Morphology / Semantics

Brooke Rosa-Peterson
ENG420
Professor Gonzalez
Observation

▪ Who: (4) Teenage Students; (2) Females & (2) Male

▪ Where: Cafeteria
▪ When: During Lunch Break

The four students were engaged in a conversation while seated in the

cafeteria during their lunch break. The two boys sat on one side of the
table while the two girls sat across from them. The students were
between the ages of 13 and 15 years old.
The WORDS I Heard…

▪ CAPPING ▪ WHATEVER
▪ DOPE ▪ SALTY
▪ SAVAGE ▪ BRUH
▪ CURVED ▪ FAM
▪ LIT ▪ FIRE
But What Does It Mean?

CAPPING
A term used to describe “when someone
is saying something that is either false,
seems false or is highly opinionated”.
e.g. “Why you always capping?”
DOPE
A term used to describe “something as
being cool.”
e.g. “Your new shoes are dope!”
But What Does It Mean?

SAVAGE CURVED
“A savage is some who does not care “To reject or stand-up.”
about the consequences of his or her
actions.”. e.g. “I curved him when he asked me
to the dance.”
e.g. “You threw his new hat in the
trash? You’re a savage!”
But What Does It Mean?

LIT WHATEVER
A term to describe when “something is A term used to describe when one is
amazing.” “indifferent to what a person is saying.”
e.g. “The birthday party was lit!” e.g. “I don’t care, whatever.”
But What Does It Mean?

SALTY BRUH
The act of “being upset, angry, or bitter Another way to ‘seriously?’ or ‘really?’”
as result of being made fun of or
embarassed.” e.g. “Bruh? Why though?”

e.g. “She is always acting salty.”

But What Does It Mean?

FAM FIRE
A term used to describe or A term used to describe something as
acknowledge“one’s closest friends”. being really good or cool.
e.g. “How are you today fam?” e.g. “That steak was fire!”
Expectations and Understanding
Going into my observation, I believe I was well
aware and prepared to hear the wide variety of
slang used amongst the teenagers. Working
with students with emotionally and behavioral
challenges, I expected to hear more
inappropriate language and cursing but was
surprised that in a small-group, more intimate
conversation and setting, the teenagers didn’t
engage in the use of excessive profanity.
“Adolescents are generally very skilled at 'code switching'
or adapting their communication for various audiences”
(Hughes). While the teenagers communicated with one
another they tapped into their interpersonal
communication skills to express through a common or
“shared language” their ideas, feelings and emotions.
I recall when I was a teenager also engaging in this sort of
“shared language” with my peers. Many times when I
would be on the phone with my friends, my parents would
overhear my conversation and encourage me to use more
proper vocabulary that they knew I understood and was
capable of using as opposed to what they referred to as
‘slang’.
Being an adult now, I have paid more attention and
noticed “that adolescents use and even produce new slang
terms frequently. Although this is primarily a mechanism
for demonstrating connection with their particular peer
group, it also reveals the adolescent’s growing ability to
use figurative or metaphoric references meaningfully”
(Hughes).
Connections
MORPHOLOGY
I noticed that many of the words used by the
group of teenagers took on a new form. For
example, the word “lit” is most commonly used
as a verb to describe the past tense action of
lighting something. The group of teenagers
used the word “lit” as an adjective to describe
something as being ‘cool’ or ‘good’. This was a
common occurrence for quite a few of the
words observed. Slang “is often dismissed as
'loose' or 'bad' language, but in fact, in slang we
find morphological processes at their most
active. Slang works because we share all the
morphological processes that create it, even if
we don't all share the slang words themselves"
(Morphology).
SEMANTICS
Most of the time, “we speak and understand
speech perfectly well without consciously
considering all these levels of meaning. But
from a linguistic point of view, the nature of
meaning cannot be taken for granted”
(Semantics). Any observer who is unfamiliar
with the terms/words the teenagers were using
could have misinterpreted the conversation
between these four students. There were a
couple instances in which I had to stop and
think, “what could that mean?”, as I was
unfamiliar with what they were saying. This is
where semantics comes into play, especially in
effective communication. Slang can be seen as
metaphorical language and often uses idioms,
coming from a “shared cultural knowledge”
(Semantics).
Applied Knowledge

With this understanding of language

development and its stages, I think it is
important for educators to understand
their audience. Teaching students at a
level they understand and applying it to
real-life scenarios is an effective strategy.
Implementing lessons and activities that
allows students to relate helps them to
gain an understanding at their own level. I
think this activity was eye-opening in
understanding that although there are
standards to teaching including
expectations, that there also has to be a
greater understanding of just how to
effectively teach these “standards”.
Educators need to take into consideration
cultural, emotional and social factors
when in comes to teaching language and
its principles.
Tools

Morphological Awareness within

a classroom is important because
it is the foundation for linguistic
development.
English Linguistics is the "nuts
and bolts" of the English
language (phonology,
morphology, grammar and
syntax, semantics and discourse)
helps to give teachers necessary
skills to teach English language
learners” (Linguistics).
References

▪ Hughes, R. (n.d.). Adolescents. Retrieved from

https://csuspeechgroup6.weebly.com/adolescents.html.Morphology.
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://linguistics4teachingellsk-
5.weebly.com/morphology.html.
▪ Linguistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://linguistics4teachingellsk-
5.weebly.com/
▪ Morphology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://linguistics4teachingellsk-
5.weebly.com/morphology.html.
▪ Semantics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://linguistics4teachingellsk-
5.weebly.com/morphology.html.