Language and Age

Question 1

Older - Gary Ives

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Experiences/important life events - Jenny Cheshire 1987

Answer 2

Chronological age itself does not change language
Rather life experiences do

Against Ives

Question 3

Experiences/ important life events - Douglas S. Bigman 2012

Answer 3

Important life events occur post 18
Term emerging adulthood
When language of an individual changes/diversifies most significantly

Question 4

Teenagers/features - Gary Ives

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Teenagers/features -Anna Brita Stenstrom

Answer 5

Features in teenagers

Irregular turn taking 
Overlaps
Slang (lexical feature) 
Taboo 
Teasing and name calling 
Verbal duelling

Question 6

Teenagers/features - Penelope Eckert 2003

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Teenagers/ negatives - Ignacio Palacios Martinez 2011

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Teenagers/social class- Unni Berland 1997

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Teenagers/ common features- Anita Stenstorm and others 2002

Answer 9

Speech of 14-16 year olds in London

Common features =
Multiple negation
Use of ain’t
Non-standard pronouns e.g. Theirselves

Question 10

Teenagers/’like’ - Christopher V. Odato 2013

Answer 10

Research of ‘like’ in children’s speech
Found children as young as 4 were using it
Identifies three stages :

1. Mainly at the beginning of the clause = like you won easily
2. Greater number of positions. Girls tended to move at age 5. Boys age 7
3. Frequently in other positions, before a prepositional phrase = look how yours landed like right on the target
   Girls moves to this staged earlier

Question 11

Teenagers/ Instagram - Gary Ives

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Teenager factors - Zimmerman 2009

Answer 12

Media and press
New means of communication
Street art and graffiti

Question 13

Teenager factors - Vivian de Klerk 2005

Answer 13

Kids Challenge linguistic norms
Seek to establish new identities
Want to be modern, cool, fashionable and up to date
Establish themselves as different

Question 14

Teenagers- other factors

Answer 14

Wanting to be part of the youth culture
Technology
Either copying adult speech or diverging from adult speech