Descriptive Essay : Slang And Sociolinguistics

“Authority and American Usage,” an interesting essay written by the brilliant and quick-witted David Foster Wallace, presents an argument on different ways of understanding the ever-changing American usage in the English language. Keeping up with the English language in America is like chasing your new, untrained puppy down the street. Tiring and basically impossible to get a hold of. Over the past centuries, the English language has evolved so much, that if you took a person from the 13th century and threw them in the middle of New York City in 2013, it would be as if two different languages were being spoken.

Simon shows this by saying “It is perhaps equally inevitable… for certain words to become obsolescent and obsolete, and drop out of the language” (337); similarly MacNeil says “Everything in the American experience, each new frontier encountered—geographical, spiritual, technological—has altered our language” (316); and McGray does this by saying “ Some adventurous school districts have let their foreign-language programs evolve with the times” (357).

Kory STAMPER is a lexicographer and editor for the Merriam-Webster dictionaries, and in her first book, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, which was released in March 2017, she documents the difficulties she faces as a lexicographer. In this article, the author tracks how the slang words “swag”, “fubar” and “bae” have changed over time.

Directions: Match the meaning in the right column to the correct slang term in the left column. You must complete a minimum of 10 choices. Each additional correct match earns one extra credit point.

Slang: a type of language that consists of words that are regarded as informal, and is most common in speech, and is typically restricted to a particular context or group of people. Nearly everyday, even without noticing it, most people use slang in their speech on a daily basis. How people speak can be interpreted very differently to listeners depending on their background. Many areas have their own type of speech that usually, only people who come from that background will understand. After reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and making an FJAVE dictionary and examples, it is easy to see that speech holds so much power, especially when the people communicating are born around the same time period or if they live in the same area.

A day does not pass me by that I do not come across American language such as, “Babe, bro and dude”. Where does youth get this language from these days? America, thanks to the influence of American media common English words are now laden with an Americanised meaning or application.

Language is all around us, it is how we communicate with one another, it brings meaning to literature, and is cemented into our culture. Walt Whitman, a famous American novelist from the 19 century, highlights the effects of language on the American population in his essay, Slang in America. He focuses on positive aspect of slang, how we adapt slang into the english language, as if it is second nature to use, giving a deeper meaning to everyday phrases and words. By contrast, Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell, does not highlight the positive side to slang, instead looking at how authors have started to write with no purpose, no meaning in their texts. George Orwell, in Politics and the English Language, creates an connotation between ideas and an appeal to logos to convince the reader that writers have started to write meaningless pieces of work and could have potentially negative effects on the American people. Compared to Walt Whitman’s use of an unifying tone and an appeal to pathos in Slang in America, that highlights the positive effects of the English language on the American people.

Over the years, the slang used by teens in America has changed drastically, from simple words used to describe the appearance of another to phrases to describe being intoxicated. While comparing the words and phrases used in the 1920’s to those commonly used today, I found that there are many with the same definitions, all of which tend to be related to girls, alcohol, and making fun of others.

Languages are always changing and evolving. The English language itself is full of words from other languages.

There is a variety of English, for example colloquialism. Colloquialism and slang may seem similar to a certain extent. These words are alike because they both mean a word or phrase that is not formal or improper english. However, colloquialism is standard english and slang is not. Slang is normally being used in certain society groups such as teenagers. Also colloquialism enriches the language and slang would degrade it.

Some terms such as “take a powder” or “killer-diller” have been abandoned by today's society. While others like “Lettuce”, “Joe”, “Moxie” and “Eager Beaver” have stuck around since. The slang used and the meanings are very different than some would think, such as “cook with gas” actually means, to do something right (“Forties Slang (40s) • The 1940's • 1940-1949 • Fashion History Movies Music” ). Some of the slang they used could be easy to figure out such as “hi-de-ho” meaning hello, or “Pennies from heaven” simply meaning to make easy money.

One identifying marker the students use is slang. Linguists define slang as a youth-dominated, rapidly changing lexicon associated with casual social contexts, but a nonlinguistic view frames slang as an illegitimate linguistic variety. The latter definition is inaccurate because these varieties have strict grammatical rules and are only “illegitimate” to the uneducated eye. Furthermore, calling slang illegitimate is disrespectful because it disregards the users of such language as inferior, therefore rendering them powerless. This disrespect is often aimed at the African American community, whose usage of AAVE is highly stigmatized. Slang, as a whole, is a shared youth identity in that everyone regardless of race or social status uses it; however, much of slang is available only to a certain group of people. Slang can be involved in processes of adequation or distinction, making its usage contentious or socially risky depending on what person used

Slang is specific to certain areas and cultures, and so it helps establish the setting. The characters’ accent sets up where that character grew up in. Some of the dialect words such as “yessum or yessir” were shown throughout the story. This shows that vernacular can also demonstrate how people address one another.

There is also a type of language spoken in America that is widely discussed and often imitated throughout the world. It is American Slang. Depending on who you ask, some will say that slang is a result of English that was broken by slaves transported to America. Some will say that slang is a result of adolescents in America being rebellious towards their elders. Either way, there is a new form of slang added to each generation. As time passes, that slang becomes common and an acceptable (grammatically) part of the English language. In the 1930’s jazz musician Lester Young popularized the word “cool” and acknowledged it as a description for his music. During those times, any young person who used that word

Language has gradually advanced over many millions of years. Slang has developed, and other cultures languages and quirks have made their way in, and it has become one. Language has a way of shaping our identities, and personal cultures. It brings us together, and sometimes it even makes us move apart.