THE EFFECT OF GENERATION GAP ON USING LANGUAGE

Alisha Nur Shahila/190705092

English literature, faculty of culture, university of sumatera utara
Email :

ABSTRACT
A generation gap is a divergence in opinion between two generations over beliefs, politics, or morals.
The term "generation gap" is now commonly used to describe a perceived divide between younger
people and their parents or grandparents. The sociological hypothesis of a generation gap first
surfaced in the 1960s, when the younger generation (after known as Baby Boomers) appeared to
contradict everything their parents had previously thought in terms of music, values, and other
topics.This articles uses a qualitative approach and the type is descriptive. Descriptive type is a type
that is used to describe and interpret objects according to what they are. using observation Data
Collection Techniques. Observation is research or direct observation of the field to obtain
information and find out the problems being studied.In this research eight topics are introduced and
it is based on Lenhart and Fox (2009) in their conversation. The topics includes expression of their
current mood and activities, work/studies, family& friends, food, news, politics, sports and sharing
quotes. The major difference is the expression topic by generation gap’s were about expression of
their mood and showed that they were expressing themselves.Some blame inappropriate writing on
social media and texting. After all, everyone knows what "In addition, youngsters may share
information via social media that bosses may believe is confidential. Language separates
generations.
Keyword : generation gap, language,slang,language broke

A. INTRODUCTION
A generation gap is a divergence in opinion between two generations over beliefs,
politics, or morals. The term "generation gap" is now commonly used to describe a perceived
divide between younger people and their parents or grandparents. The sociological hypothesis
of a generation gap first surfaced in the 1960s, when the younger generation (after known as
Baby Boomers) appeared to contradict everything their parents had previously thought in
terms of music, values, and other topics.
The dilemma is most obvious in our rapidly changing cities. Gentrification,
migration, urban transience, digitization, and housing bubbles have all played a role. Many
older people have deep roots in their communities but few connections, whereas many young
people have hundreds of connections but no roots in their communities. Young and old are
socially divided in the same way as they are financially divided. Ending age discrimination is
critical, and it would remind us of how much we have in common. We can demonstrate that
people from across perceived divides have a lot to gain from each other by spending time
 with people who are not like us — people whose age, life experiences, class, and worldviews
may differ significantly from our own.
The disparities in opinions expressed by people of two generations are referred to as a
generation gap. A generation gap is a term that describes the disparities in actions, opinions,
and tastes between younger and older generations in terms of politics, morality, and other
topics. While generation disparities have existed throughout history, the extent of these
differences has expanded in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Since the rise of
generation gaps, sociologists have coined the term "institutional age segregation" and split a
person's life into three stages: childhood, middle age, and retirement.
Of course, The era in which you were born and grew up has an impact on your
worldview; if you served in a war or lost family during the Blitz, this has an impact. And, if
you were born in the 1990s or later, you were raised in a world where technology was
pervasive. While there is undoubtedly a widening generational divide, criticism that presents
a picture of different generations competing economically lacks the richness of reality. While
there are many intergenerational disparities, there are also areas of overlap. Both groups strive
to have good connections, be healthy, learn new things, and be self-sufficient. The domination
of new technologies has both older and younger people feeling overwhelmed. Almost eight
out of ten people between the ages of 18 and 65 want life to slow down.

B. LITERATURE REVIEW
1. What is generation gap
The generation gap is a phenomenon caused by differences in attitudes between
individuals who come from different age groups and ultimately creates a 'distance' between
them (seruni,2018). The considerations and studies of generational differences originate from
the "Theory of Generations” by Karl Mannheim (1928, 1952). Student activism in the 1960s
and the 1970s brought the term “generation gap” to the public consciousness. With four
generations of people currently in the workforce (Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials,
Generation Z), the question of potential generational differences is relevant and deserves
attention as evidenced by a large number of recent publications, both academia as well as in
the popular press. Generational literature using nomenclature (Strauss & Howe, 1992; Zemke
et al., 1999). This group is based on the idea that every generations share a different set of
values and attitudes due to moments and environments determine together. This article
focuses on how gap generation using and make some affect of language.

2. Language use
The distinctions in their language usage can be discerned. The generation gap has
resulted in a language divide that can be difficult to bridge. This is a problem that affects
 everyone in society, causing problems with day-to-day communication at home, at work, and
in schools. As new generations seek to distinguish themselves from past generations, they
develop new language and slang, allowing one generation to distinguish itself from the
preceding. This is a clear generational divide that we observe every day. Man's most
important symbol is his language and through this language, he defines his reality (ramaa
prasad, 1992).

C. METHODOLOGY
This articles uses a qualitative approach and the type is descriptive. Descriptive type
is a type that is used to describe and interpret objects according to what they are. using
observation Data Collection Techniques. Observation is research or direct observation of the
field to obtain information and find out the problems being studied. Observations, according
to the reality that occurs in the field can be interpreted with careful and precise words what is
observed, recorded it then manages it and researched it in a scientific way. In this case the
researcher conducts research by collecting data directly to the research site, through field
observations of the activities to be carried out to obtain written data that is considered
relevant. 

D. DISCUSSION
1. How gap generation Language Changes Throughout Our Lives
One big cause of generational language gaps is that an individual’s language habits
change throughout their lives, which is referred to in the linguistic community as age-grading.
There are a huge number of factors that contribute to how we speak, so it should be noted that
any general statements about language are one part of a much larger story. While everyone is
different, there is a general pattern to how a person’s language changes throughout their lives,
and it’s mostly because of social factors. This is still an area that’s being heavily researched,
but linguist Penny Eckert created a framework that is still used as a source for linguistic age
research. It is limited in that it applies mostly to white, middle- and upper-class people, but
that is a problem that is now being addressed.
To look at the age-grading phenomenon, we’ll use the stable variable -ing/-in’ as an
example. The variable is “stable” because gerunds like “working” have been pronounced as
both “working” (more prestigious) and “workin’” (less prestigious) for hundreds of years.
People who are speaking Standard English use the former, while the latter is nonstandard.
1. Early Childhood (birth to 12 years old)
In the early days of your life, you’re pretty conservative. Well, you’re linguistically
conservative at least. You learn your language from a very small group of people, with
parents generally contributing the most to your development. Because your parents are likely
in young adulthood, they will be conservative (more on that shortly), and you will take after
them for now. Here, you’re more likely to pronounce, or at least try to pronounce, “-ing”
when using a gerund. This depends on your parents, of course, but this is the general trend.

2. Adolescence (13 to 22 years old)

Adolescence is when your identity is shaped, and that includes your language. This is
also when you rebel against the conservatism of adults, and so will tend to pronounce gerund
endings as -in’. The way you speak technically has “less prestige,” which just means that you
don’t adhere as closely to Standard English as others do. Though these nonstandard forms
lack prestige in, say, an office, they do have prestige among your social group. Adolescents
enforce each other’s nonstandard language as a way of demonstrating belonging to a group.

3. Adulthood (23 to 50 years old)

As you age, you’re generally pressured back into Standard English. The very idea of
adulthood is a social construct, so it is social constructs that shape your speech. Polite society
decided that standard language is an important part of showing that you’re an “adult,” and
that’s almost all there is to it. Nonstandard forms are not welcome in the working world
(definitely not the workin’ world).

4. Late Adulthood (51 years old and up)

As you get older and you no longer have to signal to others that you’re a serious
employee by using Standard English, you become less conservative again. This doesn’t mean
you’ll start talking like teenagers, but it does mean your speech will become more casual in
retirement.

B. Linguistically Innovative Adolescents

The way someone’s language changes throughout their life provides some insight into
how generations grow apart in the way they speak, but the measure of conservatism is just
one factor. What is also important is that young people are the most linguistically innovative
of any age group. Adolescence is the time when people try to define themselves, and
experimenting with language is part of that.
 The most apparent difference between older and younger people is slang. Take, for
example, “on fleek,” a phrase that seemed to come completely out of the blue from a teenage
girl’s video on Vine. The original Urban Dictionary definition was posted in 2003 for the
word “fleek,” but the term didn’t explode until the video was posted in 2014.

Slang often doesn’t have a lasting impact on language, however. There’s a reason we
don’t say “groovy” or “horsefeathers” anymore. Blaming slang for the destruction of
language is pretty pointless, then. While they can persist within certain groups, slang terms
almost never have an impact on Standard English.

Language does change, however, and young people are the drivers of it. These
changes are just more likely to happen in the realms of grammar and pronunciation. The
gradual fall of “whom” from use has been led by younger people who never bothered to learn
when it’s used. Same goes for the split infinitive, though that started as an arbitrary rule. As
research shows, language evolution is a random process, where nothing gets objectively
“better” or “worse.” The youths lead the change, but blaming them for change is kind of like
blaming the sun when it’s too hot out.

E. FINDINGS/RESULTS
1. Topics posted by gap generation in daily activity
In this research eight topics are introduced and it is based on Lenhart and Fox (2009)
in their conversation. The topics includes expression of their current mood and activities,
work/studies, family& friends, food, news, politics, sports and sharing quotes. The major
difference is the expression topic by generation gap’s were about expression of their mood
and showed that they were expressing themselves. Lenhart and Fox (2009) also had a similar
result as they said that youngsters are more likely to update their mood by using slang than
the older generation.
The researcher approached a younger colleague at work and asked him, "What's up,
doc?" and his subject had no idea what I was talking about. This got the researcher to
thinking about expressions that may know that people from younger generations may never
have heard.
For example, it’s like never have heard anyone from the younger generations utter
phrases such as: "Beggars can't be choosers," "laughing stock" and "the salt of the earth."
remember distinctly where I had heard those expressions: from my parents. These phrases,
and those like them, are understood and used by many people of my generation. My guess is
that expressions like these will soon be retired. They will not be used anymore and their
meanings will fade into obscurity.
 Today's youth use expressions that may have little meaning to me or may be
offensive. Forgive me if the following may offend you. For youngsters, "that sucks" means
that something is disagreeable or unfortunate. To me, this expression is extremely distasteful
and I avoid its use. I doubt if any of the younger generations have the same feelings about the
expression that I or others my age may have. Younger employees actually may question why
someone may believe that certain words are not appropriate for professional business uses.

However, the problem of uses and misuses of language becomes magnified when
language is not adapted to expected uses. Today's email writers need to be careful how they
express themselves. When writing to their bosses, younger email writers may use language
they would use with their friends. Given that bosses typically are older than younger
employees, these superiors may not consider some language appropriate in a professional
environment.

Some blame inappropriate writing on social media and texting. After all, everyone knows
what "In addition, youngsters may share information via social media that bosses may believe
is confidential. Language separates generations.

F. CONCLUSION
A generation gap is a divergence in opinion between two generations over beliefs,
politics, or morals.The term "generation gap" is now commonly used to describe a perceived
divide between younger people and their parents or grandparents.The sociological hypothesis
of a generation gap first surfaced in the 1960s, when the younger generation (after known as
Baby Boomers) appeared to contradict everything their parents had previously thought in
terms of music, values, and other topics. We can demonstrate that people from across
perceived divides have a lot to gain from each other by spending time with people who are
not like us — people whose age, life experiences, class, and worldviews may differ
significantly from our own.The disparities in opinions expressed by people of two generations
are referred to as a generation gap.
This article focuses on how gap generation using and make some affect of language.
The generation gap has resulted in a language divide that can be difficult to bridge. As new
generations seek to distinguish themselves from past generations, they develop new language
and slang, allowing one generation to distinguish itself from the preceding. How gap
generation Language Changes Throughout Our Lives One big cause of generational language
gaps is that an individual’s language habits change throughout their lives, which is referred to
in the linguistic community as age-grading.
REFERENCE
Lenhart and Fox (2009) ,Understanding and Changing Older Adults' Perceptions and
Learning of Social Media.
Ramaa Prasad.(1992). Generation Gap, a Sociological Study of Inter-generational Conflicts.
Mittal Publications. ISBN 978-81-7099-351-3.
Strauss, W., & Howe, N. (1992). Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to
2069. HarperCollins Publishers.\
Strauss, W., & Howe, N. (2009). The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us
about America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny. Three Rivers Press.\
Zemke, R., Raines, C., & Filipczak, B. (1999). Generations at work: managing the clash of
veterans, boomers, xers, and nexters in your workplace. Amacom Press