street language
Colloquial urban dialect
Street language is informal speech associated with urban neighborhoods, often originating among young people, minorities, or marginalized groups.
It includes slang, profanity, and expressions that differ from standard or formal English: He code-switches between street language at home and professional speech at work.
The term can carry class or racial undertones depending on context.
- vernacularEveryday regional speech
- slangInformal in-group vocabulary
- hip-hopRhythmic spoken-word music
- argotGroup-specific coded speech
- colloquialismCasual conversational expression
code-switching · neologism · informal speech · keeping it real · real talk · subculture · patois · urban slang · cant · code words · spoken word poetry · Cockney rhyming slang · oral tradition · idiom · urban culture · dialect · hustle · attitude
- slangslang, jargon, lingo, argot, cant
- languagesEnglish, Arabic, Chinese, German, French
- Hip-Hoprapper, rappers, rhymes, beat, lyrics
- criminal slangprison slang, criminal code, drug slang, prison code, cant
street languageformal language
Elevated, rule-governed expression
proper English · Queen's English · King's English · formal speech · elevated language