Young Men & First-Order Indexicality: 'Dude' & Beyond - Essay Sample

Introduction

Indexicality refers to a sign pointing to something in its occurrence context. First order refers to observable linguistic practices while second order is reflexive perception. In the article, dude the first order indexical among the American teenagers, these examples usually include the discourse marker like, rising final intonation on declaratives, and the address term dude, which is cited as an example of the inarticulateness of young men in particular. In a particular stereotype views the use of dude as un con strained-a sign of inexpressiveness in which one word is used for any and all utterances. In the response to second order indexical meaning of dude, the data presented here confirm that dude is an address term that is used mostly by young men to address other young men; however, its use has expanded so that it is now used as a general address term for a group (same or mixed gender) and by and to women.The term dude is used by male peer groups mainly in situations in which a speaker takes a stance of solidarity or camaraderie. Dude indexes a stance of effortlessness, largely because of its origins in the "surfer" and "druggie" subcultures in which such stances are valued. This indexicality also explains where dude appears in discourse structure and why it tends to be used in a restricted set of speech events. The reason young men use this term is precisely that dude indexes this stance of cool solidarity. Among the adult men, dude allows them to create a stance within this narrow range, one of closeness with other men to satisfying masculine solidarity that also maintains a casual stance that keeps some distance and hence thus satisfying heterosexism.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The dude among the women is used when they were commiserating about something bad or being in an unfortunate position, when they were in confrontational situations and when they were issuing a directive to their addressee. Dude is used mostly by young men to address other young men also when navigating through cultural Discourses of young masculinity, which simultaneously demand masculine solidarity, strict heterosexuality, and nonconformity. Dude also is used as a symptom of becoming a more serious.

From the survey conducted, suggested that men, specifically young, drug-using men are the under influence of using dude among themselves when making conversations. Also, men use dude with women with whom they are close friends, but not with women with whom they are intimate.

Like and Language Ideology

The myths relating to Language have thrived since Language has acted as a function or pivot for a long time. For instance, the belief that individuals who are right-handed have a better proficiency in Language compare to the left-handed ones. In addition, the notion that women are more talkative compared to men and that the media, teenagers are ruining the Language. Like denotes concise propositional content where it is used as a verb- I don't really like her; Noun- He grew up with the likes; Adverb- It looks like a snail; Conjunction- it felt like a snail; Suffix- I went, or something like stroke-like. Like, should convey such meanings falls out from processes of semantic changes, since it has been conveying approximative content in English, and yet is rarely seen as a ground for distinguishing a specific function in the folk linguistic lore that surrounds like.

The vernacular forms of like can be applied anywhere. They can be inserted into an utterance at any point in the syntax that the speaker wishes. The combined use of marker and particle is responsible for a wide range of contexts across clause structure. The main reason for continued use is that the syntactic frame has developed gradually across generations. The use of like has been there for a long time and embedded itself in the common Language. This makes it hard for any individuals from a particular region to say, America, that identify with a particular language to even note the difference. It can be traced back to the 1930s, where the individuals who are in their 80's now were teens and used like more often in their speech.

It contributed to the launching of like into the social consciousness. The marker, and the particle and most likely the approximative adverb as well originated and developed amongst the counterculture groups of New York City. According to Dailey-O'Cain, women use like more often compared to men. She conducted research using questionnaires that had to parts: one demonstrating the particle while the other demonstrated the quotative. Additionally, it inquired whether the associated like women or men, where 83% of the respondents were in favor of women. Romaine and Lange outlined the existence of there being more likes. The functions were the vernacular category that entailed quotative complementizer, approximative adverb, discourse marker, and the discourse particle.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the article by Kiesling is still relevant to today's linguistic environment. The word dude is still popular amongst the young men and adult men. The new generation are responsible for transfer as they are the one which have embraced the usage. In the recent generation, the other word which maybe similar to dude is the word guy. This word has been used in most similar situations the only difference is that this word is popular among all the audience. Like has established itself as a part of the mainstream language that tracks back to the 1930s and this forms the basis of use. The Valley Girls prove how literature plays a vital role in the foundation of language to the readers.