Case Study: Emotive and Colloquial Language

Teen Vogue

Teen Vogue is a US magazine which was launched in 2004 as a sister publication to Vogue, targeted at teenage girls. Like Vogue, it includes stories about fashion and celebrities. This magazine is targeted towards females from the age of 12-18 and covers all things pop culture, fashion, current celebrity news and stories there to inspire young women to be better people. Stories about young women the same age as the readers, such as the article I have chosen.

In this article, I have identified many phrases and words associated with young teenagers. From this language, I inferred the target audience and how the magazine tries to engage with its readers. From the beginning with phrases such as: “Kate Somers has crisscrossed the globe” and “the seventeen-year-old Canadian left her high heels at home” show that although the magazine is aimed to young women in their early to final years of tweenhood, the mag still insists on being quite eloquent and colloquial. There are no abbreviated words, ‘slang’ or any kind of teen- talk. From this I notice that the mag has taken a lot from the main branch of the magazine (Vogue) and is trying not to be any typical teen magazine, but one that smart, intellectual aspiring young women read. This has already excluded a class of teens that may not feel as if this kind of formal, classy magazine is for them. It makes it seem quite high end and quite advanced giving the reader a feeling of superiority in society. This magazine seems to be mainly for inform the reader rather than necessarily engaging the reader. The text that is seen on the article in concentrated to its bear necessity.

Why do magazines use colloquial language?

Most magazines use colloquial language to attract a certain crowd. Most very high end magazines such as Vogue, ELLE and BAZAAR use very eloquent, formal language to attract readers that understand language of that level, these readers are usually middle class women. By doing this it makes the reader feel some sort of superiority and higher class compared to everyone else. These magazines usually include exclusive interviews with a list celebrities and very important people in the public eye. By reading about these people’s lives and almost feeling how they feel makes the readers feel like they are one of them. By reading an expensive magazine, with exclusive interviews by a list celebrities the reader feels just as good as the a list celebs being interviewed as the way it is written makes them seem like they are of the same calibre.