Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,0, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Sociolinguistics: language variation and change, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction In September 2010 a huge debate started in Britain after the famous actress Emma Thompson had given an interview for the BBC during which she complained heavily about the language of teenagers. “I went to give a talk at my old school and the girls were all doing their ‘likes’ and ‘innit’ and ‘it ain’ts’, which drives me insane”1, she said indignantly. Her statement probably mirrors what the majority of adults think of the language used by teenagers today. “Parents and teachers often have a critical and negative attitude towards adolescent language, judging it as ‘sloppy’ and attempting to correct vernacular features such as local accents, slang words, discourse particles or code-mixing.” (Androutsopoulos 2005: 1501) This debate about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of vernacular language use traces back to the very roots of modern sociolinguistics. The American linguist William Labov was the first who conducted several quantitative studies concerning language variation in the 1960s (cf. Becker & Bieswanger 2006: 193). He tried to find out how the social background of speakers influences their language use, and why people decide to use either standard or non-standard language. Concluding from his studies, he developed the concept of language prestige, which assumes that standard forms have obvious (overt) prestige, whereas non-standard forms of language have a kind of hidden (covert) prestige among its speakers (cf. Becker & Bieswanger 2006: 197). So he argued that speakers do not merely use non-standard forms of language because they are uneducated or not able to use the standard form, but because the non-standard form carries symbolic or indexical meaning that the speakers want to draw on. According to that, language choice can be used to express identity or to mark group membership. Taking Labov’s concept into consideration, contemporary teenage language should not be solely interpreted as a sign of an increasing lack of education or language decay. On the contrary, it is an expression of children’s growing identity that seeks for separation from the adult world. “Adolescence is a turning-point in life, as the individual matures both physically and cognitively, and thus has a direct influence on language acquisition and development.” (Martinez 2011a: 5)

This book documents the changing realities in the fields of linguistics, literature and culture in Asia, resulting from globalization, modernisation and rapid technological development. It consists of sixteen essays by academics and researchers around the world, reflecting on the interface between the global and the local, and its impact on the local and regional languages, literatures and cultures of Asia. This scenario, which exemplifies language contact in action, is captured by the book mainly to demonstrate that linguistic negotiations, appropriations and indeed changes are not one-way. As such, their implications on language use, language choice, language policy and planning, literacy and pedagogy, identity, subjectivity and culture need to be closely examined. The uniqueness of this book lies in its attempt to showcase original research in a variety of multicultural settings. Its multi- and cross-disciplinary approach will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers from diverse backgrounds. This book will serve as a useful reference that is both scholarly and informative for researchers as well as academics in the fields of linguistics, literature and culture.

How do today's teenagers talk? What are the distinguishing features of their style of language, and what do they tell us about the English language more generally? Drawing on a huge corpus of examples collected over a fifteen-year period, Sali A. Tagliamonte undertakes a detailed study of adolescents' language and argues that it acts as a 'bellwether' for the future of the English language. Teenagers are often accused of 'lowering the standards' of the English language by the way they talk and text. From spoken words - 'like', 'so', 'just', and 'stuff' - to abbreviated expressions used online, this fascinating book puts young people's language under the microscope, examining and demystifying the origins of new words, and tracking how they vary according to gender, geographical location, and social circumstances. Highly topical and full of new insights, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in how teenagers talk.

Showing how children use media today, this volume considers the ways in which technologies will impact their development.

Surveys the online social habits of American teens and analyzes the role technology and social media plays in their lives, examining common misconceptions about such topics as identity, privacy, danger, and bullying.

This ethnographic study of adolescent social structure in a Michigan high school shows how the school's institutional environment fosters the formation of opposed class cultures in the student population, which in turn serve as a social tracking system.

In this cutting-edge anthology, contributors examine the diverse ways in which girls and young women across a variety of ethnic, socio-economic, and national backgounds use digital technology in their everyday lives. They explore identity development, how young women interact with technology, and how race, class, and identity influence game play.