Instructions:

Select one of the following topics. Write a clear paragraph of at least 125 words using standard English that meets the requirements of the topic. Be sure your paragraph has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

How Languages Change

Slang: Its Use and Message

Advantages of Developing Good Language Skills

Read your paragraph aloud to two or three classmates. Ask them for feedback on your selection of words and on how clearly your paragraph covered the topic. Revise as needed.

Slang, when used as a noun, refers to nonstandard terms or nonstandard usage of standard terms. Slang provides different symbols from which communication messages can be constructed. Slang is more than a noun though. Slang is a process. This means slang is also a verb. We slang as well as speak slang. The process of slanging involves the creation and use of slang. In everyday life, slang reflects the experiences, beliefs, and values of its speakers. Every new generation and subculture has a different vocabulary of slang words. As we slowly come out of adolescence we fade away from the use of slang. Items that we frequently encounter or are important to us are often given slang symbols. There are many terms to say something is good or bad and to evaluate people positively or negatively. Today, slang is also descriptive and contains many symbols for food or eating, money, effective or ineffective performance, relationships, intoxication, and places.

Why do young adults speak slang? There is one simple reason. It's cool! Slang is cool in the sense of being in style. When we speak, we are communicating not only a message of what we are saying but also a message about who we believe we are, our identity. It is a type of performance and shows that the speaker is in tune with the times. A second reason for why slang is so cool is it lets us have a sense of being acceptable. People don't slang all of the time. Rather, the use of slang is reserved for circumstances that accept the use of slang. Usually, slang is used in informal environments and avoided in formal settings. This is because it could result in the person being judged negatively.