Teen language: yay or nay?
Felicia Lee
The language police are all fired up at Ark All Saints Academy, a secondary school in London, which has decided to put a stop to the use of slang words and fillers among its pupils, in a bid to encourage the use of standard or proper language in a formal learning context and in examinations (Booth, 2021). No longer would one be able to hear quintessential teenage expressions like “Oh my God” and “oh my days”, slang words like “bare” and “cuss”, or even fillers like “you know” and “basically” along the hallways of the school compound following the ban. While the policy was well-intended to ensure that the school’s pupils learn the formal way to express themselves, this has sparked off a debate among various groups of people, with members of the public applauding the move, and linguists urging for linguistic innovation to be embraced rather than scoffed at. But why is teen language always at the forefront of contentious debates?
Are teens butchering language?
If you are a parent of a teenager, you would have probably received a text like the one in the image below at any point of your parenting life.
Your reaction may be one of horror, apprehension and awe – all rolled into one! As a teacher at a secondary school (or high school in the Australian context) for 15 years, I’ve received a fair share of such texts from my pupils, leaving me bewildered yet intrigued at the same time. Deciphering teen language is synonymous to the painful process of cracking the code to a secret language. But I must admit that it’s rather exhilarating to have finally made sense of what they were trying to communicate to me at the end of it all.
One reason why the older generation bemoan the use of “improper” or “non-standard” language among teenagers is that teenagers get a bad reputation for tainting language standards. This is further exacerbated by their inclination to use digital tools for communication like text messaging, where they tend to use texting abbreviations (e.g. “WTF”) and emojis in place of conventional orthography or complete, grammatical sentences.
While I do not shame or restrict the use of slang words or expressions outside of formal settings, I cannot help but worry (just a little) if my pupils are able to handle speaking and writing formally in learning situations or high-stakes examinations. I’m certain these thoughts are running through the minds of parents who want nothing but the best for the future of their children as well. Of course, we do not expect these youngsters to speak as though they are reciting a sonnet by Shakespeare, or write essays à la Homer style in The Iliad and The Odyssey, but what if they write in the way they speak in examinations? What if they continue to use such linguistic features when they progress into adulthood? What if they go for job interviews and employers view them as flippant because they aren’t able to speak impeccably? Why can’t they just speak normally without having the adults second-guessing their intended messages in communication? These fears are not unfounded, but what if we shift our perspectives a little – from a less critical and pessimistic one, to a more supportive and optimistic one – instead?
Teen language as language change and innovation
In this respect, (socio)linguists take a more positive approach viewing teen language, simply because language evolves all the time! It’s common to see popular words or expressions of a particular era relinquish their status to make space for more swanky ones. For example, if a teenager greets their friend now with “What’s up Doc?”, which was fashionable in the 1950s, they’d be met with puzzlement. This means that slang words or expressions are not just a thing of modern times and is ever-changing, so why should we so overly concerned about it? In fact, Thorne (2021), a language consultant at King’s College London, and Director of the Slang and New Language Archive, advocates embracing and celebrating the use of such innovative language instead of stigmatising it.
Furthermore, one of the key findings from Kohn’s (2014) longitudinal research on linguistic patterns of teenagers suggests that people’s linguistic patterns evolve with different needs and experiences at different life stages. For instance, individuals may acquire new lexicons when they attend school, or step into a new workplace. At the same time, they may drop words or expressions which do not serve any purpose at that life stage. So it seems that teenagers may grow out of using teen language as they progress through life!
Fight it, or embrace it?
Identity formation is a key part in the social development process among teenagers (Erikson, 1980), and language is one of the many ways to help them construct their cultural and/or social identities. It is important for teenagers to go through this identity-construction process to help them grow into adults with healthy self-esteem. Many sociolinguistics studies looking at the relationship between language use and social identity suggest that teenagers employ the use of teen language to project social identities, such as the Jocks and the Burnouts in Eckert’s study (1989), and the Norteña and Sureña factions among Latina teen gang girls in Mendoza-Denton’s (2008) study. Their association with these social identities or groups helped these teenagers navigate through the challenges of adolescent life!
Is that a reason good enough for teen language to continue to flourish? My answer to this question is a resounding yes, as long as they use language aptly in different situations. Thorne (2021) puts this across succinctly: there shouldn’t be a notion of “good or bad language” but rather how language is used appropriately in the given context.
Happy decoding teen language!
References:
Eckert, P. (1989). Jock and Burnouts: Social categories and identity in the high school. Teachers College Press.
Erikson, E. H. (1980). Identity and the life cycle. W. W. Norton.
Kohn, M. E. (2014). The way I communicate changes but how I speak don’t: a longitudinal perspective on adolescent language variation and change. Duke University Press.