MORPHOLOGY/SEMANTICS

ACTIVITY...

THEY SAID WHAT?

 CHEUGY
SENTENCE : "HER LOW-RISE JEANS ARE SO CHEUGY"

DEFINITION : SOMETHING THAT IS OUTDATED; A

WORN-OFF TREND
 DEAD
SENTENCE : "THAT JOKE WAS SO FUNNY, I AM DEAD"

DEFINITION : TO FIGURATIVELY DIE OF LAUGHTER

 GOATED
SENTENCE : "HARRY POTTER IS A GOATED SERIES"

DEFINITION : SOMETHING OR SOMEONE THAT IS VERY GOOD AT

WHAT THEY DO (GREATEST OF ALL TIME + ED)
 GUCCI
SENTENCE : "DO YOU WANT TO GET SMOOTHIES LATER?"

"I'M GUCCI"

DEFINITION : GOOD, GOING WELL, COOL

 FIRE
SENTENCE : "YOUR OUTFIT IS FIRE TODAY"

DEFINITION : TRENDY, COOL, AMAZING

 GHOSTED
SENTENCE : "CAN YOU BELIEVE HE GHOSTED ME?"

DEFINITION : TO CEASE COMMUNICATION WITH

SOMEONE YOU WERE ROMANTICALLY
INVOLVED WITH
 KAREN
SENTENCE : "MY MOM ISN'T LETTING ME GO OUT THIS
WEEKEND. SHE CAN BE SUCH A KAREN"

DEFINITION : A TERM REFERENCING A RUDE, MIDDLE-

AGED WOMAN
 SHIP
SENTENCE : "I SHIP YOU AND AUSTIN"

DEFINITION : TO ADVOCATE FOR A PAIR OF

INDIVIDUALS TO END UP IN A
RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER
 NOOB
SENTENCE : "I TRIED TO PLAY CALL OF DUTY WITH CAM, BUT
HE IS A NOOB"

DEFINITION : SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT EXCEL AT

SOMETHING; AN AMATEUR IN NEED OF
HELP
 STAN
SENTENCE : "I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS, I STAN
CHARLI D'AMELIO"

DEFINITION : AN EXTREME FAN OF SOMEONE OR

SOMETHING
 SHOOK
SENTENCE : "DID YOU HEAR WHAT HAPPENED AT
MADDI'S PARTY? I WAS SHOOK"

DEFINITION : INCREDIBLY SHOCKED OR STUNNED


WHAT STRUCK YOU
ABOUT THE
LANGUAGE BEING
USED BY THE
TEENAGERS WHOM
YOU OBSERVED?
AS A TEENAGER MYSELF, I EXPECTED THAT
THIS ASSIGNMENT WOULD BE A LOT MORE
CHALLENGING THAN IT WOULD BE FOR MY
PEERS WHO ARE OLDER. I LIKE TO THINK THAT I
KNOW A PLETHORA OF TERMINOLOGY THAT
THE YOUNGER GENERATION UTILIZES, AS I AM
FROM SAID GENERATION. THIS DEFINITELY
PROVED TO BE CORRECT AS IT WAS
DIFFICULT FOR ME TO DECIPHER WORDS THAT
I HAD NOT HEARD OR USED PRIOR TO THIS
ASSIGNMENT. THE LANGUAGE THAT THE
YOUNGER GROUP THAT I OBSERVED DID NOT
SURPRISE ME. AN ABUNDANCE OF
COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE AND PROFANITY
WAS INCORPORATED IN AN ABUNDANCE OF
SENTENCES, AS I EXPECTED.
WHY DO TEENAGERS HAVE
THEIR OWN SET OF
VOCABULARY?
I BELIEVE THAT TEENAGERS HAVE THEIR OWN SET OF
VOCABULARY TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM THOSE WHO
ARE OLDER AND THOSE WHO ARE YOUNGER. AT THIS AGE,
MOST TEENAGERS THRIVE OFF OF WHAT IS CONSIDERED
“COOL” OR “POPULAR” TO THEIR OTHER PEERS AND WANT TO
FIT IN. IN THE DIDACTIC BOOK, TEEN TALK: THE LANGAUGE OF
ADOLESCENTS, THE AUTHOR EXPLAINS THAT THOSE IN THEIR
TEENS PLACE AN EXTREME “EMPHASIS ON PEER-GROUP
RELATIONSHIPS” (TAGLIAMONTE, PG. 2). WHEN DISCUSSING
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, WE ARE FOCUSING ON A
GROUP CONSISTING OF TWO OR MORE INDIVIDUALS,
WHEREAS INTRAPERSONAL FOCUSES ON ONE’S
RELATIONSHIP WITH THEMSELVES. BY UTILIZING CERTAIN
SLANG WORDS WITH OTHERS, YOU ARE SOLIDIFYING YOUR
PLACE IN THE GROUP (INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION) AS
WELL AS ENHANCING YOUR FEELING OF SELF-WORTH AND
POSSIBLY EVEN POPULARITY.
 WHAT I CAN DEFINITELY SAY THAT I RELATE TO THIS
COMPARISONS/C FEELING OF CONNECTION THAT COMES WITH
ONNECTIONS HAVING A SHARED LANGUAGE, EVEN NOW! I
STILL ENGAGE IN COLLOQUIAL
CAN YOU MAKE CONVERSATION, AND MY FRIENDS AND I TALK
TO YOUR OWN SIMILARLY TO ONE ANOTHER. WHILE MORE
MATURE THAN THE TEENAGERS THAT I
ADOLESCENT OBSERVED, I COULD DEFINITELY MAKE A
LINGUISTIC COMPARISON BETWEEN MYSELF AT THEIR
PRACTICES? AGE AND THEM IN THE PRESENT. IF I HAD TO
MAKE AN ASSUMPTION BASED ON MY OWN
DEVELOPMENT, I WOULD GUESS THAT THEIR
INCORPORATION OF SLANG TERMS IN THEIR
EVERYDAY LIFE WILL CONTINUE, BUT
DRASTICALLY LEVEL OFF AS THEY BECOME
MORE MATURE. LESS PROFANITY WILL BE
UTILIZED, AND MORE PHRASES THAT ARE
MORE WIDELY ACCEPTED BY OLDER
GENERATIONS WILL BE REFERENCED.

 HOW DO YOU CONNECT THIS ACTIVITY

(MORPHOLOGY/SEMANTICS IN PRACTICAL APPLICATION) TO
YOUR READINGS ABOUT MORPHOLOGY/SEMANTICS FROM A
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE?
DESPITE MY AGE, I WAS ABLE TO ACT AS AN OUTSIDER FOR THIS
LESSON AND CONNECT IDEOLOGIES OF
MORPHOLOGY/SEMANTICS THAT I HAVE LEARNED TO EVERYDAY
LIFE. FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE INFORMATIVE BOOK, THE STUDY OF
LANGUAGE, THE AUTHOR TOUCHES ON ACRONYMS, WHICH ARE
SEPARATE WORDS FORMED FROM THE FIRST LETTER OF MULTIPLE
WORDS (YULE, PG. 61). IN MY FINDINGS, GOAT IS EQUIVALENT TO
GREATEST OF ALL TIME, AN ACRONYM THAT I FOUND IS COMMONLY
USED BY THE YOUNGER GENERATION. THIS SAME WORD, “GOAT”
CAN BE CHANGED INTO “GOATED” THROUGH THE USE OF
MORPHEMES, OR THE SMALLER UNITS OF A WORD (YULE, PG. 73).
WHILE GOAT IS STILL PRESENT, WE ADD THE “ED” TO DEMONSTRATE
PAST TENSE. WITH ALL OF THIS IN MIND, IT IS EVIDENT THAT
LANGUAGE IS EVER-CHANGING. THERE ARE CONSTANTLY NEW
PHRASES THAT ARE MORE SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE WITH YOUNGER
CROWDS THAN THE LAST, AND I WOULD ARGUE THAT IS DUE TO THE
CONSTANT DESIRE TO BE ACCEPTED BY PEERS.
 IN MY FUTURE CLASSROOM, I WILL NOT
PLACE JUDGMENT ON THOSE WHO
HOW WILL YOU APPLY HOLD A MORE SLANG-FORWARD
THIS INFORMATION IN DICTION, BUT I WILL ALSO TEACH
YOUR FUTURE COLLOQUIALISM IN A
CLASSROOM? DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE
WAY. I COULD SHARE THE WORDS
THAT WERE DEEMED COOL WHEN I
WAS THEIR AGE, BUT FOLLOW THAT UP
WITH THE APPARENT SHIFT IN
LANGUAGE.

DOES THIS WHILE I CANNOT SAY THAT I

LEARNING CHANGE NECESSARILY JUDGED THOSE WHO
THE WAY THAT YOU UTILIZED SLANG BEFORE, AS I STILL
WILL APPROACH DO, I CAN DEFINITELY SEE HOW THIS
STUDENTS FROM A LESSON HAS MADE ME APPRECIATE
LINGUISTIC THE LANGUAGE PHASES MOST OF US
PERSPECTIVE? ENDURE THROUGHOUT
ADOLESCENCE.
 REFERENCES

Tagliamonte, S. (2016). Teen talk: the language of adolescents. Cambridge University Press.

Yule, G. (2017). The study of language. Cambridge University Press.