Language Innovation In Youth Speech

Abstract

The present research work is an attempt to analyze language innovations among the youngsters in an Algerian context, and particularly in Mostaganem. It mainly emphasizes the semantic level’s items used by both youth genders. Its main objective is to identify how young people invent new words and how these words contribute in language change. It also investigates the main reasons and motives which lead to such innovation and to its spread in a particular speech community. In order to test the hypothesis, a questionnaire has used as a collecting data method and it has been administrated to forty young people chosen randomly. Therefore, this research work shows that adolescence period plays a major role in linguistic innovations and young people show how much they are aware in selecting their words. In addition to the major role of media , social network , and globalization in the diffusion of such words and expressions .So , as a conclusion , « youth language » is a general term which includes language change and language varieties according to social , situational , personal and geographical variables .