“Peak Times” – Youth Cultural Identity and English

by Ben Greenhalgh (August 2013)

Youth Culture is one of the driving forces of language change but why does youth culture have such a profound effect on our language and why does it suffer the most critique?

Then the bottom fell out. Aside from the gearbox and a rattle of the ageing engine, oh and the boot needing the skill of a safecracker to open, my little Ford was doing remarkably well in its time and mile worn age. However, as I had feared in the past few weeks, it was sick and the final straw was the overly angled speed bump coming into the council centre car park.

The undercarriage scraped along the floor for a few more uncomfortable yards until, with a clenched jaw; I swung it into a space.

One of the students at the centre was lingering outside the door, a cigarette of possibly exotic quality clamped between his thin lips. I waited for a second for the engine to stop ticking over and took the time to compose myself mentally so I was able to brush off the joyous grin from the young man outside who, no doubt, had something witty and amusing to say.

As I stepped out of the car not wishing to lock it, hoping someone would attempt to steal it, I walked towards the door and awaited the jeer of “unlucky mate” as perhaps someone of my own age may have chosen as a response. Instead he took a final drag on his cigarette and sent me a wry smile and uttered the words which instigated this article:

“Peak times, Ben”

Even though I didn’t know what it meant at the time, I had to agree. Peak times.

Working in a provision for those who have been expelled from mainstream school I find myself sitting in the front seat in one of the many vehicles of language change. Youth Culture.

Not many days go by until a new word or phrase reverberates around the room from the mouths of students I attempt to educate. They are words and phrases used to describe their attitudes, social values, and way of life. I’ve tried them out myself but I often get vacant gazes of embarrassment or perhaps pity in response. Occasionally I may get a giggle out of politeness, but it’s a rarity. “Yea you’re right this is bare long fam”, “What these? New crepes bought em from Shoezone innit.” Even in my facetious jesting I often cringe inside at what I’ve said.

The reason for this is simple. As many a student has told me, “you shouldn’t talk like that.” The situation dictates that, because I am in the role of an educator, an adult, it is consequently not an effective way to communicate. They recognise that for me to use the dialect of their social group is socially well, awkward and inelegant. I do not share the same cultural values or have the same experience or hardships many of them face. I have also attained, over the years, my own sense of identity which I am comfortable with and have no need to distance myself linguistically or diverge from the mainstream in order to feel independent.

Many people, albeit most from older generations, believe that it is these variations in language which give cause for concern. They believe that it really isn’t “safe fam” in fact “they is bare vexed.”

Language has the incredible ability to bind as well as divide social groups. Where it may allow access for some into subcultural groups through appropriation and convergence of subcultural language choices; often more so than race, class and gender, it also has a detrimental effect in forming negative attitudes towards young people’s use of English. By association this also gives rise to the opinion young people are, in general, a threat to national unity.

Criticism about young people’s language choices is mainly voiced by traditionalists who worry about changes in language, often using their own nostalgic recollections as a bench mark. Jean Aitchison points out, in her series of analogies on attitudes to language change, that one traditionalist worry is that the English Language is a beautiful castle or fortress, an image of finery and beauty which, over time, is crumbling away due to the invasion of new terminology, lack of care, and respect.

Young people bear the brunt of this attitude mainly because youth culture is viewed by many to be a counter culture, a culture with active hostility towards the more dominant forms of English which is seemingly reflected in their language choices.

In reality, this is somewhat true. Adolescence is a time where independent choices are made where personal identity is formed and in so doing this can often be conducive to alienation. It is the divergence away from mainstream that leads to youth cultures becoming the driving force behind language variation and change, creating a wealth of innovation within English. More so, the more significant the minority group the more significant the variation and divergence from the standard.

The simple truth is language is a tool, not just for young people but for society as a whole. Language adapts to a society’s values and needs. It can be, and is, adapted by everyone to fit diverse social situations. It exists as a societal instrument and is used in things as simple as communicating information to being integral to defining the identity of an individual or entire group or subculture.

After checking with a range of “professionals” one of whom has a small vocational course in auto mechanics yet smokes with the bonnet up as he checks the oil, I have to come to the conclusion that, my car’s done in, it’s dead. Maybe because I didn’t keep it up to scratch. It’s time for a new one.

The student with the wry smile follows me to a laptop at the end of the day. He waits for his taxi and sits with me while we scroll through the range on Auto trader.

“That’s a bare nice whip” he says, pointing to a Subaru Impreza that I quickly click past in search for a slightly more conservative model.

He soon gives up helping as I veto his every selection and adapts his job to search for a good sub-woofer for the boot of my new “whip to be.”

As I scroll through page after page I am reminded of the vast variety of cars and what each has to offer in relation to the next.

In this respect, language variation and change should not be deprecated but encouraged and celebrated. Much like natural selection, language requires variety in order to survive. If the traditional prescriptivist mentality of a fortress is to be used then it needs to be rebuilt and altered if it is to survive. It needs new stone in the form of new phrases, words and spellings and it is youth cultural influence and rebellion which provides this. It needs to be able to reflect and explain cultural changes and values. It must simply make sure it keeps up with us and is not left to crumble.

This variety, flexibility, and creativity found in English strengthen our lexicon immeasurably and, although my students will hate this, I may not ever stop trying to speak like a teenager. Regardless of the reactions I get to the adoption of the odd word or saying, I like many of the expressions; they are witty and enjoyable to hear. I am excited by the future, not only because of the anticipation of our society’s progression, but because I look forward to the adaptation of our language, to tell the story of it.

I find a great deal of personal joy in the creativity within every new small but impressive phrase from the young adults around me and I admire that each one helps to keep the English language as powerful as it is.

Ben Greenhalgh currently works with young offenders, teaching them basic skills. He has been writing since he was very young, mainly in the realms of film and prose. However, he has recently taken a more political and humanistic approach to his writing due to the work he does day to day.

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