Sociolects

1. Sociolects?

ex. 1 What are sociolects?

Read the Wikipedia page and answer the following questions.

1. What is a sociolect? Describ in your own words.

2. How do sociolects differ from regional dialects?

3. What are the main identifiers of sociolects?

2. Slang: can you speak teen?

Ex. 1 How good are you at teen speak?

Take the quiz and find out. Fill in the correct answers in your handout. 

Ex. 2 What is slang?

The words and expressions from the previous exercise are commonly used by teens. But what exactly is this kind of language? Listen to the speaker and fill in the grid in your handout. 

Ex. 3 British slang

Teenagers in different regions of the United Kingdom use different slang. To illustrate these differences, the BBC gave the same sentence to teenagers in different parts of the country and asked how they would say it in their slang. 

Look at the map of the UK and read the six sentences in teenagers' slang. Can you decipher what the sentence is in standard English? Fill in the missing words in your handout. 

John's __________ is __________. But she got mad with him the other day because he wanted to __________ instead of __________. She got __________ and stormed off. It was __________.