“He has a lot of mood”: A 14-year-old student used this phrase in a conversation with her mother, who looked at her open-mouthed, as she did not understand anything. The student meant…he has very good company“.

Each generation communicates with a linguistic code that seems foreign to what the previous generations knew. Many new words have appeared in the language of today’s youth, which have been largely influenced by friction with the Internet, especially with social networks, music and television.

“This is not a current phenomenon, it has always been. Young people from 12 to 18, and maybe more, developed their own language code, with the help of which they communicated with each other and formed in accordance with their interests and activities, ”says“ K ”. George Xidopoulosprofessor of linguistics at the University of Patras.

It reveals the difference between previous generations and the current “in speed what all these elements come with”, that is, how they are distributed in the world.

“Children have a different way of communicating with each other through the Internet and social networks, which contributes to the spread of new words and habits that affect their vocabulary – music, as well as games. A lot of vocabulary comes directly from there,” he emphasizes.

But how do parents react to all these words? We asked her Athena Sokolishead of the publishing house of the same name, mother of two teenage children.

She notes that her children have two different ways of writing in Greek exactly the same expression.

“My eldest daughter supports a more accurate orthographic transcription of the Greek language in the Latin alphabet. My son, the most heard, simplified route,” he says, adding that they both use this link code for convenience, speed, and because it’s trendy.

It is also fashionable to speak the “language” of their generation, their own “sociology”, as it makes them feel cool, because it ensures their acceptance by their peers, close and wider, by the community.

What Greek do young people speak today?

“Children have a mysterious way of communicating that we can barely understand. They try to communicate in such a way that others do not understand what they are saying, so many words are unfamiliar to us. The way it influences the way of thinking has to do with other things as well, and not so much with the language of everyday life, which is as important as the most formal language. The use of language by young people helps the language to renew itself, it is a mechanism for renewal,” emphasizes Mr. Xidopoulos.

Ms. Sokolis gives a sociological dimension: Like all adolescents, through the rejection of established patterns of behavior and “official” language, through role-playing and experimentation, they form a worldview. their personal and social identity.

“Something healthy, appropriate for their age. As a teenager and still in my early youth, I myself remember using some specific words or stereotypical expressions without correspondence in common language, but expressing the interests and teenage culture of that particular era. Some of them are still preserved, and I laugh when I hear them from the lips of my children. I often use them when talking to them so that they feel that our age gap is closing and that I can understand their concerns and interests.”

Sociologist-researcher, Caterina Fitialu, Ph.D., emphasizes: “Based on my personal experience as a teacher and mother of two girls aged 8 and 18, I will say that a polyphonic, symbolic language of communication, difficult to decode by older people, implicitly permeates the world. tropisms of youth interaction with people. It receives many stimuli from the phenomenon of globalization, as well as from the new perspectives emerging in social networks. To be more specific with an example:

• Mom, don’t sulk in front of my best friend, because now we will have a real fight!
• Okay, photo. Whatever!

Thus, the “shrink” (embarrassing, embarrassing), “legitimate” (true, confirmed, guaranteed) and “biff” (struggle, argument) I just mentioned decode into the globalized metalanguage you hear in Greece. but also in Europe, America, etc.”

multitasking

Giorgos Khidopoulos believes that young people “in everyday life, with their friends, use a language with a lot of foreign words, with simple non-standard structures”. And emphasizes the importance of language education: “If you see what these children are taught in school, it becomes clear that we never end up with a positive result.”

“Today, children have dozens of stimuli: sound, image. When we were students, we had a book that we read, we had a different contact with the text, today children have contact and read in a much more fragmented way – we see this even now at the university, they cannot concentrate for more than 20 minutes, – he says and adds: “It has to do with multitasking, the fact that daily communication through devices teaches children to multitask at the same time – this cannot help to concentrate on one thing.” . This limits not so much the language code as the ability to read a novel, a text that is longer and cannot be read in 20 minutes. We are also concerned that we have to create courses that change every 20 minutes.”

The Impact of News and the Role of Social Media

“The current affairs that concern young children today are different from those that concern older people. What matters to a young person is what an influencer on Instagram, TikTok, etc. said and did, what such and such a celebrity was wearing and where she was photographed,” emphasizes Ms. Fitsialu, adding: “The dazzling image was imposed , which clouded the vision of young children and changed their value code, shifting it towards the superficial, illusory, illusory. Newly born children are collectors of hallucinatory experiences whose basic social identity is that of a “consumer” in a highly fluid social field. They consume relationships, friendships, experiences as quickly as they consume junk food at a fast food restaurant.

She points out that text messages in chat and sms violate every rule of syntax and grammar.

• -Prp nt pm smr!
• -Okay, with prn with 2!

“Did you understand what was said above crosstalk; It’s very simple no vowels at all. This is how young people write today when they use, for example, a messenger for text messaging. How can we characterize this? How to simplify words? How to cancel all rules?

“Basic Incentives Missing”

“As a mother, philologist and editor, I believe that the problem is not so much the traditional use of Greek on digital platforms and in chat rooms or the acquisition of a specific “sociological language” in adolescence, but the lack of additional necessary incentives,” she emphasizes from the outside. Mrs Sokolis.

“Computers, the Internet, English – as the main language for the formation of words – have forever entered the life of everyone, and this will not change. But what can change are the incentives we offer the child to bring him into significant contact with the Greek language and Greek culture: through reading a book, visiting a museum, a theatre, travelling, giving it quality time in General.”

Digital Natives

Giorgos Xidopoulos tries to draw a comparison: “Place a child who graduated from elementary school in 1970 next to a child who finishes school today. He will know one millionth of what a child knows today.”

Continuing, he notes that there is a special term: “These kids are called digital natives. They are more familiar with different types of writing, such as Greek, but this is not something that affects their language. They use a code, which is a digital written code, to make it easier for practical purposes. Thus, using the Greek language does not mean that I lose the ability to learn how to write the Greek alphabet or follow the rules of standard spelling. I’m just using this particular code for some reason. These kids have this characteristic, we don’t perceive it that way because we are digital immigrants. When we were 12-13 years old, there was nothing digital, we migrated to the digital age.”

“I’m sick, I’m bending…”

The reporter Alexandra Kentrotis collected (and “translated”) a number of words and expressions.

• POS: It’s short for “Over The Shoulder Parent”. Used either on the phone or in chats when dad or mom is next to the child while he is talking with his friends.
• Krinjaro: a word we hear a lot but never understand what it really means. To a greater or lesser extent, it is used by someone who is disgusted, disgusted, ashamed, perhaps combined with embarrassment, due to the attitude or actions of another person.
• I send spam: We all know what spam means (it comes from the English word “spam” and is used when someone constantly sends messages or calls someone non-stop). It’s strange that today teenagers deliberately spam each other. For fun.
• Bro and bro: Bro comes from the English “brother”, which means “brother”. Bro, this is how you call someone you hold dear and feel close to. A bro is an old friend (who, of course, can be a bro, but, above all, is a bro).
• Teku: If your child calls you “tekku”, do not thank him. It’s not a compliment. He curses you. He calls you stupid and stupid.
• Beef: When you hear your children say they have beef, they mean that they had a fight with someone – there was tension – they started an argument, but they fought only with words, not with blows, kicks and so on.
• I’m in love: So I stepped on her, I fell in love.
• I bend, I bend: I googled and found out that “flex” means “show off”.
• Career: The word “career” has acquired a completely different meaning. In the past, having a career meant investing in your professional life and moving forward successfully. Today, a “career” is when you have to do something tedious, difficult and demanding.
• kill: Fina, cool.
• Fasaya: The type who wears plaid shirts, smokes weed and hangs out with other pheasants.