Teenage speak and beyond
Richard Vallis
rvallis at OPTONLINE.NET
Sun Jun 3 00:44:41 UTC 2007
Thank you so much for reporting on your study and for your further
observations. I agree that the patois extends to the next generation. It
truly has been around for a long time and in many geographical locations
As to whether or not the media has a part in it's spread, I would just like
to know how the first Valley Girl got started!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Johnston" <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
To: <rvallis at optonline.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 7:33 PM
Subject: Re: Teenage speak and beyond
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header ------------------
> -----
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Teenage speak and beyond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> 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
> >>>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
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