Language Diversity - Age Flashcards
What does penelope Eckert say about the idea that that language is determined by age?
she suggests that it can be problematic to look at age as an influential factor as there are different ways of defining the concept of age
What are the different ways Eckert defines the concept of age?
chronological age (number of years since birth), biological age (physical maturity), and social age (linked to important life events)
What else does Eckert argue about linguistic change?
linguistic change is far more common in teenagers, as, for example, they use slang to establish a connection to youth culture and to signify coolness and detachment from the older generation
What does Eckert say about the way that teenagers talk?
she suggests that teenagers’ speech typically includes the use of the pragmatic marker like’ and the colloquial affirmative ‘okay’, rising intonation and multiple negation, such as the simple declarative “I don’t know nothing”.
What common features of ‘teen speak’ did Anna-Brita Stenström mention?
irregular turn-taking, overlaps, and trying to outdo each other, known by Strenstrom as verbal duelling.
What does Zimmerman suggest about influences outside a teens peer group?
teenagers’ speech are mainly influenced by the media and press, new means of communication such as Snapchat, which can alter a teen’s language use and create linguistic informalisation in other contexts, music, and street art.
What does Zimmerman say about frequent use of apps like snapchat etc…
Zimmerman suggests that the proximity and more frequent use of these influences make them more likely to impact a young person’s language than the language of their peers.
What does jenny Cheshire say about age and language?
age itself is not likely to be the only factor influencing a person’s language use.
adult language and even child language develops in response to important life events, such as marriage and having children, that affect the social relations and social attitudes of individuals
What does Jenny Cheshire say about what actually impacts how a young person speaks?
she suggests that it is social context, known by Eckert as social age, that impacts how a young person speaks rather than their chronological or biological age.
What did the Daily mail article claim about ‘teen speak’?
‘unemployable’ because they only have 800-word vocabularies
According to research from the University of Sheffield, how many words does a teen have in their vocabulary?
40,000
What did Emma Thompson say about the pragmatic marker ‘like’?
it drives her ‘insane’
Why are these prescriptivist views damaging?
views on teen speak claim that the use of this non-standard form is actually damaging the young people’s chances in life. This is a possibly quite dangerous attitude to have as it could lead to discrimination against hiring younger people in a workplace, just because of the way that they communicate with others.
