Ключевое слово: «social dialect»

This scientific research paper examines youth slang in modern English as a social dialect conditioned by sociocultural, psychological, and technological factors. The study analyzes the mechanisms of slang formation, its key communicative and social functions, and its role in shaping the linguistic identity of contemporary youth. The novelty of the work lies in interpreting youth slang not as a random set of informal expressions, but as a structured linguistic subsystem with predictable functions and development patterns. The reliability of the research is supported by references to current linguistic studies, analysis of real examples from spoken English, and comparison with existing lexicographic sources. The results of the study may be applied in sociolinguistics, education, digital communication analysis, and intercultural studies.