Teenage speak and beyond
Paul Johnston
paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU
Sat Jun 2 06:38:29 UTC 2007
Check out any number of books and articles, from Macafee (1994)
through Lippi-Green (2000). Basically--there are such things as
media-borne innovations, but they tend to be (1) lexical and (2)
buzzwords or catch-phrases. Usually these have a short shelf-life.
We generally don't copy pronunciations (unless they are embedded in
the above buzzwords, and ONLY in them) so consciously from the media,
since pronunciation is something that (for most people) is more or
less fully-learned by age eight or so. We may partially acquire a
second accent as we move around--some do this more than others--but
the acquisition is a slow and incomplete process. What the media's
main effect is--and here, I'm in complete agreement with Caroline
Macafee's work--is softening us up to accept change by promoting
anything that is new as cool, and anything traditional as too old-
fashioned to use or, alternatively, rather artificially authentic
("antique" or "retro") but even here, this affects the parts of the
language we learn throughout our lives (vocabulary) more directly
than pronunciation, etc. It does figure in the decline of certain
traditional dialect features.
The idea that people--even teenagers--pick up new pronunciations (as
opposed to certain kinds of catchphrases) from TV or the movies is
largely a myth. If these kids are shifting their vowels, it's
because their friends--or people they know who they want to be like--
are shifting theirs.
Incidentally, when I was doing a sociolinguistic survey in urban
Scotland in 1980-83 (see my article on Variation in the Standard
Scottish English of Morningside in English World-Wide, 1985), the
upper-middle class young women's speech were doing some of the same
things Valley Girls were---/a/ was backing, /E/ and /I/ were
lowering, /u/ was fronting--though without diphthongization, /o/ was
diphthongizing in the same fashion, and there were voice quality and
intonational similarities too. No connection, though--it seemed to
be a reaction to something local called the Morningside Accent, with
just the opposite vocalic characteristics--think of the way all the
adult female characters speak in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie--and
associated with snobbery and conservatism. The way the girls spoke
was beginning to be cartooned by the boys of the same age group, who
started calling it the "Ahctually Ahccent", because the word
pronunced "Ahctualleh", beginning sentences, was a stereotype. Oh,
yes, and young girls had it too, not just adolescents, and the
process continues with the next generation. But it sure knocked me
for a loop when I first heard Frank Zappa's "Valley Girl" in '82.
By the way, I've heard the vowel shifts you describe from young, pre-
adolescent girls in upscale New York suburbs like Morristown, New
Jersey too--and some of these changes might be even older than the
'80s in this area (notably /ae/-lowering). I think some
contemporaries of mine (born 1950) had them.
Paul Johnston
On Jun 1, 2007, at 5:45 AM, Richard Vallis wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Richard Vallis <rvallis at OPTONLINE.NET>
> Subject: Re: Fw: Teenage speak and beyond
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Thank you for confirming my observation. I think "hitting the
> media" is a
> vital point in the spread of this. The media can instantly affect
> speech
> patterns, especially among the young who are so hooked on it. I
> really would
> like to know if there are any studies that have been done on this
> talk.
> Although not universal, it is pervasive enough to be an annoying and
> corrupting element in many American young people's speech.
> (Don't forget "sax" or "sux" for "sex.")
>
> Richard Vallis
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Zurinskas" <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 10:42 PM
> Subject: Re: Fw: Teenage speak and beyond
>
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Re: Fw: Teenage speak and beyond
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -----
> -----
>>
>> Good point, Richard. Interesting the dynamic of how accents
>> start. They
>> can start with kids, just like clothing styles change. If it hits
>> the
> media
>> and can spread like wildfire - totally arbitrary and capricious
>> and in
>> violation of spelling conventions. I hear "keds" for "kids" and
>> "sex"
> for
>> "six". My favorite is "chooldren" (Where "oo" is as in "wool") for
>> children.
>>
>> Another favorite is what I call the California power purr.
>> (linguists
> must
>> have a term for this, hopefully not in greek). It's a purring
>> sound down
> in
>> the vocal chords that show a very relaxed casual, almost fay
>> attitude,
> like
>> nothing is bothering me, I'm so above it all I'm purring
>>
>> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>> See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional
>> Poems" at
>> authorhouse.com.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> From: Richard Vallis <rvallis at OPTONLINE.NET>
>>> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> Subject: Re: Fw: Teenage speak and beyond
>>> Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 21:05:20 -0400
>>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster: Richard Vallis <rvallis at OPTONLINE.NET>
>>> Subject: Re: Fw: Teenage speak and beyond
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
> ----
>>>
>>> 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
>>> header -----------------------
>>>> 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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>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
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