Teens ‘use just 800 different words a day’

London: Teenagers use approximately 800 different words a day, a linguistic expert claims.

Apparently, the abbreviated “teenspeak” of text messages, social networking sites and Internet chat rooms are having significant effect on the vocabulary of youngsters. Professor of linguistics at Lancaster University, Tony McEnery, found in his research that top 20 words used by teenagers, including “yeah”, “no” and “but”, account for about a third of all words used. Now, Jean Gross, Britain’s new adviser on childhood language development, plans to launch a campaign to solve the problem. “Teenagers are spending more time communicating through electronic media and text messaging, which is short and brief,” a news daily quoted her as saying. She added: “We need to help today’s teenagers understand the difference between their textspeak and the formal language they need to succeed in life — 800 words will not get you a job. “I want teenagers going into workplaces and making videos of how people communicate and then putting them on YouTube for others to study.” Gross’s campaign targeting primary and secondary schools may be launched next year. ANI