German youth language

German youth language or Youth Communication (Template:Lang-de) is a term used to describe the linguistic patterns and characteristics used by various groups of adolescents at different ages, time periods, and locations in Germany. According to Helmut Glück (2005), the term is not strictly defined. Heinrich Löffler refers to Jugendsprache as a transitory non-standard language (“Lebensalter-Sprache”: “age-language”) with attention to the time limitation of the usage of these linguistic patterns. In German and West European philology, Jugendsprache is considered to be both a non-standard language, and a complex subform of the standard language. It is defined as the style of a certain group of adolescents. These linguistic characteristics and patterns can be further differentiated into typical or atypical linguistic patterns found in youth communication. Orality and informal language are characteristics of German youth language. Exaggerations and emphasis, humour, irony and playfulness, expressivity and emotionality are typical elements of adolescent language as well.

Types of youth language

There are different forms of German youth language, for example Comicdeutsch (German comic language), school language, Denglisch, army slang, university student language, drug scene jargon, graffiti jargon, hip-hop jargon, and Internet jargon. Not all of these sub-forms are limited to teenage speech, however, teenagers are the main group to use these particular forms of expression, mainly in the field of vocabulary. Jugendsprache is manifested on different linguistic levels, such as phonetics, graphemics, morphosyntax and stylistics. Ethnic elements (eg. Balkan-slang, Turkish-German) have become a part of German youth language over the last years, especially in urban spaces. These elements can be found in individual expressions and phrases, as well as in phonetics and gestures.

Characteristics of youth language

There is no official or standard youth language. Forms of expression emerge in communications within groups, as a result, language takes different forms depending on the different geographic, social and historical context. Researchers argue that the main function of youth language is setting up boundaries to the adult world and consolidating the identity of every speaker in the group. Functions of youth language also include the search for identity, particularly in relation to roles and status in society, by means of using a secret language as an emotionally expressive method of communication, and as a naming function of the realities that exist in contexts of the world of adolescents.

Features

Vocabulary and stylistics (exaggeration, intensification, wordplay, irony, provocation) are characteristic of youth language. The alternative usage of vocabulary inspired researchers to publish a number of dictionaries, which often result in a cliched image of youth language that barely conforms to the way young people speak . Most expressions are short-lived, for example, ‘knorke’ was once used an expression of high approval. Later, ‘astrein’, ‘cool’, ‘nice’ or ‘geil’, often enriched with further emphatic forms (‘oberaffengeil’), became a part of German youth language.. Because of the transitory nature of these expressions, the dictionaries are frequently updated or new ones are published, of which linguists in the field are critical.

Metaphors and other imaginative forms of expression are frequently used by speakers of youth language, e.g. “natural woolly socks” for "hairy legs”. Youth language can also be very provocative and offensive. Abbreviations are another characteristic of youth language, such as “so’nem” instead of “so einem”. Anglicisms are also frequently used, for example, “cool” is typical not only for youth language but in the meantime is also used in informal or non-standard language. Filler words such as “und so” (and so on), interjections and hedges (e.g. “irgendwie”) are typical of youth language as well. The use of acronyms, such as "YOLO" ('You only live once'), has increased over the past years. Syntactic variations in spoken language include repetitions, ellipsis, word order variation and incomplete sentences.

See also

• Jargon
• Kanak Sprak

Sources

• Androutsopoulos, Jannis (2000): Vom Mainstream-Radio bis zu den Skatermagazinen. Jugendmedien sprachwissenschaftlich betrachtet. Jugend und Medien. (Hg. vom JFF – Institut für Medienpädagogik in Forschung und Praxis). medien+erziehung 44/4. München, 229–235.
• Augenstein, Susanne (1998): Funktionen von Jugendsprache in Gesprächen Jugendlicher mit Erwachsenen. In: Androutsopoulos, Jannis: Jugendsprache. Langue des jeunes. Youth language. Linguistische und soziolinguistische Perspektiven. Frankfurt/Main (u. a.), 167–195.
• Hadumod Bußmann (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft. 3. aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage. Kröner, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-520-45203-0 (Artikel: Jugendsprache).
• Helmut Glück (Hrsg.), unter Mitarbeit von Friederike Schmöe: Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 3., neu bearbeitete Auflage. Metzler, Stuttgart/Weimar 2005, ISBN 3-476-02056-8 (Stichwort: „Jugendsprache“).
• Helmut Henne: Jugend und ihre Sprache. Darstellung, Materialien, Kritik. de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1986. ISBN 3-11-010967-0.
• Theodor Lewandowski: Linguistisches Wörterbuch. 4., neu bearbeitete Aufl. Quelle & Meyer, Heidelberg 1985. ISBN 3-494-02050-7. Artikel: Jugendsprache.
• Eva Neuland: Jugendsprache in der Diskussion: Meinungen, Ergebnisse, Folgerungen. In: Rudolf Hoberg, Karin Eichhoff-Cyrus (Hrsg.): Die deutsche Sprache zur Jahrtausendwende. Sprachkultur oder Sprachverfall? Dudenverlag, Mannheim/ Leipzig/ Wien/ Zürich 2000, ISBN 3-411-70601-5, S. 107–123.
• Eva Neuland: Jugendsprache. Eine Einführung. A. Francke Verlag (UTB für Wissenschaft), Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8252-2397-7; 2. überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage, 2018, ISBN 978-3-8252-4924-3.