Lexical Innovations among Youngsters in Tipaza: A Sociolinguistic Investigation

Abstract

Within the field of sociolinguistics, lexical innovation among youth has been a subject that inspired researchers, in the sense that new words vary according to regional boarders and social variables, mainly age and gender. The focus of this research is to investigate to what extent do teenagers coin new words and identify the motives leading to linguistic innovation. The research approach adopted was based on a review of literature and the use of two research instruments, namely a questionnaire and a word list. The data collected were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings from this research provide evidence that the act of using new words by youth in their daily conversations is done on purpose, i.e. it is due to a number of reasons. They also show that this phenomenon might threaten Tipaza’s native and local languages. The main conclusion drawn from this study reveals that supporting the use of those words means threatening Standard Arabic as well as the Algerian dialects. Thus, awareness about the negative impact of linguistic innovation should be raised.