Lesson 1: Linguistic Structures of Youth Language

​Youth language differs from standard language in several ways. For example, adolescents tend to use shorter phrases for more informal communication and to express their thoughts casually. The use of casual and informal language is evident in expressions as «Hey» and «Are you down to join us?» This informal tone fosters a sense of camaraderie among young people. It is important to differentiate between youth language in British English and in American English because they reflect different cultural influences that occur in their respective societies. In the American English youth language, words such as «dude», «damn», or «dope» are among the best-known expressions. In British English youth language, words such as «bollocks», «sick» or «brilliant» are most used. In the United States, evaluative adjectives hold a prominent place in youth language, with words such as «awesome», «weird», «stupid», or «funny» commonly used by adolescents. Adolescents also often employ intensifiers, e.g. «totally» and «so»: Last night’s party was totally awesome and it got a little weird when the music suddenly stopped. In the United Kingdom, the adjective «lovely» is especially popular and words such as «dead», «badly», «jolly», and «bloody», as well as «well» and «enough» are used as intensifiers. An example would be: She had a jolly good time at the party, and the weather was lovely. We danced all night, and it was bloody amazing! In both forms of youth language, adverbs such as «really», «seriously», «basically», «simply», and «completely» are frequently used and serve as intensifiers in adolescent communication. Intensifiers heighten the significance of what is being referred to. For example, similar to «totally», «so» is used to express agreement as in «She is so talented». These words help to convey feelings and opinions in a more vivid and informal style of expression. English youth language includes more such words compared to the vocabulary of older generations. There are also a few gender-specific differences in youth language. For instance, young men often use the word «dude» to address one another or to express camaraderie, such as saying, «Hey dude, did you see the game yesterday?» American adolescents often use markers of attention such as «hey» or «wow», as well as more polite expressions such as «sorry» and «please», which is surprising because youth language is not typically associated with politeness but rather with swearwords. Research indicates that in both British English youth language and American English youth language, adolescents use a wide variety of swearwords. Among the most popular swearwords are «shit» and «damn». Those words are some of the most recognizable features of informal conversations among adolescents.