Monitoring 21st-Century Real-Time Language Change in Spanish Youth Speech

Abstract

In recent decades, youth language has become one of the preferred research areas in sociolinguistics, not only because of its non-normative nature but mostly because it is recognized as a catalyst for language change. Since adolescents aspire to create and safeguard an in-group identity, they constantly generate innovative linguistic forms. However, few studies have empirically monitored the speed at which linguistic innovations are introduced into youth language. This study explores the speed and nature of recent language change within Spanish youth language by conducting a corpus analysis in real time. Data of the contemporary CORMA corpus (Corpus Oral de Madrid, compiled between 2016 and 2019) are contrasted with the highly comparable data of the COLAm corpus (Corpus Oral de Lenguaje Adolescente de Madrid, compiled between 2003 and 2007). The study scrutinizes two typical phenomena of youth language, namely the use of intensifiers (e.g., super-, mazo) and vocatives (e.g., tío/tía, chaval/chavala). It is shown that changes occur at a more moderate speed than previously assumed and that the speed of change depends on the linguistic phenomenon under study. Additionally, the data suggest that more neutral forms remain quite stable over time, while the use of more expressive items shrinks or increases faster.

Jaunų latvių anglų kalbos vartojimas: daugiakalbės tapatybės ir kalbos dominavimo tyrimas

“…The sociocultural and linguistic dominance of the English-speaking world has led to significant linguistic changes, and studies have been conducted to investigate real-time linguistic change among adolescents (Roels et al 2021), non-standard varieties invented by the urban youth (Erastus, Kebeya 2018), and functions of the English language in countries where English is traditionally considered a foreign language (Leppänen 2007;Busse 2017). Importantly, Leppänen claims that the omnipresence of English in digital environments has created "an association between belonging to the youth culture and using English" (2007).…”