Language And Age Theorists

Question 1

Gary Ives - West Yorkshire School Case Study

Answer 1

• 63 teenagers asked if people speak differently based on age and 100% said yes
• Use of acronyms like “cba” and “wtf” being used

Question 2

Penelope Eckert - 1998 - 3 stages of age

Answer 2

1. Chronological age (number of days alive)
2. Biological age (physical maturity)
3. Social Age (life events)

Question 3

Jenny Cheshire 1987

Answer 3

Argues that adults and children’s languages develop differently depending on life experiences

Question 4

Anna Brita-Stenstrom common features of teenspeak

Answer 4

1. Irregular turn taking
2. Overlaps
3. Word shortenings
4. Verbal duelling
5. Slang
6. Taboo
7. Teasing and name calling

Question 5

Penelope Eckert 2003

Answer 5

• Slang is used by youths to create a culture separate from the older generation
• Coining of lexical terms
• Claims that teens and adults talk differently
• Rising intonation
• Multiple negation
• Use of ‘like’ and ‘okay’

Question 6

Zimmerman 2009 (Influences on teenspeak)

Answer 6

• Media and press
• New means of communication
• Music
• Street art

Question 7

Vivian de Klerk - Influences on teenspeak

Answer 7

• Speak to establish indentities
• Desire to look modern and cool
• Be different
• Freedom to challenge linguistic norms

Question 8

Gary Ives reasons for decline

Answer 8

1. Qwerty keyboards
2. Autocorrect facilities
3. Decline in predictive text
4. Younger people using telephones
5. Increasing child friendly social media

Question 9

Ignacio Martinez 2011 use of negatives

Answer 9

• Teens use more negatives than adults
• 1/3 of negatives were orders, suggestions, refusals
• ‘no way’ ‘nope’ ‘dunno’
• Teens more direct, adults conscious
• Use of multiple negation ‘never’

Question 10

Unni Berland 1997 use of tags

Answer 10

• Social class important factor
• ‘innit’ working class
• ‘yeah’ used by middle class
• ‘okay’ used more by boys than girl’s, same with ‘innit’ ‘right’ ‘yeah’

Question 11

Daily Mail - Teens that can barely talk

Answer 11

• Vocabulary of 500 words
• Become unemployable
• Jean Goss 800 words will not get you a job
• Pro Tony McEnery 10 million words, top 20 were, no yeah but.
• Sheffield Uni says teens have 40k vocab set