Language and Age Flashcards
Older - Gary Ives
Study West Yorkshire 63 teens various ages Asked question : do people speak differently depending on their age? 100% answered yes
As we get older, our language becomes more standard
Experiences/important life events - Jenny Cheshire 1987
Chronological age itself does not change language
Rather life experiences do
Against Ives
Experiences/ important life events - Douglas S. Bigman 2012
Important life events occur post 18
Term emerging adulthood
When language of an individual changes/diversifies most significantly
Teenagers/features - Gary Ives
Study
Group of 17 year olds
West Yorkshire school
Typical features of teen speak/teen vernacular
Informal register (grammatical feature)
Taboo language
Dialect (pragmatics)
Slang
Teenagers/features -Anna Brita Stenstrom
Features in teenagers
Irregular turn taking Overlaps Slang (lexical feature) Taboo Teasing and name calling Verbal duelling
Teenagers/features - Penelope Eckert 2003
Research on teenage talk
- slang is used to establish connection to youth culture
- stay away from old generation
- coolness,toughness, attitude
Linguistic change is much more common e.g new lexical items
Use of like and okay
Rising intonation (up talk) =(phonological feature)
Multiple negation
Teenagers/ negatives - Ignacio Palacios Martinez 2011
Teenagers use negatives more frequently than adults do
In orders, suggestions and refusals
Teenagers are more direct when they speak whereas adults are more conscious
E.g. No way, nope, dunno, na
Teenagers/social class- Unni Berland 1997
Teenagers concluded social class is also an important factor
Innit = common among working class Yeah = middle class Both genders use it in equal measures except for okay used more by boys
Teenagers/ common features- Anita Stenstorm and others 2002
Speech of 14-16 year olds in London
Common features =
Multiple negation
Use of ain’t
Non-standard pronouns e.g. Theirselves
Teenagers/’like’ - Christopher V. Odato 2013
Research of ‘like’ in children’s speech
Found children as young as 4 were using it
Identifies three stages :
- Mainly at the beginning of the clause = like you won easily
- Greater number of positions. Girls tended to move at age 5. Boys age 7
- Frequently in other positions, before a prepositional phrase = look how yours landed like right on the target
Girls moves to this staged earlier
Teenagers/ Instagram - Gary Ives
Research 8-11 year olds
Older children no longer found it ‘cool’ to use informal variants of language in online communication
Grown out of it
Teenager factors - Zimmerman 2009
Media and press
New means of communication
Street art and graffiti
Teenager factors - Vivian de Klerk 2005
Kids Challenge linguistic norms
Seek to establish new identities
Want to be modern, cool, fashionable and up to date
Establish themselves as different
Teenagers- other factors
Wanting to be part of the youth culture
Technology
Either copying adult speech or diverging from adult speech