I thought I would touch on diction in terms of writing. What exactly is diction? To put it simply, it is the level of speech one uses in their writing. There are different levels of diction from refined legalize down to Vulgate language. Obviously there is no wrong diction, only appropriate diction. That is to say depending on how sophisticated or learned a character is will determine their level of diction. For example, there is a difference between a character saying "I did not do it" rather than "I didn't do it" or worse "I din't do it." Contractions can be used to emphasize a person's lack of knowledge or simply social etiquette. This is not to say that only stupid characters use contractions, but there is a notable difference between a character who uses and another who does not use contractions.
Sometimes diction pertains to a person's accent or the way they talk. Some authors may simply say, "The man spoke with a heavy Irish accent, 'Aye, lass, I'll be with you in a moment.'" However, diction can be used to phonetically spell what the person may be saying, "Aye lass, I be wid you ina moment." Obviously if you read it in your mind with an Irish accent, it sounds perfectly fine. The problem with using this style of diction is when switching between someone with a particular diction to another, it requires to reader to switch back and forth, and it can disrupt the reading experience.
In terms of science fiction writing, machines or AI can use limited diction to set them apart from colloquial human speech. Remember that unless the machine is made to be a learning machine, it is only programmed with a set vocabulary. AI that can learn may start off not using contractions until they learn to be more human and begin using them along with slang.
It is also important to think about the words you write which includes slang. There is cultural slang, regional slang, and period slang. Cultural slang are words that only certain cultures may use that others might not. An example would be "pwnd" used typically in the gaming community. It was originally supposed to be "owned" but a game developer made a typo and it read "pwned." It is not pronounced "Pawned."
Regional slang is used in parts of the country. With the Internet and phones, a lot of slang crosses over from where the slang may originate, but certain slang words may be used in the south, or west, or north, or the north-east.
Period slang are words that were used during a certain period in history. "Gee Willikers!" for instance is not used much now, but it was during the early years of television. It is also important to point out that slang can be from multiple categories. There might be slang from a certain period but only in a particular region.
There is also a huge amount of slang different from Americans in other English speaking countries like the UK and Australia. If a character is from England, it is important to get their diction correct. American diction paints some pretty broad strokes as to how people talk as I noted a couple paragraphs ago. The UK is no different, but the regions are much smaller. Know where the character is from, and how people talk from that area.
The old saying "Cursing is a sign of a person's lack of intelligence" may or may not be true. Some people just like to swear. However, some people have a wide vocabulary and are able to articulate their thoughts without resorting to typical swear words. Certain cultures or sub-cultures swear like it is second nature: cops, baseball players, and as the saying goes "like the mouth of a sailor." Not every cop, baseball player, or sailor are unintelligent, it is the culture they are in that uses vulgar language.
There are a few considerations an author must take when deciding how a person may talk. Lacing a person's dialogue with profanities probably will not get a book published for children or teens, even if it is accurate to the character. Know who you are writing for. "He cursed on his breath," or "she stubbed her toe and swore," are substitutes for vulgar language. It gets the point across allowing a younger audience to read your story. As I said, some people are born into a culture of this type of language where businessmen drop the f-bomb every other word. In terms of writing, vulgar language can be a useful tool. Some people may never curse, but only when they are angry. The use of language in the dialogue can convey how a character is feeling without having to explain it out-right. For instance, "It was you, you son of a bitch!" can convey anger without the need for including "Bob said with anger."
Diction can be used to convey a lot of ideas about a character: their culture, perhaps their level of education, where they are from, when they are from, and their temperament. It can also show a person's age, maturity level, or being a cultural fish out of water by using slang or curse words in the wrong context. If you listen to typical young people talk, there is not much substance to it, and often times their grammar is very poor. Sometimes for a reader, staying true to a character is not always important if every other word is not an f-bomb, but the word "like" or "ya know."
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