Slang influence on the speech of teenagers

Contents

1.  Introduction                                                                                                 3
2. The definition of slang                                                                                      4            
3. Etymology                                                                              
4. Types of youth slang                                                                          4                                                                
5.  Scientific research on the  attitude of Russian teenagers to slang using        5

6. Conclusion                                                                                          7
7.  Literature list                                                                                        8

1.Introduction

The theme of this research is «Slang influence on the cultural speech of teenagers».

Slang, being one of the non-standard language variants, is quite popular, and the investigation of this colorful, alternative vocabulary has been of great interest to many linguists for a long time. The new stage in the study of the slang has become the close research of its categories, one of which is the sociolect of the teenagers.

      I suggested the following hypothesis: young people often use slang because of vocabulary lack and in imitation to modern idols

The aim of my report is to find out why young people use slang words in their speech.

In this report I carried out the investigation the objects of which were the Russian students of our town.

The subject of the investigation is the linguistic peculiarities of the language of the youth and the motives for its creation.

       Purposes:

1. To give the definition of slang
2. To reveal the examples of slang
3. To prove or refute the suggested hypothesis.

I achieved the aim and the purposes of my work using different methods:

At the theoretical level I analyzed scientific literature about slang, searched and selected the scientific information on the subject. As for the reflection and presentation of the results I wrote a research report, made a computer presentation.

                              2.The definition of slang

Slang is a set of special words or new meanings of already existing words used in various groups (professional, public, age and others).

Slang is very informal language that includes new and sometimes not polite words and meanings, is often used among particular groups of people and is not used in serious speech or writing. (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)

         Connie Eble in Slang and Sociability emphasizes the social aspect in defining slang. Slang is an ever changing set of colloquial words and phrases that speakers use to establish or reinforce social identity or cohesiveness within a group or with a trend or fashion in society at large.

Michael Adams remarks that "[slang] is liminal language... it is often impossible to tell, even in context, which interests and motives it serves... Slang is on the edge."[7]Slang dictionaries, collecting thousands of slang entries, offer a broad, empirical window into the motivating forces behind slang.[9]

While many forms of language may be considered "sub-standard", slang remains distinct from colloquial and jargon terms because of its specific social contexts. While considered inappropriate in formal writing, colloquial terms are typically considered acceptable in speech across a wide range of contexts, while slang tends to be considered unacceptable in many contexts. Jargon refers to language used by personnel in a particular field, or language used to represent specific terms within a field to those with a particular interest. Although jargon and slang can both be used to exclude non–group members from the conversation, the intention of jargon is to optimize conversation using terms that imply technical understanding. On the other hand, slang tends to emphasize social and contextual understanding. The expression "down size" is an example of jargon, while the adjective "gnarly" is an example of slang. "Down size" originated from 1990's era corporate jargon, as a euphemistic way to talk about layoffs. "Gnarly", by contrast, originates from off-roaders, talking about the most treacherous area of a mountain, which likely would have gnarls of some kind, but was extended by this same group to mean any kind of intense or particularly daring act.[8]While colloquialisms and jargon may seem like slang because they reference a particular group, they do not fit the same definition, because they do not represent a particular effort to replace standard language. Colloquialisms are considered more standard than slang, and jargon is often created to talk about aspects of a particular field that are not accounted for in the standard lexicon.[8]KARL MCHALE It is often difficult to differentiate slang from colloquialisms and even more standard language, because slang generally becomes accepted into the standard lexicon over time. Words such as "spurious" and "strenuous" were once slang, though they are now accepted as standard, even high register words. The literature on slang even discusses mainstream acknowledgment of a slang term as changing its status as true slang, because it has been accepted by the media and is thus no longer the special insider speech of a particular group. Nevertheless, a general test for whether a word is a slang word or not is whether it would be acceptable in an academic or legal setting, as both are arenas in which standard language is considered necessary and/or whether the term has been entered in the Oxford English Dictionary, which some scholars claim changes its status as slang.[8]

2. Etymology

In its earliest attested use (1756) the word slang referred to the vocabulary of "low or disreputable" people. By the early nineteenth century, it was no longer exclusively associated with disreputable people, but continued to be applied to language use below the level of standard educated speech. The origin of the word is uncertain, although it appears to be connected with Thieves' cant. A Scandinavian origin has been proposed (compare, for example, Norwegian slengenavn, which means "nickname"), but is discounted by the Oxford English Dictionary based on "date and early associations".[10]

3.Types of youth slang

All lexical units of the teen slang are classified into two large groups:

1) units belonging to school work and activities - academic slang;

2) units referring to the out-of-school life - social slang. 
 Each group consists of two thematic groups. Thus, academic slang includes

the following ones:
 • educational process:

• aced, get reamed, bomb      (do well on a test)

bail, punt, roll  (fail an exam) 

          powertool ( cram or study intensely); 

• the names of institutions, subjects, professions:

hardcores - tough courses; slider - an easy course in

college;

Social slang includes the following groups:

• daily round:

• bank, iron, duckets (money, cash); rags - clothes;

load, ride (car)

• types of personality:

• roll, loaf, tubby – (a fat person); lame, hubba – (a stu pid person)

4. Scientific research on attitude of Russian teenagers to slang using

We carried out an opinion poll and questionnaire survey among children to find out why teenagers use slang words in their speech. The results were the following.

Reasons for using slang

Frequency of slang using

Will slang replace cultural speech?

Having analyzed the people’s answers I revealed the Reasons for using slang

1. Attempt to cipher the speech, to make unclear for the uninitiated.

2. The desire to express the emotions (many slang words can't be translated into the literary language by one word).

3. To be identified in the company, to show that you are «one of the gang».

4. To show "maturity", to be striking and even startling.

5. Slang is used by the teenagers for the pure joy of making sounds, it is

very creative and often humorous.

5.Conclusion.

Finally, having done this scientific research and carried out an opinion poll and questionnaire survey among teenagers of our town, I would like to sum up my work:

• I studied the classification of teen slang and found that there are two types of it

• I revealed different examples of slang
• I proved my hypothesis that  young people often use slang because of vocabulary lack and in imitation to modern idols
• Slang doesn't adorn but, on the contrary, it makes the speech scanty

Specific features of the slang words borrowed from English which were revealed during research, unfortunately, are of negative character. School students often consider the equivalents of the Russian words "littering" the native speech, more fashionable and bright. I came to a conclusion that we shouldn’t use slang in the speech. It doesn't adorn but, on the contrary, it makes the speech scanty. And by no means has it made a person more adult.

6.Literature list

1.Анищенко О. А. Словарь русского школьного жаргона XIX века. – М.: ООО «Издательство ЭЛПИС», 2007.

2. Балашова Л. В.
Саратовский госуниверситет. Языковая личность школьника: сопоставительный
аспект (на материале метафорических номинаций в ученическом жаргоне XIX и XX вв.). Статья опубликована на сайте Сообщества, посвященного творчеству Лидии Чарской. (http://www.diary.ru/~charskaya/)

3.Вальтер Х., Мокиенко В. М., Никитина Т. Г. Толковый словарь школьного и студенческого жаргона. М., 2005.

4.Ефремова Т. Ф. Новый словарь русского языка. Толково-словообразовательный: - М.: Русский язык, 2000.)

5.Статьи интернет – ресурса Википедия «Стиляги», «Словарь падонкаф», «Компютерный сленг», «Уголовный жаргон» (http://ru.wikipedia.org)

6.Статья «Профессионализмы». Яндекс. Словари. Российский гуманитарный энциклопедический словарь (http://slovari.yandex.ru) 

    7.  Adams, Michael (2009). Slang: The People's Poetry

    8.  Dickson, Paul (2010). Slang: The Topical Dictionary of Americanisms. ISBN 0802718493.

   9. Partridge, Eric (2002). A dictionary of slang and unconventional English :  colloquialisms and catch phrases, fossilised jokes and puns, general nicknames, vulgarisms and such Americanisms as have been naturalised (8th ed. ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-29189-7.

  10. "Slang". Online Etymological Dictionary. Retrieved 4 March 2010.