to a specific grammatical gender and declension type based on their formal appearance) as well as suffixal adaptation and word-building expansion (adding Ukrainian suffixes to an English root to create new parts of speech that comply with Ukrainian grammar); 3) Assimilation based on consonance (selecting a Ukrainian word that is phonetically similar to the English one but carries a completely different, often everyday, meaning, thereby creating a "sound double" in Ukrainian and generating a wordplay effect). The study establishes that, based on the degree of phonetic and morphemic coincidence, mimicry is realized through two main models: complete and partial assimilation. Full mimicry (homonymic) involves absolute sound coincidence with a common word, which removes the psychological barrier for IT specialists when using complex terms. Partial mimicry focuses only on preserving a part of the phonetic structure of the borrowed word or involves modification through affixes. Thus, phonetic mimicry performs several vital functions: from linguistic economy to professional identification and ironic determinology. Future research prospects lie in studying the impact of artificial intelligence on the further transformation of IT discourse