Informal Language Observation

For me, it was very difficult to find a group of teenagers to observe, this semester I do not have any fieldwork, my train rides are short. I found out that students from the local high school near my house usually have lunch at Panera Bread café, I decided to go there and see how they interact. Normally, the half empty café feels in with a loud crowd at three in the afternoon. Students tend to stay in groups of 3-5 people. They are very loud, often not considerate of people around them. They use informal language and curse frequently. Adolescents use cell phones frequently; they like to keep their devices so others can see them, possibly, to display a nice brand (latest iPhone) or to show their enhanced social lives to their friends.
I had few opportunities to observe how adolescents communicate with each other. Their conversations are usually full of body movements, gesticulation, and touching. From my last semester fieldwork, I noticed that adolescents are often …show more content…
They can talk about absolutely silly and, from adult perspective, senseless things, like who is hottest British actor or give names to each other based on the TV shows they watch, as with the boy from Q train, who called his friend Gabby, the Gabrielle - Xena’s lesbian. On the other hand, adolescents’ conversations could be very sophisticated, concerning things they are worried about, like getting their first electric shaver. Teenagers talk about what they like, shows they watch, school, things they want to buy, and everything else that interests them.
I was surprised by how teenagers use their body to communicate. Every conversation I observed seemed very important to its participants. They were gesticulating, waving their hands, touching each other. Not always I had a chance to hear their conversations, but only by looking at the way adolescents move, use their phones, and interact with each other, I distinguish a difference between them and