There was a time, many-many decades ago, when Esperanto was touted as the “Universal Language of the Future”. It occurred to almost no one at the time that the Universal language would eventually be Slanguage; the language which takes words from a vast number of other languages and dialects, mixes them up – hones, refines and crafts, helping define countries, regions, cities and even neighborhoods.
There has always been slang – the almost exclusive property of youth, underworld and divergent communities all over the world – been that way for centuries. Countless studies and even dictionaries have been written explaining slang, defining slang and attributing slang – but it’s only been since the 1970s that Slang has taken on a language almost of its own; thanks largely to the emergence of Rap and Hip-Hop – and through those two genres the universal, world-wide appeal, has become an evolution of language that has probably never happened before at any time in our culture.
When you consider mass communication in general as something that only in recent decades has become a source of instant recognition, slang terms of 100 years ago were slow to evolve because they traveled with the speaker usually coming into contact with two or three people or read in a newspaper and noticed by perhaps a few thousand – but that would happen over time, often years.
Today, Slanguage is conveyed within seconds to millions, if not billions, throughout the world – a word or phrase is picked up almost instantly, and very often changes meaning in the same amount of time.
This documentary produced by BBC Radio 1 Extra (the Urban service of the BBC), makes for fascinating listening. Taking the British slant on things, with British slang by and large coming from West Indian and Eastern cultural roots – mixed with American slang by way of Hip Hop and Rap – picked up in American cities; broken down, dissected and remixed – it’s an endless evolution of exchange and influence, going hand-in-hand with Popular Culture and extending far beyond mere borders – Slanguage is everywhere and its constant.
This documentary was produced in 2005 and it’s without a doubt certain that most of what is spoken has become obsolete – that’s the nature of popular culture; it’s of the moment and the future isn’t given much thought.
But if you love language and the origin of words, this is an essential half-hour to dive into.
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