Throughout history, language has always been transforming to effectively capture the collective spirit of an era and to accommodate new developments in society. Similarly, a large proportion of Generation Z and Alpha are increasingly devising and adopting internet-born vocabulary, exemplified by playful expressions, known as “slang”, such as “aura farming”, “fanum tax”, “sigma”, and “skibidi”. This has sparked an ongoing debate over whether this trend may represent the linguistic creativity and cultural uniqueness while adhering to natural evolution of language, erode interpersonal skills in certain formal situations, or actually create generation gaps. From my perspective, although the widespread adoption of slang may undermine individuals’ communication skills under certain circumstances, I firmly agree with the first and the third notion due to several reasons.
On the one hand, opponents contend that overusing slang can erode the effectiveness of communication in formal settings. A possible explanation is that prolonged exposure to these informal phrases might lead young individuals to internalise non-standard expressions. In other words, the excessive use of slang can make certain expressions habitual, causing individuals to subconsciously use them in interactions without considering their appropriateness or contextuality. For instance, during a seminar or other professional environments, a person using slang without realising the seriousness of the meeting potentially results in misunderstanding, awkwardness, or unexpected conflicts. At school, putting in too many informal expressions might, in some situations, be considered a disrespectful and irreverent behaviour. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that individuals can actively switch their registers depending on the context, and that whether informal expressions can be considered disrespectful remains contingent on tones and other visual cues such as facial expressions and body language.
Conversely, those espousing the widespread use of slang argue that it can reflect linguistic creativity, cultural identity of the young generations, and the natural evolution of language. The first argument focuses on the formation of slang itself. These informal expressions are usually created based on modifications to existing standard words to adapt with new trends like absurdist humour, including popular techniques such as reconfiguring word forms, departing from conventional grammatical rules, and compounding new word combinations. By playing with standard lexicon, these processes might effectively demonstrate the creativity of a particular generation. Not only linguistic creativity, the coinage of slang might also contribute to cultural identity. Since most of these playful expressions often stem from viral trends on social media or communities coming from the same generation, young people might find slang more recognisable and engaging. This sense of belonging within younger generations could lead to widespread adoption and the formation of a subculture, which does not substitute the value accumulated by the previous generations, but enriches and integrates itself into the cultural heritage inherited intergenerationally. Though the adoption of slang can be regarded as “unnatural”, it follows similar patterns with natural evolution of language. Throughout human history, the aim of language evolution has always been to maximise the feeling of novelty while minimising cognitive burden when acquiring new knowledge, and the young generation’s slang, in some cases, is no exception. When being constantly used, these phrases might either become obsolete or instilled in daily conversations, which bears relative resemblance with words like “exam” and “math”, which are so prevalent in today’s conversations that many people forget they were once informal expressions of “examination” and “mathematics”, devised by students.
Meanwhile, I concede that the concern over generation gaps is also valid. The underlying reason can be traced back to the uniqueness of slang itself, which usually requires actual immersion and firsthand experience in younger generation’s cultures to be fully understood. This barrier might be insurmountable for older people who may not have sufficient access to digital platforms and smartphones, or may have children who are not willing to explain their “inside” jokes. Because each generation has its own norms, people from different periods may have distinct definitions and sentiments towards the same phrases. The word “goon” can be a prime example. Putting lesser-known variations aside, while this word was largely used by older generations to describe a group of henchmen, younger individuals nowadays usually refer to it as a sexual activity. This mismatch in viewpoints between generations therefore might lead to either embarrassing situations or occasional conflicts, which could cause people from one generation to feel hesitant to share their ideas with people from other generations.
To recapitulate, although the widespread adoption of slang among young individuals may erode their ability to communicate effectively in formal settings, I firmly believe that it can reflect linguistic creativity, cultural identity while contributing to the natural evolution of language, and that it may exacerbate generation gaps. Therefore, to ensure effective communication, the problem does not lie in the informal expressions themselves, but rather in individuals’ ability to recognise the appropriateness and contextuality of slang depending on the person with whom they interact, and the theme of settings in which they are involved.