Fw: Teenage speak and beyond

[Richard Vallis]

 In my experience, the  individuals to which I refer, DO NOT speak this way
prior to adolescence.  They acquire an affectation after the onset of their
teen years.  Hence,  it is not a regional speech pattern.
It can be heard in Great Neck, Rosllyn, Scarsdale and New Rochelle in  the
New York City vicinity where I live, and in upwardly mobile  neighborhoods
of other metropolitan areas.
Perhaps you might want to dig a little deeper into this.

Richard Vallis


----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael H Covarrubias" <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 7:40 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Teenage speak and beyond


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Michael H Covarrubias <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Fw: Teenage speak and beyond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> Better points than anything I was trying to make. Well taken.
>
> Michael
>
> Quoting "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>:
>
> > Both the lowering of /E/ and the backing of /ae/ are found in the =
> > California Shift and the Canadian Shift. People inclined to believe in =
> > chain shifting might chalk these movements up to the presence of the =
> > low-back merger (cot=3Dcaught) in both these regions. But, feel free to
=
> > ignore such structuralist explanations and continue psychoanalyzing.
> >
> > Self-promotion: http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/changin/
> >
> > -Matt Gordon
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
>
> >
> > >  In what appears to be an attempt at speech sophistication, the =
> > adolescent
> > > girl (and occasional guy) characteristically distorts the vowel =
> > sounds,
> > > especially  the  "e" as in the word best.  Best becomes "bast" or =
> > "bost" or
> > > "bus."  Better becomes "batter" as the mouth opens wide to accommodate
=
> > this
> > > apparently classy way of enunciating.  Other vowel sounds are =
> > similarly
> > > affected by the sophisticatedly wide open mouth.  Bush becomes "bahsh"
=
> > and on
> > > it goes, endlessly.  What's more daunting, is that the individual =
> > continues
> > > this distortion into post adolescence and beyond when a young person's
> > > apparent need for "fitting in" and peer pressure would seem to be
> > > diminished.
> > >
> > > Television personalities and actors have generally been purged of it,
=
> > but it
> > > maddeningly rears itself, wide-mouthed, in commercials.  What's =
> > surprising is
> > > that most listeners don't seem to notice the bend in pronunciation =
> > until it's
> > > pointed out to them....
> > >
> > > Richard Vallis
> > >
>
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