Male language inhibitions

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avidaloca
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Male language inhibitions

Post by avidaloca » Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:59 am

Girls so, like, rule English
From: By John Harlow and Dan Box
January 09, 2006

THE teenage girl is the most powerful influence on the evolution of the English language around the world.

According to new research, the typical 16-year-old girl - armed with a mobile phone and a wide circle of friends - has ensured the success of new phrases such as "muffin top" (a bulge of flesh over low-cut jeans) and "whale tail" (the sight of a g-string above the waistband of a skirt or trousers).

Sali Tagliamonte, Associate Professor of linguistics at the University of Toronto, believes the strongest recent shift has been the spread of Californian "Valley Girl" style, promoted around the globe by television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The OC.

This style of speech is characterised by inserting drawled words such as "like" and "so" to add emphasis to a sentence, which rises in pitch at the end.

"Valley Girl has gone beyond a fad and is now rooted in different forms of English around the world," Associate Professor Tagliamonte said.

"Girls are the single most powerful force in the English language today." The research was among work discussed at the annual meeting of the American Dialect Society in New Mexico over the weekend.

ADS New Words Committee chair Wayne Glowka said girls used new or fashionable words as status symbols, forcing language's constant evolution.

Barry Spurr, senior lecturer in English at the University of Sydney, said social pressures meant Australian men in particular were more reluctant to display their language abilities.

"They are afraid to be seen expressing thought because they are sexually insecure. They want to be seen to be real men and the standard for real men wouldn't be seen to express a thought," Dr Spurr said.

"The big problem in Australia is getting young men to talk at all. The girls are much more orally adventurous."

The Sunday Times, London, in The Australian

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sschaula
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Post by sschaula » Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:17 am

That info is like so five years ago!

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Dave Toast
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Post by Dave Toast » Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:15 am

F'shizzle my n'izzle

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David Quinn
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Post by David Quinn » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:40 pm

It's funny that no one on this forum seems to have been affected by this teenage girl influence in the least.

One has to wonder where the minds of academics are half the time.

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Jason
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Post by Jason » Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:32 pm

DavidQuinn000 wrote:It's funny that no one on this forum seems to have been affected by this teenage girl influence in the least.

One has to wonder where the minds of academics are half the time.

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Like, totally. But I don't write everything here in stream of consciousness mode, or like I speak in real life. I do a lot of word sculpting on some of my posts. I reckon I have used the word "like" more over the past decade.

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