Year 11 Eng Lang Essay help!

[riulovesmahims]

Hey guys,
I have an essay to write an essay discussing whether the young peoples language is influenced by popular culture more than the centuries of evolution of language.

I was planning to talk about Americanization of language today caused by movies  and new neologisms formed and the morphological changes in verbs and nouns used. I was hoping for more to write on , but im a bit stuck atm.

thanks in advance.

[Bhootnike]

/request move to English Language section


Yeah - good point to discuss. Americanisms have definitely influenced the youth by introducing new lexemes, e.g. 'guys' -used for both sexes, 'cookies', and "dude" ,
also through media (films, music, books), American culture has been brought across to Australia, - I would suggest reading the following article:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/with-american-lingo-weve-imported-toxic-us-culture-20100805-11kmn.html

Some other articles which are resourceful -

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cactus-or-crackerjack-the-state-of-australian-english/
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/heres-to-those-beaut-geezers-who-keep-our-slang-alive-20110210-1aok6.html

Pretty much, with this essay, personally I'd discuss both aspects (unless you've been strictly to talk about one, and no sit on the fence!) .
I.e
With the second point - evolution of langauge, you can quote Susan Butler - MacQuarie Dictionary editor i think, or atleast works there:
“Language is like clothing, it is subject to fashion and change, and some of the things we regard as quintessentially Australian have changed over time. There’s a view that a term such as ridgey-didge was something which Captain Cook was saying when he first got off the boat, when the reality is our language has always been evolving.”

So yes, Americanisms are a factor, but we need to realise that young people's linguistic choices are influenced by the evolution of language.

If you wanted to be super clever, you could just discuss how the linguisitic choices of young people are influenced by the evolution of language, and in that, integrate the concept of Americanisms as a contributing factor in current times.

[riulovesmahims]

thankyouuu ! really helped thanks heaps!