1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

“Language is a process of free creation; its laws and

principles are fixed, but the manner in which the
principles of generation are used is free and infinitely
varied. Even the interpretation and the use of words
involves a process of free creation.”
-Noam Chomsky

Background of the Study

As influential linguist Chomsky notes in the epigraph

above, language represents a bit of a paradox in the sense

that it is simultaneously fixed and fluid. Language is

fixed in the sense that words have a definitive meaning

within their given languages. But language is also fluid in

the sense that it can be shaped to instill certain subjects

with new or different meanings through artistic comparisons,

creative phrasing, and clear applications of definition.

While there is a formal structure to many of the systems of

rhetoric and logic, the personal approaches to using

language and applying the principles of definition can

infuse many arguments with a more nuanced, artistic, or

memorable quality.

One of the idiosyncratic aspects of youth, besides

fashion and sports through which age-specific behavior is

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demonstrated, is the form and use of language, particularly

slang expressions. Inasmuch as language is used for

conducting certain functions, it is also subject to change

in form, particularly in terms of its lexicon to suit the

needs and demands of its speakers and is thus distinctly

conspicuous.1

According to Bailey, the best way towards generating a

more universally accepted definition of slang is to describe

it in terms of a “register or variety according to use, a

style whose distinguishing feature is the intention” of the

speaker or user of slang. Slang should be defined according

to who uses it in addition to the intention (the why) of

using slang. Slang expressions are naturally unconventional,

the meaning of these expressions varies from person to

person, and the context also contributes to meaning-making.

Further, they have linguistic or literal meaning which is

different to the speaker meaning.

“Garay” is a Ninorte-Samarnon term, the equivalent

translation for “expression.” It consists of vivid and

colorful words and phrases which characterize various social

and professional groups, especially when these terms are

used for in-group communication. It is infused with creative

1
Stenström, A. N, & Jorgensen, J. (Eds.). (2009). Youngspeak in a
Multilingual Perspective. Amsterdom: John Benjamins. [Online].
Available: https://benjamins.com/catalog/pbns.184
 3

vocabulary, syntax, and intonation that only members of a

certain group can decipher correctly. It also provides and

reinforces social identity but it is also used in society at

large to achieve an air of informality and relaxation.

Moreover, Garay in some places of Northern Samar is a

language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rude, or

culturally offensive, out in some cases delightful. Garay

serves many different functions in different social

contexts. It may express annoyance, aggression and insult,

or it may express solidarity and friendliness.2

Encounters with what is loosely called “slang

expressions” in speech or in print are ubiquitous. As a

matter of fact, the internet and the social media,

particularly Facebook can be considered as a significant

source of slang expressions. Usually, younger generations

spend all their times in Facebook and are indeed exposed to

all sorts of words and expressions. Facebook is the place

where new terms are invented. For instance, teenagers have

in their repertoire words that correspond to the standard

“Girlfriend/Boyfriend” and “I wish/hopefully everyone” such

as “Jowa” and “Sana all.” These slang expressions, which

emerged in Facebook become widely used by all teenagers in

2
Gonzalez, F.R. (1994). Youth and Student Slang in British and
American English: An Annotated Bibliography. [Online]. Available:
https://core.ac.uk>pdfPDFYouthandStudentSlanginBritishAmericanEnglish
 4

everyday life conversations. Social media is definitely

changing the way people communicate.

Another function of youth slang is expressing emotions.

It can be used to express anger or annoyance, for instance,

“Nga hatek,” “Kalamri,” “Peskat,” and “Shuta.” And

distinctive slang expressions for positive feelings

including love and appreciation. Here is a handful of

relevant examples: “Bongga!”, “Haba ng hair,” “Labandtt

dzae,” “Ay shala,” “Epek!” and “Inlababo lola nyo.” And

teenagers’ resort to slang expressions to make humorous

effects, “Harutera/Poka ng taon,” which probably mean “a

person who is a flirt or a player in love” and “intends to

mock or tease a person who feels good about their selves.”

It sounds for adults an inappropriate joke but for young

people it is funny and laughable.3

The purpose of this study is to identify the meaning

(content) of slang expressions. The researchers aver that

the meaning of a word or expression is fluid and changes

depending on the context. Slang is a resourceful way of

using a language and, as such, is an essential component of

linguistic innovation.

3
Ghanbari, N. (2019). Teens and Slang: A Gender Perspective.
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research Vol.6, Issue 1,
2019, pp.1-8. [Online]. Available:
http://www.jallr.com/index.php/JALLR/article/view/952/pdf952
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Statement of the Problem

This study aims to focus on conducting a content

analysis of slang expressions in online messaging

conversations.

Specifically, this study tries to answer the following

questions:

1. What slang expressions are used by the research

participants?

2. How are these slang expressions analyzed based on

Bloomfield’s forms of slang in terms of:

2.1 The Wrong Talk Funny One

2.2 Shortened Form

2.3 Interjection

2.4 Reinvented

3. How slang expressions are used by the speaker in the

context of:

3.1 Situation

3.2 Speaker Meaning

3.3 Reason
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Objectives of the Study

Describing a language with emphasis on its functions as

the primary means of communication requires more than simply

describing its grammatical structure. This study carried out

a content analysis of slang expressions in online messaging

conversations.

Specifically, this study seeks to attain the following

objectives:

1. Collect and categorize slang expressions used by the

research participants;

2. Analyze the collected slang expressions based on

Bloomfield’s forms of slang:

2.1 The Wrong Talk Funny One

2.2 Shortened Form

2.3 Interjection

2.4 Reinvented

3. Determine the slang expressions used by the speaker

in the context of:

3.1 Situation

3.2 Speaker Meaning

3.3 Reason
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Significance of the Study

Of all social groups, the young are the most prone to

the use and renovation of slang expressions and

unconventional language. They exhibit great social dynamism

and are receptive to changes in fashion: in clothes, look,

style, and also in speech. They have little political power

but they may use this unconventional language as a counter-

cultural tool, as an arm against established authority and

conventions. However, slang is often overlooked or

disregarded, due, in great part, to its ephemerality and

informality, humorous and taboo character of many of its

wordings and expressions, which leads to the belief that it

is a deviation from the standard language.

The results and findings of this study will give

insights to the following group of people:

Language Students. Since internet slang is constantly

changing, it is difficult to provide a standardized

definition. However, it can be understood to be any type of

slang that internet users have popularized, and in many

cases, have coined. The internet itself is ideal for new

slang expressions to emerge because of the richness of the

medium and the availability of information. This study is

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beneficial to language students, particularly for those

pursuing English because it will provide a deeper

understanding of the dynamic and richness of a language.

Language Teachers. Language is dynamic; it is

continuously changing. The findings of this study will give

insights how language change through time, thus, the concept

and factors how language change may be used as a tool for

their discussions in the foundations of English Language.

Sociolinguistics. Sociolinguistics is the study of

language in relation to society. They are interested in

explaining why we speak differently in different social

contexts, and they are concerned with identifying the social

functions of language and the ways it is used to convey

social meaning. The collection and findings of this study

will be an addendum to how language changes and how the

expressions come into development. Taking into account that

every individual is shaped by their language and how they

see and express themselves in the society.

Department of Languages and Communication, CAC. This

will add up to the department’s collection of qualitative

researches which can be used for reading and reference

purposes by the students and faculty members.

Future Researchers. This study will serve as a ready

reference for those students who will conduct similar

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studies regarding some of the local slang expressions

existing in their respective communities.

Linguists. Fundamentally, the field of linguistics is

concerned with the nature of language and communication.

This research paper will analyze the speaker and linguistic

meaning of a particular slang expression. This study will be

significant to linguists in their study of the differences

among languages.

Slang Users/Non-users. Slang became popular and trendy

among teenagers and the internet particularly Facebook, it

can be considered as a significant source of slang language.

Often words from slang contexts came into the mainstream

language and are used by a much broader group of people. The

findings of this study will be very beneficial to both slang

users/non-users in their full grasp and awareness of the

growing body of slang language.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

Another commonly cited attribute of slang expressions

is their propensity to rapidly circulate. As words and

phrases are picked up from one linguistic context and

productively inserted into unrelated contexts, slang

language gives the impression of spreading more quickly than

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“regular” words, especially when it is inserted into the

realms of social media.

Bloomfield’s “Forms of Slang,” is used as a basis in

analyzing and classifying the collected slang expressions

such as the wrong talk funny one, the shortened form,

interjection, and reinvented. This research paper also

focused on assessing the collected slang expressions used,

determine the slang expressions used by the speaker in the

context of situation, speaker meaning, and reason using

Krippendorff’s framework on content analysis.

The study is limited only on the garay expressions that

is gathered and collected from the conversations on

Facebook’s messenger feature and will not only centralize on

accumulating slang expressions solely on the messengers’

group chat as the platform for online communication. The

collected slang is most popular in 2019 until the present

year, 2022. The study limits itself only on the

conversations that contains slang language of the pioneering

batch of Bachelor of Arts in English Language Program

students.

Theoretical Framework
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The status of being an informal language is mainly used

by teenagers to establish group identity and exclude

outsiders. Slang is the diction that results from the game

among the youth playing with words and renaming things; some

invent new words or mutilate or misapply the old, for the

pleasure of novelty, and others catch up such words for the

pleasure of being in fashion.

In this section of study, contains the theories

fundamental to the researchers and used as the main

groundwork of the study.

This study is anchored from the “The Theory of Meaning”

of Ogden and Richards. The “Theory of Meaning,” is a concept

that has been present in communication since the first

humans learned to communicate. As communicators, we are

aware that nearly everything we say has meaning on some

level to ourselves as well as those we share our words with.

The fundamental difference between how we previously looked

at meaning and how Ogden and Richards looked at it, is that

many scholars argue that for every word, there is a single,

correct meaning associated with it. Ogden and Richards

counter this claim with their theory of “Proper Meaning

Superstition,” which states that there is not a single

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“correct” meaning associated with each and every word

because each word means something different to each person.4

Consider, for example, the word “cold.” Since there are

various variations in word meaning among people, if one were

to ask someone what the word “cold” means, that particular

individual would likely to get a response pertaining to a

condition in temperature. However, consider the advent of

slang and, again, ask someone, what the word “cold” means

and one could receive a response pertaining to types of

attitudes expressed towards other people or objects. There

is really no single “correct” meaning to any word.

The abovementioned theory suggests that every slang

expression has an embedded meaning. Therefore, this study

will help guide the researchers in their analysis and

interpretation of the collected slang expressions used by

the informants, the speaker meaning and reasons of the usage

of slang expressions, and analyzing the collected slang

expressions based on Bloomfield’s forms of slang.5

Another research that supports this study is the

framework on Content Analysis of Klaus Krippendorff. His

research focused on the role of language and dialogue in the

4
C.K., Ogden & I.A., Richards. (1927). The Theory of Meaning.
[Online]. Available:
https://core.ac.uk/download/147829438.pdf

5
Ogden (1927), Ibid.
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social construction of reality: identities, institutions,

cultural artifacts, power, and meanings of human

communication and the design of technology, content

analysis, semantics, and pragmatics of social interaction.

Content analysis suggests that texts or body of texts

means something to someone, it is produced by someone to

have meanings for someone else, and therefore these meanings

must not be ignored and must not violate why the text exists

in the first place. This method is used because the meaning

or content of a text is not fixed it varies depending on the

context of situation, speaker meaning, and reason. It also

takes an account to the following: (1.) texts have no

objective, (2.) texts do not have a single meaning, (3.)

meanings(contents) speak to something other than the given

text, (4.) texts have meanings relative to a particular

context, discourses or purposes, and (5.) the nature of

texts demands that content analysts draw specific inferences

from a body of text to their chosen context.6

In a conversation when a person uses a slang expression

“Demunjo ka,” it does not necessarily mean to curse or

describe a particularly loathsome individual. Thus, a

content analyst should look closely to who the speaker is,

6
Krippendorff, Klaus. (2014). Content Analysis: An Introduction
to its Methodology Second Edition. SAGE, 2004.
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is it a formal or an informal situation, and what is the

reason why the speaker uses such slang expression. By

drawing inferences from the context, the speaker meaning is

determined.

Another theory that further support this study is the

“Literal and Contextual Meaning Theory,” it states that

there are two levels of interpretations onto explaining

meaning. The first is bottom level, this focuses on “what is

said” which stops on the literal meaning of the utterance,

whereas the top level focuses on “what is implied” this goes

deep in it as it is to seek the implication of a word.

According to Recanati, literal meaning is context-

independent while contextual meaning is context-dependent.

Based on the statement, it can be concluded that context

plays an important role in defining the meaning of a

sentence.7

Contextual meaning is the meaning of a lexeme or a word

that depends on the context. Pateda, states that contextual

meaning or situational meaning appear as a result of the

relationship between speech and context. However, context

has several forms. The first form is person context; this

includes something related to gender, position, age, and

social background of both the speaker and listener. Context

7
Recanati, F. (2004). Literal Meaning. Cambridge University
Press, 2004, 188pp.
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of language means whether the language used is in accordance

with the rules. Context of object means what has become the

object of conversation. Context of place is the setting or

place in which the conversation occurred.

Conceptual Framework

Language is always changing, evolving and adapting to

the need of its speakers. As long as the needs of language

speakers continue, so will the language. This research study

will gather and conduct a content analysis of the slang

expressions in online messaging conversations using

Facebook’s messenger chat feature of the pioneering batch of

Bachelor of Arts in English Language Program students, and

will not solely rely on the messengers’ group chat to gather

slang expressions as the platform for online conversation.

The collected slang expressions will be analyzed based on

Bloomfield’s forms of slang; the wrong talk funny one,

shortened form, interjection, and reinvented. And will

specifically analyze the speaker meaning, situation and the

reasons of the speakers in the usage of these slang

expressions using Klaus Krippendorff’s framework on content

analysis.
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Paradigm of the Study

Forms a.Situation
Slang a.The Wrong Talk b.Speaker
Expressions Funny One Meaning
b.Shortened Form c.Reason
d.Interjection
d.Reinvented

Content Analysis

Slang
Expressions

Figure 1. A schematic diagram showing the concept of

the study.
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Definition of Terms

To guarantee the clarity and understanding of the key

terms used in this study, the following were further defined

and explained conceptually and operationally:

Code. Conceptually and operationally, in

communications, code is an unvarying rule for replacing a

piece of information such as a letter, word, or phrase with

an arbitrarily selected equivalent. The term has been

frequently misapplied and used as a synonym for cipher,

which is a method for transforming a message according to a

rule to conceal its meaning. In the past this blurring of

the distinction between code and cipher was rather

inconsequential; in fact, many historical ciphers would be

more properly classified as codes according to present-

day criteria.8

Content Analysis. Conceptually and operationally,

content analysis is a research technique used to make

replicable and valid inferences by interpreting and coding

textual material. Using content analysis, researchers can

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quantify and analyze the presence, meanings and

relationships of such certain words, themes, or concepts.9 8

Dialect. Conceptually and operationally, dialect is a

variety of a language that indicates where a person from.

The notion is usually interpreted geographically (regional

dialect), but it also has some application in relation to a

person’s social background (class dialect) or occupation

(occupational dialect). The word dialect comes from the

Ancient Greek dialektos “discourse, language, dialect,”

which is derived from dialegesthai “to discourse, talk.”10 9

Garay. Conceptually and operationally, Garay in some

places of Northern Samar is a language use that is sometimes

deemed impolite, rude, or culturally offensive. Garay serves

many different functions in different social contexts. It

may express annoyance, aggression and insult, for instance,

or it may express solidarity and friendliness. Garay is also

an equivalent translation for “expression.” It is infused

with creative vocabulary, syntax, and intonation that only

8
Erik Gregersen. [Online]. Available:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/code-communications
9
Berelson, Bernard. (1952). Content Analysis in Communication
Research. New York: Free Press. [Online]. Available:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327910121_Content_Analysis

910
Ivić, P., & Crystal, D. (2-14, July 22). Dialect. Encyclopedia
Britannica. [Online]. Available:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/dialect
11
Gonzalez, F.R. (1994). Youth and Student Slang in British and
American English: An Annotated Bibliography. [Online]. Available:
https://core.ac.uk>pdfPDFYouthandStudentSlanginBritishAmericanEnglish
 19

members of the certain group can decipher correctly. It also

provides and reinforces social identity but it is also used

in society at large to achieve an air of informality and

relaxation.11

Group Chat. Conceptually and operationally, group chat

is the ability to chat with multiple people. Using a secure

group chat platform, teams within one’s business can

dynamically share information and ideas. Group chat is

similar to chat features in that it gives every individual

the ability to send instant messages to others in an

organization.12 10

Linguistics. Conceptually and operationally,

linguistics is the scientific study of language, and its

focus is the systematic investigation of the properties of

particular languages as well as the characteristics of

language in general. It encompasses not only the study of

sound, grammar and meaning, but also the history of language

families, how languages are acquired by children and adults,

and how language use is processed in the mind and how it is

connected to race and gender.13 11

1012
Mitel (2021). What is Group Chat. [Online]. Available:
https://www.mitel.com/features-benefits/group-chat#:~:text=Group%20chat
%20is%20similar%20to,to%20chat%20with%20multiple%20people.

1113
Nordquist, Richard. (2020). Definition and Examples of
Linguists. [Online]. Available:
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Linguistic Variation. Conceptually and operationally,

the term linguistic variation (or simply variation) refers

to regional, social, or contextual differences in the ways

that a particular language is used. Variation between

languages, dialects, and speakers is known as interspeaker

variation. Variation within the language of a single speaker

is called intraspeaker variation. Operationally, it means

differences of lexical items, slang expressions used by the

speakers.14 12

Millennials. Conceptually and operationally, the term

Millennials generally refers to the generation of people

born between the early 1980s and 1990s. Some people also

include children born in the early 2000s. The Millennial

Generation is also known as Generation Y, because it comes

after Generation X — those people born between the early

1960s and the 1980s.15

Reinvent. Conceptually and operationally, to reinvent

something is to completely change or remake it so thoroughly

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-linguist-1691239

1214
Nordquist, Richard. (2020, August 26). Linguistic Variation.
[Online]. Available:
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-linguistic-variation-1691242

15
Main, D. (2017). Who are Millennials? [Online]. Available:
https://www.livescience.com/38061-millennials-generation-y.html
16
[Online]. Available:
https://www.lexico.com/definition/reinvention
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that it seems brand new. The action or process through which

something is changed so much that it appears to be entirely

new.16

Slang. Conceptually and operationally, slangs are

unconventional words or phrases that express either

something new or something old in a new way. It is flippant,

irreverent, indecorous; it may be indecent or obscene. Its

colorful metaphors are generally directed at respectability,

and it is this succinct, sometimes witty, frequently

impertinent social criticism that gives slang its

characteristic flavor. Slang, then, includes not just words

but words used in a special way in a certain social context.

The origin of the word slang itself is obscure; it first

appeared in print around 1800, applied to the speech of

disreputable and criminal classes in London. The term,

however, was probably used much earlier.17 13

Speaker Meaning. Conceptually and operationally,

speaker meaning is what a speaker means (intends to convey)

when he uses a piece of language. There is often a

divergence between the meaning of the linguistic expression

a speaker uses and the meaning he intends to communicate by

1317
Maurer, D. (2020, February 20). Slang. Encyclopedia
Britannica. [Online]. Available: https://www.britannica.com/topic/slang
 22

using it. Speaker meaning is generally defined in pragmatics

in terms of the speaker’s intentions.18 14

1418
Bourget, David. (2013). Speaker Meaning and Semantic Meaning.
[Online]. Available:
http://philpapers.org/browse/speaker-meaning-and-semantic-meaning