Understanding teenagers' speech is often difficult even for those who communicate with them constantly. One of the most popular attributes of independence, with which teenagers try to defend their independence, is youth slang, in which familiar words are changed into abridged or simplified versions.
As a rule, slang is understood as a certain lexical set of new words, as well as giving old words new meanings. Many slang words and expressions exist in many groups and communities organized by race, occupation, geography, or age. In some cases, slang is used to emphasize group membership, in others it is a tribute to fashion, and sometimes it is even used as a secret language (for example, criminal slang).
The penetration of slang words and expressions into normative speech is an inevitable, although not very fast, process. Nevertheless, many literary words in the Russian language once referred specifically to slang, for example, the word "cheat sheet". Naturally, the less closed one or another group is, the greater the likelihood that its jargon will fall into normal speech. The main source of new words is traditionally considered youth or teen slang.
In Russia, there were three main periods when teenage slang changed greatly. After the revolution, speech was “enriched” with criminal jargon, in the middle of the last century, dudes took to the podium, and at the end of the century, “computer men”.
Teenage slang is a product of the eternal craving of teenagers to protest against "adult" norms and rules. A teenager seeks to oppose himself to the older generation, and, in particular, this desire is expressed in not using the words that adults use. The basic basis of youth slang is not only the native language, but also numerous borrowings from foreign speech, one or another terminology.
Another important feature of adolescent slang is its constant variability, due to the fact that generations of adolescents are rapidly changing. In addition to the protest function, youth slang also plays the role of an indicator that allows a teenager to rank himself in a group. Since at this age peer opinion is decisive, it is extremely important for a teenager to be a member of the community.
Do not confuse teenage slang and gaming. If in the first the words mainly appear by simplifying the native language, then the game jargon is almost entirely based on Englishisms.
Like any other variant of slang, teenage vocabulary concerns only those concepts and phenomena that are among the most significant. Trying to defend their independence, teenagers come up with new designations for the most important thing in their life: themselves, other people, relationships, money, entertainment, computer terms, emotions. Some of these words become so popular that they are also used by recently matured people, while others, on the contrary, are forgotten as soon as their inventors grow up.
