age

• Penelope Eckert (1998) stated that 'Age is a sociolinguistic variable', meaning that language is affected by social factors
• Eckert proposed three concepts of age:

  • Chronological age: Number of years since birth
  • Biological age: Physical maturity, e.g. puberty
  • Social age: Life events such as marriage and having children
• Social age is most likely to have the largest impact after the age of 18
• Anna-Brita Stenstrom (2002) proposed distinct features of teenage talk:

  • Irregular turn-taking
  • Overlaps
  • Indistinct articulation
  • Word shortening
  • Teasing / name calling
  • Verbal dueling
  • Slang
  • Taboo topics
  • Language mixing
• Gary Ives (2010's) asked 63 teenagers whether they thought that their age affected their language and speech; 100% said yes
• Ives proposed that language becomes more standard with age, becoming more posh and less swearing
• Vivian de Klerk (2005) claimed that young people seek to create identities and have the freedom to 'challenge linguistic norms'
• Teens want to look 'modern' and 'cool' as well as different, and need to belong to a distinctive group

  • Not all teenagers are alike, they are not a homogeneous group
• Zimmerman and West (2009) argue that Graffiti, music, media, and communication influence teen-speak