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Lesson 4: Prestige of Youth Language

Definition: Linguistic prestige refers to the positive reputation of a language or a certain way of speaking. This occurs when society believes that this form of language is better and regards it as a model to be followed. Positive evaluation is based on the characteristics that this form of language has or that people commonly think it has. The purpose of this lesson unit is to understand how youth language is evaluated by society.

Key Concepts

  • Change over Time

  • Innovation of Language

  • (Un-)Acceptability

  • Speakers' Perceptions

  • Social Norms

  • Hostility of Older Generations

UNIT 1: TIME TRAVEL

Before exploring the prestige of youth language and society's perception of it together, it is essential to lay the groundwork by introducing the concept of language varieties. Language varieties represent the different ways in which a language is used, influenced both by factors internal to the language, such as grammar and vocabulary, and by external variables such as social, cultural, geographical, and historical conditions, called extralinguistic variables.

Youth language shows variations depending on the place, the historical moment, and the context in which the speaker finds themselves: a young person in London around 1950 while playing hide-and-seek with his friends spoke differently from a young person playing Fortnite with his friends in the same neighborhood in London in 2022. Thus, language is constantly evolving; it is not stable over time. Youth language is not defined by grammars and dictionaries as standard Italian is, and it is easy to change it because it is not conditioned by fixed rules. This means that it is particularly sensitive to social and cultural influences. In particular, youth language has been influenced greatly by the digital revolution. It has shifted from meeting face to face in traditional gathering places, such as squares and streets, to interaction on social networks. Thus, it can be concluded that youth language represents a central point of communication among the new generations.

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Exercise 1:

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Your task now will be to write a short text (maximum 80 words) identifying yourself as a young teenager in the 1980s. To help you, you can search the Internet for examples of slang typical for the era (a suitable site that presents an exhaustive list of words is the following: 

https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/1980s-slang.

After that, you will have to write a very similar text but using the youth language that you would use today.

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Form: group, pair, individual, ...

UNIT 2: DO WE ACCEPT IT?

Within society, youth language can contribute to language renewal and vocabulary enrichment. New words used by youth can gradually be adopted by the entire population, enriching the common language. Even the most recent dictionaries have begun to accommodate new terms typically used by young people. This happens because language and what defines it as acceptable/unacceptable depends not only on grammar, but also on the social norms, i.e., the perception of speakers. If more and more people begin to use a particular word that was previously considered incorrect, this means that it is becoming more and more accepted and thus legitimized for inclusion in dictionaries. Clearly a question of subjectivity comes into play: despite the presence or absence of typically juvenile expressions in a dictionary, it is then up to the individual person to assess their appropriateness of use. A word such as "cool" may be considered to be totally acceptable in a spoken, informal context by one person, while it may be considered unseemly and vulgar for someone else.

Indeed, it should be remembered that the acceptance of youth language within society is an open debate. Despite the crucial role of youth language in language renewal, it is still often the subject of negative judgments by adults. Youth language has been labeled as vulgar, poor in structure, lazy, and disregarding the norms defined by standard language. Thus, youth language still faces hostility and criticism from older generations.

Exercise 2:

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Watch the following   https://www.tiktok.com/@brittanyaldean/video/7249770740000804142?_r=1&_t=8hDer2xtURc and look up whether or not the typical juvenile words mentioned in the video are present in the Oxford Dictionary online vocabulary https://www.oed.com/?tl=true .

- Which of these words have been accepted by the dictionary?

- What words/expressions that you use on a daily basis might be good candidates for inclusion in a dictionary someday?

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Form

Final thought for this lesson

 

It would be useful and important on the one hand to recognize the value of youth language as an authentic and spontaneous expression of your generation, reflecting the passage of time. On the other hand, it is crucial to ensure understanding and communication between different generations to decrease prejudice. With this in mind, what approach do you think you might have in 30 years, when you hear young people speak in 2053?

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Sources

  • Bahlo, N., Becker, T., Kalkavan-Aydın, Z., Lotze, N., Marx, K., Schwarz, C., & ȘimÈ™ek, Y. (2019). Jugendsprache: Eine Einführung. Springer-Verlag.

  • Bellone, L. (2022). Dalla strada a TikTok: sulle tracce del linguaggio giovanile contemporaneo. L'italiano dei giovani, 25.

  • Coveri, L. (1993). Novità del/sul linguaggio giovanile. La Lingua dei Giovani. Tübingen: Günter Narr Verlag, 35-48.

  • Nesi, A. (Ed.). (2022). L’italiano ei giovani. Come scusa? Non ti followo. goWare & Accademia della Crusca.

  • Vassere, S. (2008). Linguaggio giovanile. Le parole e le modalità di comunicazione. Scuola ticinese, 37, 21-25.

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Pictures

https://www.midjourneyai.ai/app

https://picsart.com/it/ 

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