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The speech variant of the next generation up the ladder is a better candidate for being the source of language change, as the peculiarities of teenagers' speech are not peculiar features of individual speakers, but they exist by convention, which means that at least the speakers of one group must have already agreed upon this specific feature. This makes it a lot easier for any innovation to carry on into adult speech.
Furthermore, it is more likely for youth language features to become standard than that of other varieties because on the one hand, all youths will eventually become adults, while on the other hand, youth language is not a variety restricted to a very specific situation but by definition the default way of speaking for teenagers, so to say.
So unlike other varieties, youth language does apply to a great part of the speech community in general. Therefore, it should be very easy for features of youth language to carry on into adult language by just not being dropped by their speakers.
However, this assumption of teenage language being the main source for language change is of course not self-evident. It is therefore of high interest to have a further look whether such a proposition is really true or not. Therefore, it is good idea to have a closer look at adolescents' as well as adults' everyday speech and compare them with regards to their linguistic innovations. If the above assumption is true, then linguistic innovations should appear later in adult language than in teenagers' language.
This is what will be done in this work. After a short excursus on important aspects of the theory of grammaticalisation, we will have a close look at adolescents' speech and its peculiarities through some works on the COLT study of 1993. We will then examine a small corpus on adults' colloquial language in 2007. In the end, we will compare the results to see what this tells us about language change and the role of teenage language therein.
We will mainly be focused on grammatical, i. e. syntactical or morphological aspects, respectively. Phonetic aspects are for the most part excluded except for the phenomenon called t-glottalisation, which is easy to identify and also very interesting in the context of a work on London English.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Grammaticalisation
3. Teenage Languae
3.1 COLT – The Bergen Corpus of London Teenage Language
3.2 Features of teenage Language
4. Tendencies of adult language
4.1 Johnny Vaughan's Morning Show
4.2 Findings
4.2.1 Glottalisation
4.2.2 Negative concord
4.2.3 Reported speech
4.2.4 Question tags
4.2.5 Omission of have
4.2.6 gonna, gotta, wanna
4.2.7 Functions of like
5. Results
6. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Topics
This work explores whether adolescent language serves as a primary driver for grammatical change in English. By comparing established findings from the COLT study (1993) with original transcriptions of contemporary colloquial adult speech from 2007, the author investigates whether linguistic innovations seen in youth dialects are adopted by the adult population or remain restricted to teenage usage.
- Grammaticalisation processes in modern English.
- Linguistic characteristics of London teenage speech (COLT corpus).
- Comparative analysis of colloquial adult speech and youth innovations.
- Phonetic and syntactic phenomena, including t-glottalisation and reported speech markers.
- The role of social dynamics in language change and generational exclusion.
Excerpt from the Book
1. Introduction
The language of adolescents is considered to play a key role in grammatical change as it is supposed to deviate the most from standard norms of speech, as it shows the most innovations. Stenström, too, agrees with this view: “[Youth language] is where linguistic innovations and new trends tend to make their first appearance, some of them even entering and becoming part of the standard language“ (1997a: 146). Although not all innovations of everyday speech do eventually become the norm of standard speech, the reverse is true: Practically all norms of standard speech did at one time in history begin as deviative innovations.
So youth talk is a big candidate for being a primary source for language change. The question, why languages change has been asked for centuries (cf. Aitchison: 133). While earlier theories of language change assumed that it primarily happens through the errors in the acquisition process of children, which are henceforth kept, it was shown later that this plays only a minor role in language change. The first one to note this was Roman Jakobson for sound changes: “[D]ie Sprechweise der Kinder kann zwar zur Quelle oder zum Medium einer Sprachveränderung werden, doch maßgebend für die letztere bleibt die Nachfrage des Sprachgebildes nach der bezüglichen Mutation“ (Jakobson: 16). So the language of younger speakers may be the motive of language change, but not the deeper cause.
Since not all children show the same innovations when acquiring their mother tongue, peculiarities of a single child will only eventually become part of adult speech if other people adopt it. If this is not the case, the children will either stick to this peculiarity with no particular consequence for the speech community as a whole, or they will – more likely – eventually adopt the norm variant.
Chapter Summary
1. Introduction: Discusses the hypothesis that youth language drives grammatical change and outlines the scope of comparing teenage and adult speech.
2. Grammaticalisation: Defines the theoretical framework of grammaticalisation, focusing on how lexical items evolve into grammatical functions.
3. Teenage Languae: Examines nonstandard grammatical features identified in the COLT corpus and compares them with previous studies on teenage speech.
4. Tendencies of adult language: Presents the analysis of 2007 radio podcast transcripts to identify ongoing grammatical shifts in adult colloquial London English.
5. Results: Synthesizes the findings, noting that teenage linguistic innovations, such as specific reported speech markers, have not significantly impacted adult speech.
6. Conclusion: Evaluates the initial thesis, suggesting that while teenage language is highly innovative, it has a limited role as a primary source for broader language change.
Keywords
Grammaticalisation, Teenage Language, COLT, London English, Language Change, t-glottalisation, Reported Speech, Corpus Linguistics, Syntax, Morphology, Sociolinguistics, Nonstandard Grammar, Youth Dialects, Colloquial Speech, Linguistic Innovation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this study?
The study investigates whether adolescent language acts as a primary source for language change in English by examining the transmission of linguistic innovations to adult speakers.
What are the core thematic areas?
The core themes include grammaticalisation theory, features of teenage language based on the COLT corpus, and a comparative analysis of colloquial adult speech in 2007.
What is the central research question?
The research asks if linguistic innovations observed in youth language, which often deviate from standard norms, are subsequently adopted into the speech of the adult population.
Which scientific methodology is applied?
The author uses a corpus-based approach, combining existing findings from the COLT project with qualitative analysis of contemporary transcripts from a London-based morning radio show.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main section covers grammaticalisation, specific nonstandard features like t-glottalisation, reported speech markers, question tags, and the omission of the auxiliary 'have'.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
The work is characterized by terms like grammaticalisation, language change, teenage language, COLT, and sociolinguistics.
How is the COLT study utilized in the research?
The COLT study serves as the baseline for describing teenage language features from 1993, allowing for a comparative framework with the 2007 data.
What specific phonetic phenomenon is examined?
The study specifically examines t-glottalisation, identifying it as a standard feature in contemporary London colloquial speech.
What did the author find regarding reported speech?
The author found that the teenage innovation of using 'like' as a reported speech marker has not yet significantly integrated into the colloquial speech of adults, who still prefer 'say' or 'go'.
What is the final conclusion regarding youth language?
The conclusion suggests that teenage language, while innovative, has a surprisingly small impact on adult speech, possibly because teenage language often functions as a barrier to exclude adults.
- Quote paper
- Jörg Thöle (Author), 2007, Current tendencies in colloquial London speech, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/115911
