slangleaning
Slangleaning is a term used in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis to describe the process by which slang meanings spread through a speech community and recalibrate the semantic field of related terms. It focuses on how speakers actively lean into informal usages, which can alter connotations, pragmatics, and social meaning without formal endorsement by institutions. The term, a blend of slang and leaning, is used descriptively; its exact origin is debated and it is not tied to a single theoretical school.
Mechanisms include semantic extension, where a word gains new senses or strengthens existing ones; metaphorical extension
Researchers study slangleaning through corpus analysis, social media ethnography, and interviews. They track how a term's
Examples are typically context-dependent: a term with a neutral or positive sense in broader language may acquire
Related concepts include slang, semantic change, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics.