They’re, Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve

[groovedaddy]

From Valley Girls to the Kardashians, young women have long been mocked for the way they talk.

Whether it be uptalk (pronouncing statements as if they were questions? Like this?), creating slang words like “bitchin’ ” and “ridic,” or the incessant use of “like” as a conversation filler, vocal trends associated with young women are often seen as markers of immaturity or even stupidity.

Right?

But linguists — many of whom once promoted theories consistent with that attitude — now say such thinking is outmoded. Girls and women in their teens and 20s deserve credit for pioneering vocal trends and popular slang, they say, adding that young women use these embellishments in much more sophisticated ways than people tend to realize.

“A lot of these really flamboyant things you hear are cute, and girls are supposed to be cute,” said Penny Eckert, a professor of linguistics at Stanford University. “But they’re not just using them because they’re girls. They’re using them to achieve some kind of interactional and stylistic end.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/science/young-women-often-trendsetters-in-vocal-patterns.html?ref=science

[Scuba]

1. Whatever.

[valerief]

6. +1

[mzteris]

21. Like

whatEV . . .

[Scuba]

22. Stop harshin' my mellow.

[limpyhobbler]

2. that is like totally cool

[flamingdem]

12. "Cool" is for beatniks and hippies

You must mean AWESOME!

[Odin2005]

15. Naw, it's THE SHIT, dude!

[LuckyLib]

3. I heard a presentation the other day by a young woman who does

very interesting work. But her use of the terms "like" "kinda" and "sorta" liberally sprinkled throughout her hour-long presentation (at least every 6-10 words) was so distracting and so completely unprofessional that a number of folks in the audience commented on it, and determined that we would NEVER hire her were she to apply for a position with us. When you're 16? Predictable (still irritating). In your 20's looking for work? Forget it! It screams immaturity, lack of self-awareness, and minimal intelligence.

[Javaman]

4. +1 nt

[JDPriestly]

10. Actually, it screams a need for approval and affirmation.

And that can be a very good thing in an employee. It means that the person speaking is probably someone who wants to be a team-player but is a bit insecure.

As you point out in your comments, very competent people can speak like that. They need encouragement, not knee-jerk rejection.

[Odin2005]

16. Oh, what "kids these days" nonsense.

I'm am intelligent, learned, 25yo man and that way of speaking is NORMAL for me and my peers. My boss, a 28yo woman, talks like that, it's normal.

[grahampuba]

5. Curve?

Provided that curve is in a downward trajectory, I'm like, um.. totally with ya.

[groundloop]

7. So it's a good thing for my daughter to watch Jersey Shore and Kardashians?

I DON'T THINK SO!!!!

I'm sorry, but these people and they're "cute" linguistics celebrate stupidity. I have no illusions that my 14 year old daughter will ever be able to make a living acting stupid on a television show, so she needs to concentrate on her education instead of being influenced by Kim and Snookie.

[Odin2005]

17. How people talk comes from their peers, not Mass Media.

The popular notion that the Mass Media influences people's speech was disproved over 30 years ago.

Oh, and grammar Nazis that equate language change with ignorance are, like, annoying.

[lastlib]

8. I mean, I go, it's, like, fersure, yaknow?

Everyone uderstands THAT, don't they?

These people need to learn how to COMMUNICATE!!

[Tx4obama]

9. Well DUH! n/t

[Odin2005]

18. Right, because you, uh, like, never use filler words ever?

[lastlib]

19. English is my native language.

As a speaker and author, I learned how to use complete, grammatically correct sentences a long time ago. No, I do not use filler words--they are unnecessary.

[Odin2005]

20. No even in casual speech? RIIIIIIGHT...

You don't THINK you do, but I am sure you definitely do.

I have noticed that educated speakers from a working class background, such as myself, switch back and forth between formal and colloquial speech forms automatically depending on the situation. In informal speech I have dialectical grammatical peculiarities (like spurious -en endings on irregular past participles: boughten, caughten, etc.) that are dropped in formal speech, it's called code-switching or diglossia.

Oh, and there are no such thing as "correct" and "incorrect" for one's native language, there is standard and nonstandard. the nonstandard forms are the REAL, living language, the standard form is a fossilized construction of prescriptivist grammarians who often have stuck in rules, like "no split infinitives" that were never part of the actual language.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. The article is wrong about one thing. "Like" didn't start with the Valley Girls

The use of "like" as a filler is at least 50 years old.

I first heard it from the character of Maynard G. Krebs on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, played by Bob Denver, who later played Gilligan on Gilligan's Island. Maynard was supposed to be a beatnik (the counterculture of the late 1950s--they drank espresso, smoked marijuana, listened to progressive jazz, wrote weird poetry, and dabbled in Zen), and he used "like" in that way all the time.

The writers of this article, like, need to, like, learn about, ya know, things that happened, like, before they were, like, born.

[limpyhobbler]

13. +1 LOL

[Odin2005]

14. Here in Fargo EVERYONE 35 and younger does the "like" thing.

It's not a teen girl thing, anymore.