Age Theories/Concepts Flashcards
Mods and Rockers
Youth in the 60’s belonged to these two groups, and there was a violent clash in 1964 on the South Coast. They used fashion, motorbikes/cycles, language and music to establish an identity.
Gary Ives
Study of 63 teens in West Yorkshire found 100% of teens thought that people spoke differently depending on their age.
Also, that the recent phenomenon of text speak in teen’s speech, - cba, wtf - often connected to their use of taboo language - is perhaps replacing words which could be seen as offensive to avoid being told off or to ‘show off’.
Eckert (1998) and (2003)
(1998) - there are different ways of defining age: chronologically, biologically and socially. (which is linked to life events)
(2003) - features of teen talk include: use of ‘like’ and ‘okay’, rising intonation and multiple negation
Jenny Cheshire (1987)
‘Adult language, as well as child language, develops in response to important life events,’
Martinez (2011)
Teenagers use more negatives than adults do, as they are more direct when they speak. ‘no way’. ‘nah’.
Christoper Odato (2013)
Children as young as 4 are using the word ‘like’ as a discourse marker - there is an element of younger children copying language use of older children and adults.
Daily Mail: ‘The teens who can barely talk’
States that teenagers know around 40,000 words but use an average of 800. Almost 1/4 of boys and 1/7 girls develop speech problems due to TV background noise.
Zimmerman (2009)
Influential factors of teen’s language use: media and press, new means of communication, music, street art and graffiti.
Vivian de Klerk (2005)
Young people have the freedom to challenge linguistic norms, seek to establish new identities, need to be seen as cool and fashionable, need to establish themselves as different, and need to belong to a group whose habits are different from their parents.
