Is Emma Thompson right?

In a recent interview for Radio Times, the English actress criticised the use of slang. "We have to re-invest in the idea of articulacy as a form of personal freedom and power”-she said. Emma Thompson also said that young people using slang sound stupid. "There is the necessity to have two languages - one that you use with your mates and the other that you need in any official capacity."

Is the use of slang a bad thing? Does it make young people sound stupid?

Many parents seem concerned about the type of language spoken by their children. They strongly agree with Ms Thompson and think that slang can affect the teenagers’ language development. There are also other less critical postures about it. According to Katherine Barber of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, the creation and use of slang words is a good thing. “If the kids are picking up new words and new meanings then that means that they’re playing with the language,” she says.

Slang and street speech are part of our culture. Slang can be regional or particular to specific groups (punks, emos, hip-hop, etc). Occasionally, slang terms pass into informal mainstream speech, and sometimes into formal speech. Words such as “cool” and “jibe” were originally slang terms that become commonly used. Slang is not the same as colloquial that refers to informal speech. Slangisms are often used in colloquial speech but not all colloquialisms are slangisms.

The role of languages is to improve communication and in many cases, slang terms are created when people do not find the right term to express certain situations or feelings. Slang users have also been accused of snobbism due to the fact that their language is used in specific domains and it is probably undecipherable by people that live outside of their social, ethnic, economic or geographic backgrounds. Nevertheless this type of tribalism is just a way to interact with people with their same interest, tastes or background. It is also an attempt to “find their voices”, to express themselves and create their microcosms within a society that, sometimes, seems hostile and rigid.

Certainly, there are some occasions where the use of slang might seem inappropriate but teenagers are clever enough to adapt themselves to the situation.

Languages constantly evolve, picking up terms from foreign languages, from slang or from specific jargons. This never ending evolution is what makes languages so interesting and vibrant. They are the living reflex of a culture and, therefore they change accordingly.