V Международный конкурс научно-исследовательских и творческих работ учащихся
Старт в науке
Английские надписи на одежде как экстралингвистический фактор, влияющий на культуру подростков
Автор работы награжден дипломом победителя III степени
Полная версия работы доступна во вкладке "Файлы работы" в формате PDF
Introduction
English proverbs say “Clothes make the man”, “Good clothes open all the doors”. Fine clothes help us to impress ourselves. Looking at a person we often pay attention to his clothes. We note how his clothes appropriate to the age, social status, fashion. Some people have a desire to look like celebrities wearing fashionable clothes; others want to stand out in a crowd.
In the Russian language there are also a lot of proverbs and sayings that indicate how much can clothes “say” and how important it is that you're wearing.
Nowadays many companies put so-called a dress code. Many clubs (for example, Golf clubs in Britain) have special symbols on T-shirts. And even in our school we have special rules regarding uniforms. The preference is given to the business style clothing. In spite of this, both boys and girls can find such a thing as a T-shirt in their wardrobe. Most of all we can see different kinds of inscriptions on it. The inscription is one of the most current fashion trends. Recently it is stylish to wear T-shirts with English inscriptions. Do the owners of clothes understand the meaning of the inscriptions on them, especially if they are written in a foreign language, often in English? In our research paper we are going to find an answer to this question.
We think that this topic is relevant because youth wardrobe is full of the clothes with English inscriptions. Fashionable T-shirts with a print in foreign languages, mostly English, are becoming increasingly popular. But a lot of students do not pay much attention to the labels on their clothing, which may contain obscene or offensive meaning, grammar and spelling mistakes that may destroy the true culture of a person.
The novelty of our work is in fact that it is the first time in our school when we held such kind of research, which may increase students’ interest in English inscriptions. We suppose that it will make them think about the choice of clothes.
The object of our research paper is inscriptions in English on students’ clothes.The subject is that information which inscriptions have on students’ clothes.
The aim of our research paper is to find out how the semantic load of inscriptions on clothes depends on the language level of their owners.
To carry this aim into effect it is necessary to solve the following tasks:
to study published and Internet resources and find some facts from the history of inscriptions on clothes;
to study a modern look on the inscriptions, their functions and a linguistic aspect of labels;
to make the classification of inscriptions;
to carry out the research;
to make recommendations on choosing clothes with English labels;
to come to a definitive conclusion.
To achieve these tasks we used the following methods:
- the searching method;
- the analytical method.
The hypothesis is the following: there is a direct connection between the language level and person’sculture.
We think that this research paper will be useful and interesting both for students and teachers because it will allow paying attention to the translation of the text and correctly using the information that should reflect the owner’s inner world and his interest. And in the process of our work we will be able to improve knowledge of the English language.
The practical value of the research is the possibility to use the materials in the process of learning English. Meeting English inscriptions everywhere, we cannot ignore their content as we are people who are interested in English. There are so many inscriptions which are stupid, banal, and funny. Worthy and interesting inscriptions are not so frequent. Blind following fashion makes people wear clothes "decorated" of incomprehensible inscriptions.
I. Inscriptions on clothes 1.1. History of inscriptions.
The inscriptions on clothes appeared many centuries ago in Ancient Greece. There were inscriptions which called the name of the owner. There were embroideries on the belts that told about the names of their ancient owners. There were also some names on jewelry. On the portraits of Italian and German painters of 15th and 16th centuries we see labels that were intertwined into the pattern of men's shirts, into corsages of women`s dresses, where Latin mottos of noble families or the names of the owners of these portraits or dresses were written on them. Very provocative inscriptions were always on female garters. Inscriptions which were a part of the ornament were in fashion. For example, at the beginning of the second millennium Gothic prints were used in embroidery. The pelerines of King Otto were very famous; they are in the museum of Bolbergue in Germany. There are amazing things with Gothic or Roman letters as a part of the ornament of ancient embroideries in the store of the old cathedral. They date back to 10 -11 centuries AD. A lot of ornaments we can find on jewelry, where the letters and phrases are in intertwined into the pattern.
The history of T-shirts begins in 1941 in America. America had to form a new numerous army, which it was necessary to provide with clothes and food. And then a T-shirt was selected as the most comfortable clothes that can be worn when it is warm and when it is cold.
T-shirt is similar to the letter "T", and that is why, it was called “T-shirt”, which in Russian means «Т-образная рубашка».
Later a T-shirt comes to the USSR. At first in the Soviet Union T-shirts were part of a football uniform for fans and players. That’s why the first inscriptions on the Soviet T-shirts were the names of the teams and the names of famous players.1
The punks and hippy made popular T-shirts with screaming inscriptions in 1970. At that time using T-shirts you can express your feelings and attitudes towards something. A T-shirt could tell a lot about its owner.
Later there were T-shirts with the slogans of a particular subculture. Emo, punks, goths, hippies, and many other of youth movements wore T-shirts with the inscription with a great pleasure.
Gradually, through T-shirts, people tried to stand out from the crowd and be original.
So the technology full-color screen printing was developed. At first, T-shirts were printed with the names and pictures of famous actors and musicians. Soon people understood that it was a good idea to create business. Thus, the T-shirt was the main demand of the advertising market.
Speaking about the history there were different scandals connected with them.
1. Swedish clothing giant Hennes and Mauritz apologized and removed an advertisement of a black child after the company was accused of being racist on social media. A photo on the company's online website of a black boy wearing a green hoodie with the inscription "coolest monkey in the jungle" triggered outrage among observers1.
2. Over the last years some cases were fixed, when because of strange inscriptions on T-shirts, passengers were not allowed to go by plane. There were jokes about bombs on their T-shirts. Such a case happened with 28-year-old Raed Jarrar. He was dressed in a T-shirt with the inscription in English "We will not be silent" on that day and he was going to sit down at Kennedy Airport in New York on board the plane of JetBlue Airways company. As the channel MSNBC said, he was told that "to arrive at the airport in such a T-shirt is the same thing that to come to the bank in a T-shirt with the inscription "I am a robber." He was offered to take off the T-shirt and wear it in a wrong side, but Jarrar refused, then he was given another T-shirt that he wore over the first one, because he realized that they really would not allow him to go to the plane.
3. Following Russia’s disqualification from the 2018 Pyeong Chang Winter Olympics for alleged doping violations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed national athletes with clean doping records to compete in the Winter Olympics under the name ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’ (OAR). The IOC released a set of requirements for neutral uniforms and that all national emblems, including the flag and coat of arms, must be replaced with the neutral ‘OAR’ logo. Russian branding agency DDVB has designed an alternative neutral Olympic uniform for Russian fans with patriotic slogans and pictures which do not violate the guidelines set by the IOC1.
1.2. A modern look at the inscriptions on T-shirts.
Inscriptions in our time are very different. They can tell us a lot about a person.
Inscriptions change with age. The child has got a funny phrase on his clothes. Teenagers have labels that contain various phrases concerning their motto, style and hobbies. The adult people prefer to wear something suitable for their age. Usually they choose the clothes without inscriptions. But as a rule teenagers often look only at the beautiful style and fun characters.
In everyday life, the inscription on T-shirts brings a lot of positive emotions and impressions. For example, there are T-shirts for lovers with the label "He is mine", "She's with me" and "He's with me", "My sweetheart".
In addition, T-shirts with foreign labels are not just a part of clothes. Funny T-shirts are a democratic and inexpensive way for everyone who wants to express his individuality and views on life.
That's why T-shirts with drawings and inscriptions in English are so popular today. To buy a modern T-shirt in our time is not difficult. You can not only buy a T-shirt with the inscription, but also order it according to your taste.
But it is very important to understand the meaning of the information, which is on your clothes in order not to seem uncultured and rude.
1.3. Functions of inscriptions.
Fashion theorists indicate the following functions of labels on clothing:
- epistemological function. It is associated with the accumulation of social experience. This function is implemented in connection with the psychological side of fashion which means the reproduction of life in the forms of "fashion story".
- futurological function. It ensures a certain mood of the team through the transmission of information.
- communicative function. It allows people to communicate with each other and creates an emotional mood in order to unite the team.
- regulatory and value function. It means a set of samples, forms and rules of action in certain social situations.
- sociocultural function of inscriptions. The inscriptions store and transmit socially significant information.1
1.4 Linguistic aspect of the inscriptions.
The inscription on the clothes has its linguistic features. The language of inscriptions is similar in style.
Speaking about the linguistic aspect the labels on clothing design are characterized by the following:
1) reduced forms: “Don` t forget me “, “ Let `s up the volume”, “Wonna get you now”. It should be noted that the simplification of the language is a modern trend. People especially teens talk quickly and concisely. Inscriptions on clothing characterize modern trends in language. Because of the influence of the media, the Internet, our speech becomes easier and loses its expressiveness, beauty and wealth. The language, in turn, determines the mind of a man, his impact on the level of culture. It should be recognized that the modern man in a huge stream of information tends to accelerate, and thus simplifies everything, even the language1.
2) the abundance of grammatical and lexical mistakes: “Two special girl”, “I can to fly”, “Stop and thinks”, “A long special men”, “I love my”. Often it’s very difficult to understand the inscription, or at all, it consists of a set of words: “Trouble here I come”, “Camal Brain city Design”, “Even look”2.
3) the prevalence of interrogative and exclamatory sentences: “Don` t worry! Be happy!”, “Have you found me? “, “CAN you find a rabbit? “.
4) the absence of sense: “Princ iple of success”, “Fan tas tic” (phrase or phrase should be read together) Such cases are extremely rare, but the person who knows the language, is sure to be interested in such inscriptions..
1.5. Classification of inscriptions.
The inscription on the clothes is not just a decorative element. It is a communicative tool with a variety of semantic content.
We tried to divide all the inscriptions on the clothes (T-shirts) into several semantic groups:
inscriptions related to the names of the brand, the company manufacturer. Symbolical sportswear clothes such as" Nike"," Adidas"," Puma"," Reebok " and others are popular among the young people.
inscriptions with the names of music groups or simply trends in music or the names of sports teams. Often you can find t-shirts with such inscriptions: “Metallica”, “Linkin Park”, “Green Day”, “Punk you”, “Madonna for you”, “punk not dead”, “All you need is rock-n-roll”, “Manchester United". Seeing a person with such an inscription on clothes, you can immediately understand that he is a fan of a group, or football, that is, you get some information about him, about his preferences.
inscriptions with negative, abusive, obscene words and expressions. This is another proof that the inscription on the clothes is a way of expression of attitude to others. For example: “Devilish girls”, “Don't copy me!”, “Minimum of the contact with surrounding”.
inscriptions containing funny words or phrases. People with a sense of humor prefer the following inscriptions such as: “Princesses don't do dishes and take out garbage”, “Same Shirt different day”, “Space for free advertisement”. A person with such an inscription seems positive and sociable. In this case, the inscription on the clothes is a way to cheer up themselves and others.
inscriptions with the phrases which express a personal attitude to politics, the world around them, and ecology. People who want to express their opinion about the surrounding reality, prefer T-shirts with the following inscriptions: “Stop pollution”, “Save the earth! “, “Stop and think”, “Peace and love”.
inscriptions with the phrases related to the opposite sex such as: «Call me!” ,”Take me to paradise”, “Follow me”, “My boyfriend is out of town”.
inscriptions with the phrases which don’t contain concrete information, such as “Sunday”, “Space”, “Summer time”, “Butterfly”.
Inscriptions with human characteristics. For example: “Forever Young”, “Legendary”, “I was born to be blond”, “The best kisser in the world”, “People like people but I am the Queen”, “Born to be Free”.
inscriptions with quotations. Basically, it is the lines of popular songs: “Diamonds are best Girls' Friends”, “All you need is rock-n-roll”.
Inscriptions with challenge to society such as “Boxing match between you and me”, “Trouble here I come”, “Catch me if you can”.
According to this classification, the semantic load of inscriptions on clothes is diverse. Of course, being a product of society, labels on clothes are dynamic. It means they are in a state of constant change. Often they reflect some short-term problems.
II. The influence of inscriptions on teen’s culture 2.1. Description of research.
In order to study the attitude to the inscriptions on the clothes we carried out the survey among the students of 9th and 10th forms.76 students were asked. We were interested in following questions:
Do they have clothes with inscriptions in English?
Do they know the translation of inscriptions on their clothes?
Why do they wear clothes with inscriptions and choosing clothes with inscriptions?
Do they think about the fact that the inscription can have some indecent content?
According to our research only 2 of 76 do not have clothes with inscriptions, but not everyone knows the translation of inscriptions. Fortunately, they are a small part of all students. A goodly number of them do not care what to wear, but more than a few want to be stylish. Only some students wear clothes with inscriptions which really express their thoughts. Most of students will never buy clothes if they suspect the indecent content that the inscriptions can have. But, unfortunately, lots of them do not care about that. There are even students who don’t know the translation and hope that others can not translate the inscriptions too.
However, we think that our study made some students think before buying a fashionable thing with an unknown inscription.
According to our research we saw the problem and tried to offer teens to think before they buy another trendy thing with a strange text. We think that it’s very important to note that we should be responsible for what we are wearing.
It's silly to think that people around us don't know a foreign language and do not understand what is written on our clothes.
2.2. Recommendations.
This research paper allowed us to make recommendations on choosing clothes with English inscriptions. If you want to be cultural, comprehensively developed, educated, choosing clothes with an English inscription follow the rules:
Translate the English inscriptions before you buy clothes. Do not choose clothes with labels that can discredit you in the eyes of public and friends.
Do not buy clothes with spelling or grammar mistakes.
A cultural man could not afford to put on a T-shirt with a meaningless set of words. If you are a positive person so the label should not be angry or ugly!
Follow the "dress code" to visit different types of public places. Maybe your clothes with the inscriptions will not be suitable for them.
You are not an advertising banner! Do not wear clothes with advertisement. If it is not part of your duties at work.
If you want to use the inscriptions to improve people’s mood you should use the whole imagination to choose clothes.
Indeed, the person should be fine in everything: the face, the clothes, the soul and the mind.
III. Conclusion
Beyond all doubts every person has a right to wear what he or she likes. However the majority of people, who prefer inscriptions on the clothes, do not know the meaning of the words they have on them.
Nowadays English is everywhere. It is taught at schools, universities, specialized courses. But how is it easier and faster to learn English? English inscriptions can be an express way that helps to enrich the students’ vocabulary.
Most teens do not pay much attention to the inscriptions on their clothes, but some of them can contain indecent and offensive meaning, grammatical and spelling mistakes. Sometimes they can contain a set of meaningless words and phrases, sometimes indecent words, but sometimes a phrase filled with good humor.
It is important to be responsible for the information that we have on our clothes. It is stupid to expect that others do not know a foreign language and do not understand what is written on your clothes.
The analysis of the material has shown that the level of English proficiency of only half of the students in our school allows navigating in the inscriptions and correctly using written information. However, our survey encouraged our schoolmates to find out the meaning of the inscriptions on their clothes, thus motivate students to learn English better.
There is a direct connection between the language level and person’s culture.
This research paper allowed us to make recommendations on choosing clothes with inscriptions in English, and conclude that the clothes can really say about you a lot, including the fact that you don't know English.
We propose to use this research paper at the lessons especially on the topic "Clothes".
We believe it's possible to continue our work from the point of psychology: to study how the label on the T-shirt influences on the self-confidence and behavior in general.
The list of cited literature
1. Arakin C. D. The history of the English language.- M(High school, 1968.-420 C.)
2. Arnold I. C. Fundamentals of scientific research in linguistics (Teaching aid.-M.(1991.-140 C.)
3. Borisova L. M., The history of English words (a Book for high school students.- M (Education, 1994.-95 C.)
4. Smirnitsky A. I. Lexicology of the English language. M. ( 2000. -260 C.)
5. http://fishki.net/1233364-istorija-pojavlenija-futbolki.html
6. http://goshirts.ru/blog/istoriya-vozniknoveniya-nadpisej-na-futbolkax/
7. http://www.dizainer.by/stati/istorija-futbolki-i-nadpisej-na-nej.html
8. https://www.rt.com/sport/417743-neutral-russian-olympic-kit-ddvb-oar/
9. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001265334/clothing-giant-h-m-in-trouble-over-racist-advert-of-black-child-wearing-jumper-branded-coolest-monkey-in-the-jungle
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-shirt
Appendix
1 Borisova L. M., The history of English words.-c.92
11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-shirt
1 https://www.rt.com/sport/417743-neutral-russian-olympic-kit-ddvb-oar/
1 http://goshirts.ru/blog/istoriya-vozniknoveniya-nadpisej-na-futbolkax/
1 Arakin C. D. The history of the English language.- c.345
2 Arnold I. C. Fundamentals of scientific research in linguistics.-c.140