Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 11. Number1 March 2020                                           Pp.419-431
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol11no1.28

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A Thorough Examination of Teens Drug Slang in Algeria 

Nadia GHOUNANE
Department of English Language and Literature
Faculty of Letters and Languages
Saida University, Algeria

 

 

 

Abstract:
Investigating the world of the drug through providing a linguistic scholarship on the coded forms employed by addicts is not an easy task because they tend to form the slang lexis that keeps them out of trouble with the law and their parents when it comes to teenagers. Several investigations showed that drugs become prevalent among schoolers in comparison to cigarettes; for this reason, teens tend to develop street drug expressions commonly known as slang names to ease their access into the very dark and secretive world of drugs and steroids. In this vein, the present research paper pursues to shed light on Algerian teens and their use of drug slang terms. It also provides a thorough overview of the slang created by Algerian youngsters to facilitate the exchange of drug products. In this tight, the researcher made a profound investigation by taking Tlemcen speech community as a case in point. The researcher collected data through a semi-structured questionnaire and an interview. To this end, the results provided an in-depth look at what is behind the backdrop of the drug world. The analysis revealed that there is increasing use of slang terms between teens at secondary schools, especially words for selling and buying drugs. The findings also demonstrated that teens have created slang terms for the most widely employed types of drugs like ecstasy, heroin, L.S.D, and barbiturates.
KeywordsA sociolinguistic investigation, drugs, slang expressions, Tlemcen society, youngsters

Cite as: GHOUNANE, N.  (2020). A Thorough Examination of Teens Drug Slang in Algeria.  Arab World English Journal, 11 (1) 419-431.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol11no1.28

References

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9491-7981
https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol11no1.28

Dr Nadia GHOUNANE is a lecturer of English language and literature at Dr Moulay Tahar
University of Saida, Algeria. Her teaching area includes academic reading and writing, English
pronunciation, research methodology, grammar and sociolinguistics. She published several
articles in fields of sociolinguistics, TEFL and literary studies. She also published two books in
sociolinguistics and academic writing. Her recent activities are devoted to developing an
approach to teach pronunciation in relation to MALL.