Age Flashcards
Gary Ives West Yorkshire secondary school
63 teens of various ages asked ‘Do you think people speak differently depending on their age?’ And 100% replied ‘yes’
It is problematic to look at age as an influential factor, what backs this up?
Eckert 1998 3 different concepts of age
Penelope Eckert 1998- What does she argue?
There are different ways of defining the concept of ‘age’
- Chronological
- Biological (physical maturity)
- Social age (linked to life events like marriage and having kids)
What does Eckert’s ‘Age as a sociolinguistic’ 1998 study mean?
We can’t necessarily state that people, e.g., in the age group of 18-25 will share the same linguistic characteristics
According to Eckert, what is age?
‘A person’s place at a given time in relation to the social order: a stage, a condition, a place in history’
Who is Eckert’s theory backed up by?
Jenny Cheshire 1987
What does Jenny Cheshire argue in 1987?
‘It is becoming recognised… the adult language, as well as child language, develops in response to important life events that affect the social relations and social attitudes of individuals
How does Douglas S. Bigham argue that age is still an important factor?
Douglas S. Bigham says that ‘important life events are more likely to occur post-18, at an age called ‘emerging adulthood’, therefore chronological age may still be an influential factor for young speakers
Gary Ives’ second study at the West Yorkshire secondary school on 17-year-olds
Remembered words like kissy-catch, kerby and tig (environment as a factor)
Gary Ives- common words in teenage lexicon
Informal register and taboo
Common themes/ topics (particularly surrounding relationships)
Slang part of teenage vernacular- belief that the slang teenagers used was specific to their age group and may not be understood or used by older generation
Gary Ives- common words in teenage lexicon examples
Chatting rubbish- not telling the truth
Bare- lots, very or obviously
Beef- argument
Dench- good
Summary of Gary Ives’ West Yorkshire Secondary school study
Taboo is part of teen vernacular
Dialect is used commonly when speaking
Slang, which they see as typical to their age group, is common
Informal lexical choices are often linked by common themes or topics
Anna-Brita Stenström discussed a range of features that she claims are common in teenage talk. Where can these be found?
In her book ‘Teenage Talk: From General Characteristics to the Use of Pragmatic Markers in a Contrastive Perspective’
What were the features that Anna-Brita Stenström outlined? (8)
Irregular turn-taking Overlaps Indistinct articulation Word shortenings Teasing and name calling Verbal duelling (when teenagers try to outdo each other) Slang Taboo Language mixing (using language from other cultures)
In support of this theory- Penelope Eckert 2003 ‘Language and Adolescent Peer Groups’ commented: I think Stenstrom
Slang is used ‘to establish a connection to youth culture [and] to set themselves off from the older generation… to signal coolness, toughness, or attitude’
Linguistic change is far more common in teenagers, for example the coining of new lexical items.
What does Eckert suggest that the typical features include?
Use of ‘like’ and ‘okay’
Rising intonation
Multiple negation
What is a limitation of Eckert’s study and what did she state?
‘Adolescents do not all talk alike; on the contrary, differences among adolescents are probably far greater than speech differences among the members of any other age group’
This suggests that it is only teen speak that is the same so age is not main influencer of language
Smaller theorists to back up that teenage speak is the same: Who focused on the use of negatives in 2011?
Ignacio Palacios Martínez
Smaller theorists to back up that teenage speak is the same: Ignacio Palacios Martínez
In spoken Eng, teens use negatives more than adults
1/3 of these negatives occurred in orders, suggestions and refusals.
Argues teens are more direct when they speak, whereas adults more conscious of what and how they say things (not wanting to threaten face).
Typical negative words informal ‘no way’ ‘nope’ ‘nah’ ‘dunno’ ‘I couldn’t give a toss’
Also negative forms: multiple negation and non-standard use of ‘never’
Smaller theorists to back up that teenage speak is the same: What did Unni Berland discover in 1997?
Use of tags ‘innit’, ‘yeah’, ‘right’ But focus on social class ‘innit’ used in working class teens whereas ‘yeah’ by middle class
Linguistic focus on non-standard grammatical features
14-16 year olds in London, common features included multiple negation, use of ‘ain’t’, ellipsis of auxiliary verbs, non-standard pronouns (e.g. theirselves)
Smaller theorists to back up that teenage speak is the same: Stenström, Andersen and Hasund 2002
Who suggests that there is an element if younger children copying the language of those older than them?
Christopher V. Odato (2013)
Use of ‘like’ in children as young as 4, its use evolves as children learn from adults about its syntactic position
Vivian se Klerk 2005- influence of adults eroded by patterns of speech of their peer group
Young people have the freedom to ‘challenge linguistic norms’
They ‘seek to establish new identities’
The patterns of speech previously modelled on the speech of adults are ‘slowly eroded by the patterns of speech’ by their peer group.
They need to be seen as ‘modern… cool, fashionable [and] up-to-date’
They need to establish themselves as ‘different’
They need to belong to a group whose ‘habits… are different from their parents, other adults and other young people’ distinguishing themselves as members of a distinctive social group
Limitations of age as the most important factor on our vernacular
Sometimes teenagers are stereotyped and not all teenagers are the same. There will always be teens who don’t conform to this stereotypical image. Not all teen speak the same.
Examples of social groups influencing language usage
Online gamers- sweat (frequent gaming)
Gym gooers ‘guns’ ‘gymhead’
