Language is the bedfellow of politics
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There has been a debate among linguists about the language used by the rioters who shook up England recently — they are using slang and “bad grammar.”
I’m not British, so I’m making some assumptions here, but it seems to me that the very thing that these young people want to do is to overthrow a corrupt and worn out system. Why wouldn’t their rebellion extend to their language use? Language sleeps nightly with politics, and this is one of their children. Reacting to crises like wars or political breakdowns is one of the ways in which language changes quickly, otherwise it usually changes gradually.
The young rioters’ lives have been degraded by a powerful cadre of people who have ignored their needs and wishes and become rich beyond imagining in doing so. Why would they want to talk like them?
Language shock is one way of revolting without destruction, while at the same time annoying the heck out of the people they want to throw out of office and out of influence.
See link: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23978523-ghetto-grammar-robs-the-young-of-a-proper-voice.do
Exercise: This article would be a good base for an essay. Perhaps the focus could be the purpose of slang.
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