English presentation

1. LANGUAGE IN THE 1990’S
By Megan & Jamie

2. Era
 The 1990s also abbreviated as "nineties“ began on 1st January 1990, and ended
on 31st December 1999.
 During the 1990’s there was a rise in multiculturalism and movements including
grunge, the rave scene and hip hop eventually began to spread around the word
through the development of new technology – cable television and the internet.
 New ethnic conflicts began to emerge in Africa, the Balkans and the Caucasus,
which led to the Rwandan genocide and Bosnian genocide.
Other events during the 1990’s:
 The Hubble Space telescope floated in space after it was taken up in 1990.
 1991- Gulf War
 Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell.
 1997 – Death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

3.  Technology – In the early 1990’s cell phones
were introduced, they were very large and
lacked extra features. Although they were
used by only a few people this would have
affected language and introduced text speak
as there was a small character limit per text.
Influences and changes

4. ‘Dip’ or ‘let’s dip’ This verb means to leave. Examples include:
‘Hang up on the phone and let’s dip’
‘See you guys later, we have to ‘dip’.
All that and a bag a chips This phrase was used by people to flatter
themselves.
"I'm the best and then some."
Atari This term was used among electronic musicians and
some ravers to describe horrid DJs.
‘That DJ is such an Atari’
Beans In American this word was used to describe dollars.
‘Let me borrow two beans for the soda’
Buzz Hype This phrase was used as an adjective to describe
something which was awesome or amazing
‘That’s so buzz hype’
Let's Bone Out This phrase was used as another way to say lets go.
‘Come on man, let’s bone out’
Slang terms of the 1990’s

5. Man, I'm Slammin This phrase was used to say I'm doing good today
‘Man, I’m slammin’
Lurker This terms was used to describe someone who
entered an electronic chat rooms without making a
contribution.
“He’s such a lurker’
Piggy This term was used to describe a cop or police man
‘He’s a piggy’
Snaps This word was used as another way of saying props
‘I had to give Dee snaps for her courageous fashion
efforts’
Yoink This phrase meant to steal or take from someone
‘Did you hear Cameron yoiked that old lady’
Fugly This word was used as an insult to describe someone
as extremely ugly
‘She’s so fugly’
Slang terms of the 1990’s

6. David Crystal
 In 1996 David Crystal published an English grammar book called ‘Rediscover Grammar’
 Crystal’s theory described how people’s dialects changed in various different locations. At
home people use the dialect of the region from which they come from. However when people
are travelling around Britain for work or pleasure people use standard English and when
travelling around the word people use World Standard English to fit in with their surroundings.
Jean Aitchison
 In 1996 Jean Aitchison published Reith Lectures (The Language Web) where she used a
series of metaphors to suggest people’s worries and fears about language change.
 Damp-spoon syndrome: Language changes because people are lazy, like leaving a damp
spoon in the sugar bowl, which is vulgar and in bad taste. This view presupposes that one
type of language is inferior to another
 Crumbling castle view: Language is like a beautiful castle that must be preserved. However,
language has never been at a pinnacle and a rigid system is not always better than a
changing one
 Infectious disease assumption: Bad/poor language is caught like a disease from those around
us and we should fight it; but people pick up language changes because they want to,
perhaps in order to fit in with certain social groups
Theorists

7. A N T S I R O E H T
T A N L E B E A N S
A L J E A L O N T J
R G R E A T T A H E
I P I G G N S L E A
C R Y S A M T Y O N
T E Y G G I P O R P
L A N G U A G E T C
Word search
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