Young people, known for new slang/words, are also a group of people that are taught how to use already-existing language. New and old, creativity and tradition, concentrated in a group.
Humans are complex and a language isn’t something we instinctively know. We have to be taught it.
There are rare cases where kids have had limited exposure to language, and they’re all pretty fucked up. If you’re not taught it through education or exposure, you’re not a very functional human.
Fascinating!
In the socialization process, I think there's a tension between the already-existing abstract world that language conveys, and the flexibility and creativity that kids have. I say that because I was reading a book on wonder, and how children are immensely curious. However, over time, socialization can lead to the internalization of rigid identities and worldviews. In effect, older people are much less curious.
That is what makes me wonder if the reason for the new slang that comes from young people has to do with the experimentation that young people do with their identities as well as the lack of internalization of rigid identities and worldviews. In other words, if I am a child and I don't have a comparatively rigid mind, to what extent could that explain my slang?
First language acquisition — the process by which young children learn their mother tongue — is not driven by explicitly-taught grammar rules, but by exposure to adults and older children and their speech patterns.
By the time children reach "grammar school", the ones who have already started to learn the local prestige dialect have an advantage over those who have been learning basilect instead.
It isn't ironic, it's how language happened. Using hip words and phrases is pretty cool, no cap.
I'm sorry you're getting downvoted. I get you.
There's a reason they make dictionaries, so we can have a common standard of language and understand what people are saying when they speak or write.
Yes, it took thousands of years to get where we are, and of course language is going to continue to evolve, but there's no good reason to literally change existing and well defined words.
In case you're curious about why I'm saying what I'm saying: here's what I said in another comment:
In the socialization process, I think there’s a tension between the already-existing abstract world that language conveys, and the flexibility and creativity that kids have. I say that because I was reading a book on wonder, and how children are immensely curious. However, over time, socialization can lead to the internalization of rigid identities and worldviews. In effect, older people are much less curious because they believe they know exactly who they are and believe they already have good-enough answers to the questions they care about.
That is what makes me wonder if the reason for the new slang that comes from young people has to do with the experimentation that young people do with their identities as well as the lack of internalization of rigid identities and worldviews. In other words, if I am a child and I don’t have a (relatively) rigid mind, to what extent could that explain my slang?
Gotta know the rules to break em :P