LANGUAGE AND AGE

Question 1

Rob Drummond on youth language

Answer 1

• context is everything
• slang shouldn’t be banned
• young people are able to codeswitch

Question 2

Lindsay Johns on youth language

Answer 2

• zero tolerance on slang, should be banned
• slang leads to disenfranchisement and marginalisation
• language is power, ppl will take them seriously
• can’t codeswitch

Question 3

John Mcwhorter on teen texting

Answer 3

• new way of language
• you don’t think about capital letters etc. when speaking so why text them
• expanding their repertoire

Question 4

Penelope Eckert age theory (1998)

Answer 4

1. Chronological age
2. Biological age
3. Social age

Question 5

‘Teen speak’ features

Answer 5

Taboo, dialect, slang, informal lexis, overlaps, word shortening, language mixtures

Question 6

Michael Rosen on youth slang

Answer 6

• banning words doesn’t work
• language is power is reductive
• all speak slang, all bidialectal
• Shakespeare uses ‘cuz’