German youth language

Youth language or youth communication is a term used to describe the linguistic patterns and characteristics used by various groups at different ages, time periods and locations. 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”) specifically with attention to the time limitation of linguistic patterns in one’s life. In German and West European philology Jugendsprache is considered to be not only a non-standard language but a complex subform of the base language, and is specifically defined as the style of a certain group of adolescents. These linguistic characteristics and patterns can be further differentiated into typical or unique linguistic patterns found in youth communication. As a trend, linguistic elements and patterns of Jugendsprache are oftentimes characteristics of orality, informal language and group communication (Neuland 2008). Exaggerations and emphasis, humour, irony and playfulness, expressivity and emotionality are typical elements of adolescent language use.

Contents

1. Types of youth language
2. Characteristics of youth language
3. Features
4. See also
5. Sources
6. References
7. Weblinks

Types of youth language

Over time, a series of terms developed as different forms of Jugendsprache; among them, one can find Comicdeutsch (German comic language), school language, Denglisch, army slang, university student language, drug scene jargon, graffiti jargon, hip-hop jargon and Internet jargon. These terms are not at all limited to teenage speech, but they are concerned with their particular form of expression, mainly in the field of vocabulary. However, Jugendsprache is manifested on different linguistic levels, such as phonetics, graphematics and morphosyntax, as well as in stylistics. Ethnic elements from teenagers with a migration background (eg. Balkan-slang, Turkish-German) have emerged 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

First of all it should be noted that there is no standard youth language. Forms of expression emerge in the communication within a group and therefore the language takes different forms depending on the different geographic, social and historical context. Researchers maintain that the main function of youth language is to set up boundaries to the adult world and additionally to consolidate the identity of every speaker with the group. Functions of youth language also include the search for identity in relation to roles and status in society, it serves as a secret language, it is emotionally expressive and has a a naming function of the realities that exist in the context of the world of young people.

Features

Vocabulary and stylistics (exaggeration, intensification, word play, irony, provocation) are particularly characteristic of youth language. The alternative vocabulary has inspired researchers to conceive a number of dictionaries, which, however, produce 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 came ‘astrein’, ‘cool’, ‘nice’ or even ‘geil’, often enriched with further emphatic forms (‘oberaffengeil’). For this reason the dictionaries are frequently updated or new ones are published, which, however, linguists in the field are critical of.

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, but not as often as people think, 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 usage 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.