The colossal world of Teenspeak: is it like advantageous or insignificant?
In society, there are several different attitudes to the way teenagers decide to communicate. Some say that their language helps to shape your identity as you develop therefore it should be celebrated, such as linguist Vera Regan who concluded that language reflected and performed individuals' profiles as its a way for someone to express their identity. Whereas others hold the view that the informal, non-standard variants of English they often use and the slang they express should be questioned for the unprofessionalism it creates, therefore is judged for being restrictive and inferior. This being said, the biggest critics seem to be the teachers of the teenspeak on teenagers today; parents and teachers. So is it fair to make such an immediate verdict and label us as 'uneducated' when in reality, nothing can be changed? I think not. It is clear to me that the teenage language is much more wise than some may think and the fact that it get's disenchanted is unnecessary. Let me explain why...
For centuries, slang has been seen in a negative light as it has been justified by many as 'lazy language' used by teenagers and in general it is just too hard to understand. Why should this matter though? As recent research suggests, Eckert (2003) for example reinforces the idea that "slang is used to 'establish a connection to youth culture and to set themselves off from the older generation.. to signal coolness, toughness or attitude." and to an extent I agree. If speaking differently to how others have in different generations make teenagers feel better about themselves then I don't see why their language should be championed. This leads me on to support another current linguist, Vivian de Klerk (2005) who draws to the conclusion that teenagers feel the need to diverge to establish themselves as different from 'their parents, other adults and other young people' meanwhile distinguish themselves as a distinctive social group. She argues that young people have the freedom to 'challenge linguistic norms' so this is the strategy they should take to do so.
Additionally, slang should not be blamed for fabricating diversity in society or giving modern language a bad reputation because words we commonly use now have been used for as long as language has existed and some are yet to realise this. For example, children use the word 'like' but this same preposition has been used for years on end, by people of all ages, just in a different way. So isn't it a bit hypocritical that teenagers should have their speech criticised despite the fact it's stemmed from previous generations? Let's think about this. Yes. We all know you all love to stereotype all us teens into one unsocialble group and boast about how we're all the same, that our textspeak is becoming a part of our everyday, face to face communication if that's even an occurance anymore etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. But surprisingly, linguistic change is far more common in teenagers than anyone else, especially in the coining of new lexical terms for example. Shock? Well, instead of being so quick to judge and tarring us all under the same brush, it needs to be taken into consideration that, as Penelope Eckert establishes, we can't state that all people in an age group will share the same linguistic characteristics because as I previously expressed, no teenager is the same! Instead, we need to consider that 'age is a person's place at any given time in relation to the social order: a stage, a condition, a place in history'. It's agreeable, textspeak has had a huge influence on teenspeak in the past few years, positively and negatively, and as John McWhorter mentioned in his 2013 TED talk; 'Texting is killing language' that texting is now called 'fingered speech', meaning we're starting to text the way we talk. Nevertheless, I think that with the knowledge teenagers have today, it's easy not to get our text talk and formal language mixed up, especially with important job interviews I can assure you sentences wouldn't end with 'innit' or 'wtf'. And with there being a 'GCSE results rise in 2018 despite exams shake up', we seem to be doing just fine.
In closing, I think that attempting to mute teenager's voices and not allowing them to use language how they please is simply a silly idea. Language is constantly evolving and new words are continuously entering the scene, so before you blame teenagers for the cause of this, maybe think about focusing on more widespread issues than this mediocre one.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Teenspeak and Attitudes to Teenspeak Article Questions
Teenspeak
1. If we are to assume that we do speak differently at various times in our life, how could you argue that age is the most significant factor?
We could argue that age is the most significant factor due to the fact we speak differently at various times in our lives because we sometimes converge our language to fit a specific social group. For example, the way we speak as a teenager in the company of our group of friends would be different to how we speak to our grandparents as language is more restricted around those where we think carefully about what we say, as we most likely wouldn't swear.
2. What is your opinion on the view that 'life events' are more influential and more significant on our language than age?
Occupational lexis could come from life events such as particular jobs that could influence your language, as in different working environments they require different communication skills not only to customers but also to colleagues.
3. What 'life events' may influence your language? (Consider the age groups 13-17, 18-25, 30's, 50's, elderly/retired) Becoming a teenager may influence your language as you begin to associate yourself with a larger group of different people and pick up things said by others. But as you turn an adult, you start working so you take things said more into consideration but you also have the right to speak more freely, for example use taboo language as much as you please. In your 30's you may have children so your language is bound to mature, as you want your child to grow up properly adapting the right language skills and when you're elderly/retired you're at the stage when you have learnt all you need to know about different ways of speaking so it should stay the same for years forward.
Attitudes to Teenspeak
A 2010 newspaper article entitled 'The teens who can barely talk' presents a far less positive view of teenspeak.
1. What does the article suggest contributes to the drop from knowing 40,000 words to using 800?
The article states that children are being warned they may become unemployable or it will be harder to find jobs if action doesn't take place on their communication skills. They are said to be spending too much time communicating through electronic media and text messaging which is short and brief, restricting them from understanding the difference between their textspeak and formal language needed to succeed in life.
2. Do you agree with this argument?
I do agree to some extent that social media is limiting communication as it is a fact that teenagers spend far too much time on their phones and much less time speaking in real life, and even sometimes text speak like the word 'lol' can be brought into everyday communication. However a lot can be learnt through social media and it can help to broaden individual's vocabulary so this argument isn't completely true in my opinion.
3. Do you agree that teenagers having their own language is their way of saying 'we are different'. Is it inventive, ever changing and brilliant? I think that teenagers language is different to someone in their 50's for example but I don't think it is something intentional that teenagers to use to expose their uniqueness and brilliance. It is one of the most significant periods in your life where you and your language develops so it is bound to be constantly changing depending on who you choose to associate yourself with.
4. What is your opinion on the comment that 'some disadvantaged children don't know that there is a different way of speaking in a job interview'?
I think that this statement is true for some because those disadvantaged may not get the same opportunities as some to get a job interview therefore won't know that you have to converge your language from the norm to make it more appropriate to the mature setting an interview takes place in. But if you're disadvantaged but have still been brought up properly to be polite and formal then this should not be an issue for all.
1. If we are to assume that we do speak differently at various times in our life, how could you argue that age is the most significant factor?
We could argue that age is the most significant factor due to the fact we speak differently at various times in our lives because we sometimes converge our language to fit a specific social group. For example, the way we speak as a teenager in the company of our group of friends would be different to how we speak to our grandparents as language is more restricted around those where we think carefully about what we say, as we most likely wouldn't swear.
2. What is your opinion on the view that 'life events' are more influential and more significant on our language than age?
Occupational lexis could come from life events such as particular jobs that could influence your language, as in different working environments they require different communication skills not only to customers but also to colleagues.
3. What 'life events' may influence your language? (Consider the age groups 13-17, 18-25, 30's, 50's, elderly/retired) Becoming a teenager may influence your language as you begin to associate yourself with a larger group of different people and pick up things said by others. But as you turn an adult, you start working so you take things said more into consideration but you also have the right to speak more freely, for example use taboo language as much as you please. In your 30's you may have children so your language is bound to mature, as you want your child to grow up properly adapting the right language skills and when you're elderly/retired you're at the stage when you have learnt all you need to know about different ways of speaking so it should stay the same for years forward.
Attitudes to Teenspeak
A 2010 newspaper article entitled 'The teens who can barely talk' presents a far less positive view of teenspeak.
1. What does the article suggest contributes to the drop from knowing 40,000 words to using 800?
The article states that children are being warned they may become unemployable or it will be harder to find jobs if action doesn't take place on their communication skills. They are said to be spending too much time communicating through electronic media and text messaging which is short and brief, restricting them from understanding the difference between their textspeak and formal language needed to succeed in life.
2. Do you agree with this argument?
I do agree to some extent that social media is limiting communication as it is a fact that teenagers spend far too much time on their phones and much less time speaking in real life, and even sometimes text speak like the word 'lol' can be brought into everyday communication. However a lot can be learnt through social media and it can help to broaden individual's vocabulary so this argument isn't completely true in my opinion.
3. Do you agree that teenagers having their own language is their way of saying 'we are different'. Is it inventive, ever changing and brilliant? I think that teenagers language is different to someone in their 50's for example but I don't think it is something intentional that teenagers to use to expose their uniqueness and brilliance. It is one of the most significant periods in your life where you and your language develops so it is bound to be constantly changing depending on who you choose to associate yourself with.
4. What is your opinion on the comment that 'some disadvantaged children don't know that there is a different way of speaking in a job interview'?
I think that this statement is true for some because those disadvantaged may not get the same opportunities as some to get a job interview therefore won't know that you have to converge your language from the norm to make it more appropriate to the mature setting an interview takes place in. But if you're disadvantaged but have still been brought up properly to be polite and formal then this should not be an issue for all.
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