چکیده (انگلیسی):

The 1960s are often cited as the most tumultuous and transformative years of the
American 20
th
century, and a significant portion of this revolution is attributed to
the counterculture of the era. In addition to the manifold political and social
changes the counterculture invoked, it also brought about linguistic variation in
terms of vocabulary. Whether they manipulated existing expressions to launch
discussion or created new terms to describe changes as they occurred, dissenting
counterculture groups altered the mainstream American English vocabulary to serve
their revolutionary purposes. Initially, these lexicon changes further separated the
counterculture from the primary culture, but as the 1960s came to a close,
conventional culture had adopted many of the counterculture terms and
manipulations. In this presentation, I examine the vocabulary used by various 1960s
counterculture groups, their reasons and necessities for new terminology, and how
and why the mainstream culture of the time adopted the innovative expressions. I
propose that the phenomenon of mainstream adoption represents linguistic change
in progress. The general age dichotomy between young counterculture rebels and
the adult mainstream demonstrates a chasm between the two cultures created not
only by ideology but generation. I suggest that media targeted specifically at
American youth and a Generation X adolescent peak in the use of Baby Boomer
counterculture terms bridged the gap between the counter and mainstream cultures
and assimilated the counterculture lexicon into mainstream language. I also briefly
examine how the counterculture vocabulary adaptation still occurs within the 21
st
century with the continued help of popular media, youth, and fascination with 1960s
culture.