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VICEnglish LanguageQuick questions
Unit 4: Language variation and identity
Quick questions on Teen speak and adolescent language in VCE English Language Unit 4
2short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is features of teen speak?Show answer
Teen speak shows distinctive features across the subsystems. Lexically, it is rich in slang that turns over quickly ("based", "mid", "rizz", "cooked", "lowkey") and in intensifiers ("so", "literally", "dead", "fully"). Discourse features include heavy use of discourse markers ("like", "you know", "deadset") and high rising terminal intonation. Morphologically, teens coin and clip freely and adopt internet-born initialisms ("idk", "tbh", "fr").
What is original examples to study?Show answer
Take an original group-chat exchange: "fr that test was actually cooked, lowkey didn't study, gonna fail ngl." The initialisms "fr" and "ngl", the slang "cooked" and "lowkey", and the casual ellipsis together construct a youth identity and build solidarity through a shared code, while the self-deprecating admission does positive-face work among peers. None of these features is an error; each is a precise solidarity and identity marker.
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