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In so many ways slang is often used by everyone though it is considered informal but the new generation nowadays cannot live without it especially with the development of social media teenagers tend to use slang in programs such as “twitter, instagram, facebook, tumblr”. On twitter this particular app allows people to write only 120 words thus they will be obliged to cut down some words and blend in lots of words together in order to satisfy this certain criteria, twitter is far-most the popular app out there that people of all age are using, they type and write whatever they want in a daily bases therefore by time we can find them creating their own type of “texting”. On the other hand the author says “When it is, as on ceremonial occasions such as inaugurating or burying public officials, the speakers usually read from a prepared written text” it is important to satisfy all types of people that use different dialects so when it comes to important occasions such as the ones the author talked about people must and should stick to standard/formal English it is more respective.
In another book that I’ve found called “Slang and Sociability: In-Group Language among college students” the author Eble, Connie identifies Slang as “Slang changes the level of discourse in the direction of informality. In contrasts stylistically with a general vocabulary that reveals little about the speaker or the speaker’s attitudes toward the subject matter or audience.” He then gives us some examples about how slang is generated, in the following sentences the author substituted a slang word in the examples thus when we use a slang word the dialect itself becomes “informal”.
• We left at three o’clock.
• We split at three o’clock
• The president appeared uninformed about the bill.
• The president appeared clueless about the bill.
In an article that I’ve found called “A socioliguistic study of American Slang” by Zohou, Yanchun; Fan, Yanhong the authors stated that “American slang as one part of Americanism will become even more international as the development of USA and American English. Although many intelligent people consider slang is of lower acceptability in society, the trend is more obvious that the use of slang expressions in movies, television, newspapers, and magazines is noticeably increasing.” Standard English is day by day vanishing from the American world, Americans tend to talk in an informal way just to go with the trend and to use words that are invented from films, music and even the fashion industry that’s why filmmakers tend to use words, phrases and slangy dialects in their films to just keep up with the global trend, a trend that is eliminating the usage of standard English and bringing up a whole new concept of language usage that is “Slang”.
A question was then raised in that book the author says, “ Bad English is hard to define. One way is simply to say that it is English that doesn’t follow the rules. That of course raises a new question. What do we mean by the rules of a language?” It is like when we use syntax to analyze a sentence and break it down to learn more about the verbs, nouns, pronouns, prepositions etc. as for Pragmatics we use a different type of analyzing we do not use the same “rules” that syntax uses, basically pragmatics follows principles that is what makes us know exactly the real meaning in a sentence because in pragmatics we look at the text as a whole paying more attention to the context, but when people talk they tend to speak in a much more easier way away from rules their language is much more smoother and “short” that’s why such type of dialects existed they see “slang” as the easiest way to communicate away from rules and standard English, as the author says, “The idea of following a rule is so deeply associated with correct behavior that it is tempting to think of rules as applying only to formal language and to view informal language as being without rules or being lax about them. But informal speech obeys rules as well.”.
In a book that I’ve found called “Bad Language: Are Some Words Better than Others?” the author of the book starts the first chapter by saying “What does the phrase “bad language” mean to you? Perhaps you think of swearing or slang. Is it bad language to curse if you hit your thumb with a hammer?” he starts introducing the elements for making a bad language the way it is and how our usage makes it “bad or good” he then tells us that people sometimes refer to ethnic dialects as bad/broken English, for instance it is what we have here in Kuwait, Asians and Indians who’re the majority of workers do speak English but in a different dialect and it is sometimes considered broken English that people find it irritating and just bad. In that book the author refers to the southerners and their accents by saying “Texas writer Molly Ivins, for example, once suggested that to Northerners “a Southern accent is both ignorant and racist.” It is not only the usage of words and “slang” it is also the accent itself that creates both good and bad English but also who are we to decide that? After all we’re not native speakers.
As we said earlier people use different types of dialects we can see those who live in metropolitan cities Like New York they tend to speak in a slang way, actually the beginning of the “slang” way of talking first started in the united states when the economic boost reached the country and lots of people started to migrate to this state due to the fact that it became one of the most powerful places on earth. In a book that I’ve found called “City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech” the author discussed the same issue by saying that “Slang and other popular speech yield their own special picture of New York and more generally of other large American cities.” People started cutting out some phrases, using symbols, metaphors and also they started inventing their brand new language that is “slang”. “ I don’t know” is considered as a standard English but as for the Americans the ones who invented the “slang” they replaced this sentence with “ I dunno” as you can see dunno has no meaning but in a way it is a short form of “don’t know” also “whateva” this is a short form of “whatever” and it is being used by so many to describe what they’re feeling and in another sense they often use this particular phrase to escape confrontation or to dismiss an unwanted dialogue.
The research is grounded about people’s usage of language that depended on the analysis of secondary data about whether people prefer to talk in a “slangy” way or more formal “standard English”. The Quantitative approach is used to analyze the data that I’ve gathered about people’s choices in the interviews that I’ve conducted. I’ve interviewed 3 people and asked them 4 questions about their usage of language and got their answers back. The questions were about the way they talk with strangers and people they know, how much they use slang in their daily dialects? What side they’re on? Are they with the fact that slang is making their life easier or they prefer talking in Standard English and why? , Why they choose this certain side? And why they didn’t choose the other side?
a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people.
"grass is slang for marijuana"
Here are the questions that I’ve asked some of the students here at GUST and I will be choosing the most common answer and write it down along with the most answered questions.
1. How often do you use slang in your daily conversations?
People answered; A LOT!
After that I asked a rhetorical question:
2. What are the words that you often use that is considered part of “Slang”?
Some answered: the word whateva is one of the words that are repeated in their daily conversations.
Others said: The word IDK/I dunno that is a short form of I don’t know
3. How often do you use Standard English? Or do you use it at all?
The majority answered: occasionally, when writing an essay or a research paper and almost never.
4. Do you use Slang in social media? And in what apps do you use it the most?
The majority answered: of course we do and especially on twitter and whatsapp because it has to do with writing.
the form of the English language widely accepted as the usual correct form.
"children often use native forms at home and speak standard English at school"
Chloupek, Jan, and Jiří Nekvapil. Studies in Functional Stylistics. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins Pub., 1993. Print.
Battistella, Edwin L. Bad Language: Are Some Words Better than Others? Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.
Allen, Irving L. The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech. New York: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.
Eble, Connie. Slang and Sociability: In-group Language among College Students. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina, 1996. Print.
Zhou, Y., & Fan, Y. (2013). A sociolinguistic study of american slang. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(12), 2209-2213. Retrieved from http://library.gust.edu.kw:2048/docview/1476261083?accountid=29259
From the beginning of time and when people started using English as a language it was at first a spoken standard English, people used it properly especially during the medieval era, English was not only standard but also formal lots of phrases were used then to describe people’s social status and to address those who are in power but such phrases isn’t being used anymore nowadays, in fact they were replaced with a new form of language I must say, some sort of a different dialect perhaps? That is called “Slang”. People started using slang to communicate with each other in a more direct way and straightforward so they tend to blend words with each other forming new types of words also they cut some words and phrases just to avoid longer conversations. Slang is often used by the younger generation the generation of social media; twitter, instagram, tumblr, facebook etc, that is why in this research I will be gathering some information about people’s usage of Slang, how often do they use it and do they use standard English?
From what I’ve gathered from information and read, I believe that the usage of standard English is highly appreciated in the whole world, after all it is the formal way to write, to speak and even to communicate, but people nowadays tend to use slang to make their conversations doesn’t last longer they choose to speak their own way rather than sticking to rules, being formal and also being indirect. Talking in a formal way is considered nowadays for inaugurated events, occasions and presidential speeches it is not being looked at as a way to communicate in a daily basis that’s why people use slang because it is much more easier and they can be themselves when they communicate to each other, so slang has to do with their social status as well as their level of education those who communicate in that same level share lots of things in common so they know what they’re talking about although it is not formal but it is more convenient to them. Slang is considered broken English to so many people and even ethnic dialects as well but whom we are to judge a language like the English language after all we are only learning half of it and still learning until this very moment.
This research is about people’s usage of language whether its “slang” or
“formal” and the factors that make them use such mechanisms. It includes an introduction about the definition of Slang and people’s usage of formal English
“standard English” and the differences between them. As for the literature review it will be based on exploring in depth information about the usage of language and also analyzing the factors and arguments of both sides. Furthermore a comparison between both usages of the language and their factors along with the facts that supports both usages which one is being used more than the other Slang or Formal. I will then explain the methodology that is used in the research along with it the interviews and that I’ve conducted with several people. As a final point I will be analyzing the interviews’ responses and then state my opinion about the topic.