Keyword: «trilingualism»

The article focuses on the mediatory role of the Russian language in the process of studying English at Russian universities. It is shown why and how the knowledge of the first foreign language as well as a good command of the mother tongue can help students get a better insight into new cultural realia and language phenomena by means of comparing and contrasting linguistic and cultural concepts of three or more languages. The approach to language learning described in the article facilitates the development of plurolingual competence.

The article deals with one of the numerous dialects of American English called Ebonics. The authors found out that the term “Ebonics” combines two words ebony, meaning black, and phonics, which refers to the science or study of sounds. They considered views on the subject by different groups of researchers, such as English-origin theorists, Creolists, Africologists and others and described some linguistic features of Ebonics. In conclusion, they expressed their agreement with other researchers about the fact that every person in a contemporary multinational and multicultural environment should be trilingual. To be efficient in life and career a person has to speak a “standard language” of the native country, a home or a cultural community language and a totally foreign language, a language of the country a person thinks most interesting or helpful for his or her future life and professional development.