Editing Slang (section)

== Social implications ==

=== Indexicality ===
Slang is usually associated with a particular social group and plays a role in constructing identity. While slang outlines social space, attitudes about slang partly construct group identity and identify individuals as members of groups. Therefore, using the slang of a particular group associates an individual with that group. [[Michael Silverstein]]'s orders of [[indexicality]] can be employed to assign a slang term as a second-order index to that particular group. Using a slang term, however, can also give an individual the qualities associated with the term's group of origin, whether or not the individual is trying to identify as a member of the group. This allocation of qualities based on abstract group association is known as third-order indexicality.

As outlined in Elisa Mattiello's book "An Introduction to English Slang",<ref name="Mattiello">{{cite book|last=Mattiello|first=Elisa|title=An Introduction to English Slang - A Description of its Morphology, Semantics and Sociology|year=2008|publisher=Polimetrica|location=Milano|isbn=978-8876991134}}</ref> a slang term can assume several levels of meaning and can be used for many reasons connected with identity. For example, male adolescents use the terms "foxy" and "shagadelic" to "show their belonging to a band, to stress their virility or their age, to reinforce connection with their peer group and to exclude outsiders, to show off, etc." These two examples use both traditional and nontraditional methods of word formation to create words with more meaning and expressiveness than the more direct and traditional words "sexy" and "beautiful": 
* The slang term "foxy" is arguably not even a case of word formation since this process, (denominal adjective with -y suffix from "fox") already occurred in the formation of this word with its standard English meanings of "foxlike, crafty, cunning". Instead, the traditional word's meaning is extended<ref>Mattiello: "From the semantic point of view, it instead acquires a novel sense which departs from the standard English meaning. It is frequently used among young men, who apply it to ‘attractive, desirable, pretty, sexy’ women."</ref> to "attractive, desirable, pretty, sexy" with the following added implications according to Mattiello: 
<blockquote>From the semantic point of view, slangy ''foxy'' is more loaded than neutral ''sexy'' in terms of information provided. That is, for young people ''foxy'' means having the quality of: (1) attracting interest, attention, affection, (2) causing desire, (3) excellent or admirable in appearance, and (4) sexually provocative, exciting, etc., whereas ''sexy'' only refers to the quality indicated in point (4).</blockquote>
* "shagadelic" is a combination of a slang term with a slang [[suffix]] and therefore is considered an "extra-grammatical" creation.

Matiello stresses that those [[Agency (sociology)|agents]] who identify themselves as "young men" have "genuinely coined" these terms and choose to use them over "canonical" terms —like beautiful or sexy—because of the indexicalized social identifications the former convey.

==== First and second order indexicality ====
In terms of first and second order indexicality, the usage of speaker-oriented terms  by male adolescents indicated their membership to their age group, to reinforce connection to their peer group, and to exclude outsiders.<ref name=Mattiello />

==== Higher-order indexicality ====
In terms of higher order indexicality, anyone using these terms may desire to appear fresher, undoubtedly more playful, faddish, and colourful than someone who employs the standard English term "beautiful". This appearance relies heavily on the hearer's third-order understanding of the term's associated social nuances and presupposed use-cases.<ref name=Mattiello />

=== Subculture associations ===
Often, distinct subcultures will create slang that members will use in order to associate themselves with the group, or to delineate outsiders.

Slang terms are often known only within a [[clique]] or [[ingroup]]. For example, [[Leet]] ("Leetspeak" or "1337") was originally popular only among certain internet subcultures such as [[Software cracking|software crackers]] and online video gamers. During the 1990s, and into the early 21st century, however, Leet became increasingly commonplace on the internet, and it has spread outside internet-based communication and into spoken languages.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mitchell|first=Anthony|title=A Leet Primer|date=December 6, 2005|url=http://www.technewsworld.com/story/47607.html#|access-date=2007-11-05|archive-date=April 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417170801/https://www.technewsworld.com/story/47607.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other types of slang include [[SMS language]] used on mobile phones, and "chatspeak", (e.g., "[[LOL]]", an acronym meaning "laughing out loud" or "laugh out loud" or [[ROFL]], "rolling on the floor laughing"), which are widely used in instant messaging on the internet.<ref>{{cite web|title=Slang Dictionary|url=http://slang-dictionary.weebly.com/|access-date=April 9, 2013|archive-date=May 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515232719/http://slang-dictionary.weebly.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

As subcultures are often forms of counterculture, which is understood to oppose the norm, it follows that slang has come to be associated with counterculture.

=== Social media and internet slang ===
Slang is often adopted from social media as a sign of social awareness and shared knowledge of [[popular culture]]. This type known as [[Internet Slang|internet slang]] has become prevalent since the early 2000s along with the rise in popularity of social networking services, including [[Facebook]], [[Twitter]], and [[Instagram]]. This has spawned new vocabularies associated with each new social media venue, such as the use of the term "friending" on Facebook, which is a [[verbification]] of "friend" used to describe the process of adding a new person to one's group of friends on the website, despite the existence of an analogous term "befriend". This term is much older than Facebook, but has only recently entered the popular lexicon.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Garber|first1=Megan|title='Friend,' as a Verb, Is 800 Years Old|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/friend-as-a-verb-is-800-years-old/278109/|work=[[The Atlantic]]|date=July 25, 2013|access-date=2 December 2014|archive-date=December 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221104116/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/friend-as-a-verb-is-800-years-old/278109/|url-status=live}}</ref> Other examples of slang in social media demonstrate a proclivity toward shortened words or acronyms. These are especially associated with services such as Twitter, which ({{asof|November 2017|lc=y}}) has a 280-character limit for each message and therefore requires a relatively brief mode of expression.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Moss|first1=Caroline|title=Our Updated Guide To Twitter Slang, Lingo, Abbreviations And Acronyms|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/a-guide-to-twitter-slang-lingo-abbreviations-and-acronyms-2013-9|work=[[Business Insider]]|date=9 September 2013|access-date=2 December 2014|archive-date=December 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228133352/http://www.businessinsider.com/a-guide-to-twitter-slang-lingo-abbreviations-and-acronyms-2013-9|url-status=live}}</ref> This includes the use of [[hashtags]] which explicitly state the main content of a message or image, such as #food or #photography.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fortunato|first1=Joe|title=The Hashtag: A History Deeper than Twitter|url=http://www.copypress.com/blog/the-hashtag-a-history-deeper-than-twitter/|website=copypress.com|date=July 2013|access-date=2 December 2014|archive-date=December 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217232607/http://www.copypress.com/blog/the-hashtag-a-history-deeper-than-twitter/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Debates about slang ===

Some critics believe that when slang becomes more commonplace it effectively eradicates the "proper" use of a certain language. However, academic (descriptive) linguists believe that language is not static but ever-changing and that slang terms are valid words within a language's lexicon. While [[Linguistic prescription|prescriptivists]] study and promote the socially preferable or "correct" ways to speak, according to a language's normative grammar and syntactical words, [[Linguistic description|descriptivists]] focus on studying language to further understand the subconscious rules of how individuals speak, which makes slang important in understanding such rules. [[Noam Chomsky]], a founder of anthropological linguistic thought, challenged structural and prescriptive grammar and began to study sounds and [[morpheme]]s functionally, as well as their [[language change|changes]] within a language over time.<ref>Rowe, Bruce M., and Diane P. Levine. 2012. ''A Concise Introduction to Linguistics'' 3rd edition. Boston: Prentice Hall. {{ISBN|978-0205051816}}</ref>