Age

Question 1

Gary Ives West Yorkshire secondary school

Answer 1

63 teens of various ages asked ‘Do you think people speak differently depending on their age?’ And 100% replied ‘yes’

Question 2

It is problematic to look at age as an influential factor, what backs this up?

Answer 2

Eckert 1998 3 different concepts of age

Question 3

Penelope Eckert 1998- What does she argue?

Answer 3

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)

Question 4

What does Eckert’s ‘Age as a sociolinguistic’ 1998 study mean?

Answer 4

We can’t necessarily state that people, e.g., in the age group of 18-25 will share the same linguistic characteristics

Question 5

According to Eckert, what is age?

Answer 5

‘A person’s place at a given time in relation to the social order: a stage, a condition, a place in history’

Question 6

Who is Eckert’s theory backed up by?

Answer 6

Jenny Cheshire 1987

Question 7

What does Jenny Cheshire argue in 1987?

Answer 7

‘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

Question 8

How does Douglas S. Bigham argue that age is still an important factor?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Gary Ives’ second study at the West Yorkshire secondary school on 17-year-olds

Answer 9

Remembered words like kissy-catch, kerby and tig (environment as a factor)

Question 10

Gary Ives- common words in teenage lexicon

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Gary Ives- common words in teenage lexicon examples

Answer 11

Chatting rubbish- not telling the truth
Bare- lots, very or obviously
Beef- argument
Dench- good

Question 12

Summary of Gary Ives’ West Yorkshire Secondary school study

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Anna-Brita Stenström discussed a range of features that she claims are common in teenage talk. Where can these be found?

Answer 13

In her book ‘Teenage Talk: From General Characteristics to the Use of Pragmatic Markers in a Contrastive Perspective’

Question 14

What were the features that Anna-Brita Stenström outlined? (8)

Answer 14

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)

Question 15

In support of this theory- Penelope Eckert 2003 ‘Language and Adolescent Peer Groups’ commented: I think Stenstrom

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

What does Eckert suggest that the typical features include?

Answer 16

Use of ‘like’ and ‘okay’
Rising intonation
Multiple negation

Question 17

What is a limitation of Eckert’s study and what did she state?

Answer 17

‘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

Question 18

Smaller theorists to back up that teenage speak is the same: Who focused on the use of negatives in 2011?

Answer 18

Ignacio Palacios Martínez

Question 19

Smaller theorists to back up that teenage speak is the same: Ignacio Palacios Martínez

Answer 19

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’

Question 20

Smaller theorists to back up that teenage speak is the same: What did Unni Berland discover in 1997?

Answer 20

Use of tags ‘innit’, ‘yeah’, ‘right’
But focus on social class ‘innit’ used in working class teens whereas ‘yeah’ by middle class

Question 21

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)

Answer 21

Smaller theorists to back up that teenage speak is the same: Stenström, Andersen and Hasund 2002

Question 22

Who suggests that there is an element if younger children copying the language of those older than them?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Vivian se Klerk 2005- influence of adults eroded by patterns of speech of their peer group

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Limitations of age as the most important factor on our vernacular

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Examples of social groups influencing language usage

Answer 25

Online gamers- sweat (frequent gaming)

Gym gooers ‘guns’ ‘gymhead’