<p><p>The languages of the world are constantly changing and slang intrudes the vocabulary of many people all over the world. But what is slang and where does it come from? Are there differences in the slang that men and women use? And what is the point of using slang? It seems that the slang that was used by previous generations has either gone out of use or has now become a part of accepted standard language; basically, the youth of today reject the slang that their parents used. This would indicate that it is not “cool” to use the same slang as one’s parents did and to avoid this, new slang is invented to replace old slang aiding the youth of today to be able to be shocking or amusing by speaking in a certain way.</p></p><p><p><p>In this essay the focus lies on the slang of British English and this is investigated by an analysis of a contemporary film and a TV-show to see how common the use of slang is in these kinds of medias. The intention is also too see if slang differs according to gender and in what different areas slang is used.</p><p>The film “Football factory” and the TV-show “Little Britain” were closely watched and all slang was noted down and categorized in terms of users and areas of use. To make this easier and to make sure not to lose any parts of the dialogues scripts were found on the internet and used as aids when analyzing. “Football factory” is a movie about British football hooligans which is a very male-dominated world. “Little Britain” is a TV-show consisting of many small sketches with very different characters of both genders but mostly played by male actors.</p></p><p><p>The results were somewhat surprising as the expectation was to find some slang in the chosen material but the amount of slang use exceeded the expectations. Slang seems to besomething that people use in many different areas of use, such as, when talking about sex,drugs or other things that might be taboo. It seems that slang is a big part of the language thatboth men and women use. However, in the material used for this study, young men were theones who used slang the most.</p></p></p>

The languages of the world are constantly changing and slang intrudes the vocabulary of many people all over the world. But what is slang and where does it come from? Are there differences in the slang that men and women use? And what is the point of using slang? It seems that the slang that was used by previous generations has either gone out of use or has now become a part of accepted standard language; basically, the youth of today reject the slang that their parents used. This would indicate that it is not “cool” to use the same slang as one’s parents did and to avoid this, new slang is invented to replace old slang aiding the youth of today to be able to be shocking or amusing by speaking in a certain way. In this essay the focus lies on the slang of British English and this is investigated by an analysis of a contemporary film and a TV-show to see how common the use of slang is in these kinds of medias. The intention is also too see if slang differs according to gender and in what different areas slang is used. The film “Football factory” and the TV-show “Little Britain” were closely watched and all slang was noted down and categorized in terms of users and areas of use. To make this easier and to make sure not to lose any parts of the dialogues scripts were found on the internet and used as aids when analyzing. “Football factory” is a movie about British football hooligans which is a very male-dominated world. “Little Britain” is a TV-show consisting of many small sketches with very different characters of both genders but mostly played by male actors. The results were somewhat surprising as the expectation was to find some slang in the chosen material but the amount of slang use exceeded the expectations. Slang seems to besomething that people use in many different areas of use, such as, when talking about sex,drugs or other things that might be taboo. It seems that slang is a big part of the language thatboth men and women use. However, in the material used for this study, young men were theones who used slang the most.

Text messaging is a new form of writing, brought about by technological development in the last couple of decades. Mobile phone usage has increased rapidly worldwide and texting is now part of many people's everyday communcation. A large number of users send or receive texts which include some abbreviations and shortenings, commonly referred to as textspeak. This novel linguistic phenomenon is perceived by some with indifference and by others with aggravation. The following study examines attitudes towards this linguistic change from a gender and age perspective. The comparison between two groups show that the most conservative and least positive to change are young women. The analysis and discussion around this focuses on power, prestige and patterns.

Submitted by Ana Helena Rufo Fiamengui null (ana_hel15@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-09-11T17:50:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fiamengui_AHRF_Tesefinal.pdf: 2306836 bytes, checksum: 6817adf245390e5f5c9b8e026cf2dac3 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-09-12T17:14:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 fiamengui_ahr_dr_sjrp.pdf: 2306836 bytes, checksum: 6817adf245390e5f5c9b8e026cf2dac3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-12T17:14:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 fiamengui_ahr_dr_sjrp.pdf: 2306836 bytes, checksum: 6817adf245390e5f5c9b8e026cf2dac3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-22 / A realidade escolar fronteiriça, que se mostra muitas vezes conflituosa e, sobretudo, múltipla e problemática, motivou a realização deste trabalho, que teve como intuito discutir e analisar as atitudes e as crenças dos alunos em relação às línguas oficiais na fronteira Porã, especificamente entre as cidades de Ponta Porã, sul de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil, e Pedro Juan Caballero, capital do Departamento de Amambay, Paraguai. Para a análise de atitudes, foi empregado um teste baseado principalmente na matched guise technique (técnica dos falsos pares), de Lambert et al. (1960), que envolve gravações de falantes bilíngues, depois avaliadas por respondentes em relação a um número relevante de atributos. Já o teste de crenças, construído a partir da técnica empregada por Barbosa (2009), tomou por base afirmações diversas sobre as línguas fronteiriças gravadas em visitas anteriores, em relação às quais os alunos deveriam exprimir concordância ou discordância. Além desses dois instrumentos metodológicos, que foram posteriormente reduzidos a dados estatísticos, adotamos ainda instrumentos etnográficos para a coleta de dados, mediante observação participante e gravação de entrevistas. Os testes foram aplicados a dez escolas, sendo cinco de cada país, de que fazem parte 324 adolescentes com idade igual ou superior a 14 anos (fase da percepção social para LABOV, 1974 [1964]). O processamento estatístico dos dados do teste de atitudes apontou uma distribuição dos treze atributos em quatro dimensões: caráter, competência, relacionamento e aparência. Os atributos da dimensão da competência mostram uma tendência clara de atribuição de prestígio ao português em detrimento das línguas do Paraguai, mesmo para os adolescentes que estudam nesse país. Já a análise das outras dimensões permite entrever, em algum grau, uma tendência favorável à atribuição de prestígio encoberto ao guarani. O espanhol recebeu, com frequência, notas intermediárias entre os extremos de valorização e estigma, atribuídos ao português e ao guarani, respectivamente. A análise dos dados submetidos à variável “sexo” demonstrou sutilmente haver maior grau de sensibilidade linguística das mulheres, mas, quando correlacionados à variável “idade”, os dados não forneceram um padrão claro de diferenciação, já que adolescentes entre 14 e 16 anos apresentam reações bastante similares. Quando submetidos à variável “grau de bilinguismo”, os dados evidenciam que esse grupo de fatores atua diferentemente em cada uma das quatro dimensões, mostrando-se os respondentes mais sensíveis ao parâmetro da aparência, numa relação diretamente proporcional entre grau de bilinguismo e valores das notas atribuídas. Também o fator “nível socioeconômico” não mostrou diferenciação significativa a ponto de ser possível depreender um padrão único de avaliação, ainda que haja a tendência de adolescentes de nível mais alto atribuírem notas ligeiramente mais baixas. O teste de crenças, em geral, acompanhou os dados do teste de atitudes em termos da atribuição de maior grau de relevância e utilidade ao português e ao espanhol, embora o guarani também seja considerado relevante e funcional na área de fronteira. As entrevistas, por sua vez, subsidiam e explicam os achados dos outros dois testes. Os dados obtidos forneceram um panorama detalhado das atitudes e crenças de adolescentes que estudam nas escolas de cada um dos lados da fronteira e apontaram para a necessidade de se promover um debate sério da questão do multilinguismo, não apenas no contexto de sala de aula, mas também no da comunidade como um todo. / The reality of schools located in borders, which is often conflictual and, above all, multiple and problematic, has motivated the accomplishment of this investigation, that had the purpose of discussing and analyzing students’ attitudes and beliefs regarding the official languages of the Porã border, specifically between the cities of Ponta Porã, south region of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and Pedro Juan Caballero, capital of the Department of Amambay, Paraguay. For analyzing the students’ attitudes, a test based mainly on Lambert et al. (1960)´s matched guise technique was used, which involves recording bilingual speakers and then evaluate by respondents in relation to a relevant number of attributes. The second test, the belief test, founded on the technique employed by Barbosa (2009), was based on assertions of border languages recorded in previous visits, in which students were expected to agree or disagree with. In addition to these two methodological instruments, which were later reduced to statistical data, we also adopted ethnographic instruments for data collection, through participant observation and interviews. The tests were applied to ten schools, five from each country, in which 324 teenagers aged 14 or older participate (Labov’s Social Perception stage, 1974 [1964]). Statistical processing of the attitude test data pointed to a distribution of the thirteen attributes in four dimensions: character, competence, relationship and appearance. The attributes of the competence dimension show a clear tendency of ascribing prestige to Portuguese to the detriment of Paraguayan languages, even for adolescents who study in this country. On the other hand, the analysis of other dimensions allows us to see a favorable tendency to attribute covert prestige to Guarani in some degree. Spanish frequently received intermediate marks between the extremes of valorization and stigma, attributed to Portuguese and Guarani respectively. The analysis of the data submitted to the variable “sex” showed that there is a slightly higher degree of women linguistic sensitivity, but when submitted to the variable “age”, the data did not provide a clear pattern of differentiation, as adolescents between 14 and 16 years old present quite similar reactions. When submitted to the variable “degree of bilingualism”, the data indicated that this group of factors acts differently in each of the four dimensions, showing the respondents who are more sensitive to the appearance parameter, in a directly proportional relationship between the degree of bilingualism and the values of the attributed scores. Also, the “socioeconomic level” factor didn’t show significant differentiation to the extent that it is possible to see a single pattern of evaluation, although there is a tendency for higher level adolescents to give slightly lower scores. The belief test, in general, followed the attitude test in terms of assigning more relevance and usefulness to Portuguese and Spanish, although Guarani was also considered relevant and functional in the border area. The interviews, in turn, subsidize and explain the findings of the other two tests. The obtained data provided a detailed view of attitudes and beliefs of adolescents who study in schools from each side of the border and pointed the need to promote a serious debate on multilingualism, not only in the context of the classroom but in the community as well. / La realidad escolar fronteriza, que se muestra muchas veces conflictiva y, sobre todo, múltiple y problemática, motivó la realización de este trabajo, que tuvo como propósito discutir y analizar las actitudes y creencias de los alumnos en respecto a las lenguas oficiales de la frontera Porã, precisamente entre las ciudades de Ponta Porã, sur del estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil, y Pedro Juan Caballero, capital del Departamento de Amambay, Paraguay. Para el análisis de las actitudes, se empleó un test basado principalmente en el matched guise technique (técnica de pares ocultos), de Lambert et al. (1960), que implica grabaciones de hablantes bilíngües, que son evaluadas por respondedores en relación a un número relevante de atributos. El test de creencias, construido a partir de la técnica empleada por Barbosa (2009), tomó por base diversas afirmaciones sobre las lenguas fronterizas grabadas en visitas anteriores, en relación a las cuales los alumnos deberían expresar concordancia o discordancia. Además de esos dos instrumentos metodológicos, posteriormente reducidos a datos estadísticos, adoptamos también instrumentos etnográficos para la recolección de datos, mediante observación participante y grabación de entrevistas. Los tests se aplicaron a diez escuelas, siendo cinco de cada país, de las que forman parte 324 adolescentes con edad igual o superior a 14 años (fase de la percepción social para LABOV, 1974 [1964]). El procesamiento estadístico de los datos del test de actitudes indicó una distribución de los trece atributos en cuatro dimensiones: carácter, competencia, relación y apariencia. Los atributos de la dimensión de la competencia muestran una tendencia clara de atribución de prestigio al portugués en detrimento de las lenguas de Paraguay, incluso para los adolescentes que estudian en ese país. El análisis de las otras dimensiones permite entrever, en cierto grado, una tendencia favorable de atribución de prestigio encubierto al guaraní. El español recibió con frecuencia notas intermedias entre los extremos de valoración y estigma, atribuidos respectivamente al portugués y al guaraní. El análisis de los datos sometidos a la variable “sexo” demostró sutilmente mayor grado de sensibilidad lingüística de las mujeres, pero cuando relacionados a la variable “edad”, los datos no producen un patrón claro de diferenciación, pues los adolescentes entre 14 y 16 años presentan reacciones muy similares. Cuando se someten a la variable “grado de bilingüismo”, los datos evidencian que ese grupo de factores actúa diferentemente en cada una de las cuatro dimensiones, mostrándose los respondedores más sensibles al parámetro de la apariencia, en una relación directamente proporcional entre grado de bilingüismo y notas atribuidas. También el factor “nivel socioeconómico” no mostró diferenciación significativa hasta el punto de ser posible deducir un único patrón de evaluación, aunque los adolescentes de nivel más alto tiendan a atribuir notas ligeramente más bajas. El test de creencias acompañó en general los datos del test de actitudes en términos de atribución de mayor grado de relevancia y utilidad al portugués y al español, pese a que el guaraní también se considere relevante y funcional en el área fronteriza. Las entrevistas, a su vez, subsidian y explican los hallazgos de los otros dos tests. Los datos obtenidos proporcionaron un panorama detallado de las actitudes y creencias de adolescentes que estudian en las escuelas de cada lado de la frontera y señalan la necesidad de promover un debate serio sobre el multilingüismo no sólo en el contexto del aula sino también en el de la comunidad como un todo.

This essay describes a case study of textual communication on the online social mediaplatform Tumblr. The aim of the research was to analyse the communicative functions and thestylistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic characteristics of textual discourse on Tumblr. Usingdata gathered on Tumblr, this essay analyses discursive aspects such as function, style, andpragmatics, relating the findings to literature on topics including relevance theory and theoriesof computer-mediated communication and cyberpragmatics. The research found thatdiscourse on Tumblr is largely phatic in nature, with an overwhelming focus on the discussionof shared interests. Such discussion on Tumblr appears to heavily depend on sharedbackground knowledge, which works as a barrier of in-group discursive solidarity andprovides and furthers feelings of connectedness. This study further found that alternative useof style and grammar on Tumblr appears to be largely uniform, suggesting that divergencesfrom standard norms are a way of displaying membership of a group and obtaining covertprestige, rather than a display of linguistic innovation.