Language and age Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is slang? who is it most commonly used by?
-a type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal
Often used by younger generations
Describe Bernsteins elaborated and restricted codes
Elaborated code- language used in formal situations which are characterised by the use of a wide range of vocab, complex sentences
-associated with upper social class
Restricted code- language used in informal settings and close knit communities. Characterised of simple sentences and limited vocab
-associated with lower social class
What did Bernstein theorise?
The linguistic codes children use result from environmental and cultural conditioning.
Children growing up in lower social class communities are exposed to the language used by that class
What did Bernstein find from evidence?
-There was a correlation between a students social class and their use of elaborated or restricted code
-Working class background children performed worse in language based studies but wc and uc performed the same in math based subjects. Bernstein suggests this could be due to the working class children lack of exposure to different language forms (elaborated code)
-NOT saying working class Kids are less clever
How did labov criticise Bernsteins elaborated and restricted code theory?
-Argued restricted code could be used to express meaning and elaborate on a point to the same extent as elaborated code
-restricted code isn’t inferior to elaborated as it can be just as complex
What 3 different types of age did Eckert suggests there was?
-Chronological age (Birth to present)
-Biological age (physical maturity)
-Social age (life events eg marriage, children)
What did strenson suggest was characteristics of teenage talk?
Overlaps, word shortening, slang, taboo, language mixing
what did Eckert say in relation to language change and younger generations?
-Language change is happening in younger gens
-Slang is used for teens to separate themselves from older gens to signal coolness
(Multiple negation)
What type of language is associated with certain age groups?
5-11 - simplistic
13-17 - slang, taboo
18-25 - code switching (uni to going out)
30s - professional
50s- old fashioned
What did Giovanelli say?
How did Thorne agree slang was a positive thing?
Slang and linguistic innovation is creative (he cut his eyes at me)
Thorne- all slang is appropriate if its used appropriately in the right context
What was Parrots teen study?
Studied how teen identity may affect language use
What were parrots teen identity study results?
1- teens doing forbidden beh (smoking..) are likely to use taboo language and insult
2-teens doing rebellious beh create resistance identity to go against main stream (non standard)
3-if teens exclude others they may converge and diverge to make it hard for others to join group
4-If teens influenced by idols they may mimick them (slang, taboo, disrespectful lang)
Describe Martinez study
(What 2 things did he look into)
looked into use of negatives in every day general speech
-looked into the negatives used by teens compared to ones used by adults
What were Martinez findings?
-Teens use negatives more than adults
-teens are more direct, adults more conscious of what they say
-typical negative words were mostly informal
What 4 factors did Zimmerman suggest influence teen language?
The media and press- use lang to portray a msg which influences others to obide a view. The lang used then influences others to use it when describing ppl
New means of communication- social media influences kids choice of language components in texts that then may be used in real life
Street art and graffiti- used to express feelings and lexical choices, then others become influenced to adapt own lang choices
Music- new music like rap and pop and house are common among teems. Lyrics influence kids and then are used
