by Megan Pierce

Created on: June 22, 2009

The English language is always changing. In today's culture of the United States, many Americans have adopted a revolutionized speaking method in their every day conversations. This new generation of young people has taken the spoken aspect of linguistics and twisted it into an easier way to communicate, thus demonstrating the use of poor grammar.

Different regions of the United States have separate meanings for the same word. For example, in Wisconsin a drinking fountain is commonly known as a bubbler. Distinctive cultures have also brought unique dialects which also affect the use of slang and word meaning in conversation. The use of slang has derailed the range of vocabulary as American speakers have become lazy in conversations, and their grammatically incorrect words have recently found a place in the English dictionary. Words such as bling-bling, dope and phat have been coined by famous rappers and lyricists to be used in their music, which can also reflect on the cultural aspect of slang usage. Slang can sometime contribute to racism, sexism, and other degrading forms of discrimination as a result of ethnic background.

The use of the Internet and text messaging has also added to the rise of slang usage in today's society. According to Jessica Lee, a high school student whose article on slang appeared on Associated Content, says that it is not surprising that as these programs offer the most efficient and easy ways to express ourselves, we have thus become increasingly lazy.

The grammatical properties of slang can be clearly defined by many linguists as a sloppy form of spoken communication. Depending on the region the speaker is from, and the dialect by which he or she speaks with, slang can be lexically ambiguous. For example, the phrase pretty fly for a white guy has ambiguity because the word fly has more than one meaning, even though it is used incorrectly in the sentence. Speaker-reference is another pragmatic property that is demonstrated by the use of slang because it varies between the speaker and the context. Speaker-reference is defined by Frank Parker and Kathryn Riley as what the speaker is referring to by using some linguistic expression. Ambiguity is the biggest problem with slang and jargon, because it denotes more than one meaning. There is a specific linguistic process in which words are created or formed off of another established term. Some terms of slang such as emo, jap, or geek exhibit the characteristic of stereotyping, which is a common semantic property. Pragmatically, the use of slang is a process that generates hyperbole, metaphor, neologisms, and idioms; it can only be defined by lexical ambiguity. Slang usage can also be either obsolete or mainstream, with grammatical properties of informality.

The development of common slang can be contributed to the rise of ethnic distinctiveness and technology. Speakers of the English language will always be looking for an easier, quicker, shorter way to communicate verbally, and the correct usage of spoken language will soon be replaced by informal slang.

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