EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS PHENOMENON IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (ON MATERIAL OF PARALYMPIC VOCABULARY)

Abstract

Formulation of the problem. The article looks into the changes in attitudes to political correctness in English linguistic culture, presently considered the dominant “global” culture. Russian linguistics offers a range of synonymous terms to nominate this phenomenon: communicative correctness, language tolerance, language ethics, etc. Results. The attitude to political correctness has evolved significantly since its appearance in English-speaking environment in the 1980s. It was initially viewed as the means of providing and securing tolerance and respect in the international multicultural and multilingual community. The turn of the 21stcentury showed ironic perception of political correctness caused by hypercorrectness and desire to conceal the controversial facts of the real life. However, tolerant attitude is crucial for such social categories as people with disabilities. The decision to analyze the Paralympic discourse in search for the examples of politically correct nominations is caused by the status of English language – the only official language of the Paralympic movement. International Paralympic Committee – the managing structure of the Paralympics and the intermediary between para-athletes and society also performs the function of the agent of language policy. This organization initiated linguistic experiments to search the appropriate nominations of para-sportspeople. Conclusion. The range of nominations demonstrates evolution from the lexemes with negative connotations, widely used up to the 1960s, extremely cautious nominations, spread in English throughout 1980s – 2000s to explicit lexical units used nowadays. Paralympic discourse has become the medium that stimulates emergence and practical evaluation of such nominations. It is also the platform for their further spread to be used as the nominations of all people with disabilities. Intralinguistic changes have influenced the mentality of English-speakers and their attitude to people with disabilities. This is an example of the propaganda performed by the International Paralympic Committee, which leads to the extralinguistic changes.