EL Essay examples

Jargon (Brad Banducci, Obfuscation)

In recent federal court hearings, former Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci deployed highly specialised financial acronyms to evade scrutiny regarding alleged price gouging. By repeatedly pivoting away from standard financial metrics to the niche jargon of 'Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)', Banducci attempted to establish an obfuscatory linguistic barrier. As noted by Senator Nick McKim, this register shift functioned as a deliberate attempt at "obfuscating the company's true profitability." Ultimately, Banducci’s reliance on this exclusive corporate sociolect illustrates how individuals utilise overt institutional prestige to construct a wall of jargon, alienating the public out-group and attempting to mitigate threats to their corporate face.

Jargon (Dentist, James Tran)

For example, in the recent 2026 article by Dr James Tran titled “Tooth Numbering explained: how dentists name your teeth”, Tran illustrates the use of jargon through the declarative sentence, “The radiograph shows a carious lesion affecting tooth 16, with an occlusal restoration required”. The noun phrases “Carious lesion” and “occlusal restoration”, are dentistry jargon which allow for precise and effective communication despite alienating patients. This simultaneously constructs overt prestige, meaning that anyone that is capable of effectively utilising this jargon portrays themselves as someone within the oral health in-group and constructs an educated professional identity.

Jargon (Michael Sainato, “Corporate Bullshit”)

In Michael Sainato’s April 2026 article titled, “Workers who fall for ‘corporate bullshit’ tend to be worse at their jobs”, Sainato explores how excessively abstract lexis alienates and attacks the positive face needs of others. For Instance, in the declarative sentence, “I bring an evolution of solutioning conversations, ideating human capital and pivoting bandwidth”, the use of denominal verb “solutioning” is used solely for its connoted meaning which alludes to workplace success without promising it. Despite being lexically innovative, the language carries no increase in semantic weight. Though , to some, the language does achieve its intent of painting a positive professional image but to others it is seen as the individuals attempt at creating a workplace hierarchy, directly attacking coworkers’ positive face needs and causing disruption in the workplace.

Ethnolects (Singlish, Oxford Dict)

Time Out Singapore's coverage of the Oxford English Dictionary's 2026 intake of Singlish terms illustrates how a historically stigmatised colloquial variety can accrue overt prestige through codification by a prestigious linguistic institution. Words such as ‘kaypoh’ and ‘jialat’, once confined to informal spoken registers, are legitimised as the OED extends recognition to non-standard lexis. The playful, informal register of the article itself — exemplified by the colloquial idiom in its own title, ‘don't play play’ — mirrors and celebrates the very variety under discussion, positioning Singlish speakers as an in-group whose

Ethnolects (Wallahi)

A term that has come to use recently in contemporary Australian society is the emphatic discourse marker “Wallahi” which is an Arabic borrowing translating to “I swear to god”, brought to relevance in Australian vernacular by the Lebanese-Australian group and indicates an individual's identity that is linked to islamic belonging. However, in recent times, due to its frequent use, youth that do not align with islam nor have  middle-eastern background are also using the term, shifting its effect as an indicator of religion and ethnic background to an indicator of belonging to the Youth in-group. Regardless, it acts to convey an aspect of identity to others.

Ethnolects (Albo Ramadan)

In Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’ formal address of Islamic practice ‘Ramadan’ in february 2026, he opens with a borrowed Arabic formulaic utterance rather than a standard English “Good morning”. This acts as a symbol of accommodation. By adopting the lexicon of the minority group, the Prime Minister reduces social distance and attends to the positive face needs of Muslim Australians; signalling that Islam is not considered “foreign”, but a respected part of contemporary Australian society.

Slang (Lauren Robinson, other generations)

In November 2025, Lauren Robinson’s article titled “Gen Alpha is mortified by all of us and we keep making it worse”, explores the effect of digital slang. In the declarative sentence, “When older generations use slang that’s meant to be safeguarded, it is the equivalent of gatecrashing their treehouse”, Robinson explores how covert prestige is established between youth worldwide through their use of slang to reflect an identity. Robinson uses the noun “treehouse” to metaphorically refer to the digital slang that youth use as its own private linguistic in-group outside of parental understanding. This also illustrates how differing age groups can not gain covert prestige despite

Kate Burridge (ethnolect)

Ethnicity is an important part of social identity and something that people want to demonstrate through their use if language.

Slang (Dictionary.com)

In 7NEWS’ coverage of Dictionary.com’s 2026 Word of the Year neologism “maxxing”, journalists stated that “it’s now your go-to noun, verb, adjective, and adverb, all in one.”, highlighting the multifunctional usage of the neologism and semantic flexibility. Furthermore, the public codification of “maxxing” by a prestigious linguistic organsation demonstrates how youth-driven, informal internet slang can accrue overt linguistic legitimacy, transitioning from an in-group marker with covert prestige to a codified part of contemporary Australian vernacular.

Slang (caitlin vinci)

In Caitlin Vinci’s April 2026 article titled “Parents’ guide to the shifting slang of 2026”, Vinci documents the rapid evolution of contemporary youth vernacular. Notably, the verb “ate” has undergone semantic broadening as a result of digital discourse. The verb previously referred to the literal consumption of food, but has expanded to function as an emphatic marker of approval, and indicating that an individual executed something with style or excellence. This linguistic innovation establishes covert prestige and reinforces generational in-group identity.