Really interesting observations on implied negative judgments - "you smell," "you have an accent," etc. Makes me wonder if other languages also have this feature, and if English has any implied *positive* judgments...
I really love these posts you write. As a teacher with vocal fry (with uptalk and too many hedges tossed in when I'm nervous) I am overly aware of my voice and concerned about others finding it "irritating" or finding it "unprofessional," which, in turn, is irritating because I know my male colleagues do not think or have to worry about this. As a Southern Californian, I definitely have the valley girl accent, but so did every female around me growing up as a Southern Californian in the 1990s and early 2000s. I find it strange I feel like I have to defend my "accent" as if it's a performative act of satire. But maybe that's because books like this actually exist: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-deprogram-your-valley-girl-lillian-glass/1006056433
Reading this with great interest from Edinburgh, Scotland - where accent and its class markers have long been pretty rigid. The most obvious changes are creeping Americanisms, adopted from film, music and TV from since I was a child (the 70s). But the globalisation of influencer culture is flattening, or maybe it is homogenising historically broad accents too.
Great analysis. As for the comments, language is definitely a major part of it, but I think people are just clueless as to your point. Like using the word “ironically” when you mean to say “coincidentally.” I think people hear “influencer voice” and immediately think any influencer speaking anywhere, instead of the specific kind of speech you were referring to.
Born to write academic articles on language change and diversity, forced to pay bills.
It is what I love about your videos. Once you become aware of (socio-)linguistics and you have a degree of perception that others might not have, you simply cannot turn it off. In all three languages I speak fluently, I'm constantly listening, though not on purpose. Indeed, many people simply feel that just pointing out a certain peculiarity in speech is always carries a negative judgement but for me it's pure love and curiosity 😭
Really interesting observations on implied negative judgments - "you smell," "you have an accent," etc. Makes me wonder if other languages also have this feature, and if English has any implied *positive* judgments...
I really love these posts you write. As a teacher with vocal fry (with uptalk and too many hedges tossed in when I'm nervous) I am overly aware of my voice and concerned about others finding it "irritating" or finding it "unprofessional," which, in turn, is irritating because I know my male colleagues do not think or have to worry about this. As a Southern Californian, I definitely have the valley girl accent, but so did every female around me growing up as a Southern Californian in the 1990s and early 2000s. I find it strange I feel like I have to defend my "accent" as if it's a performative act of satire. But maybe that's because books like this actually exist: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-deprogram-your-valley-girl-lillian-glass/1006056433
Reading this with great interest from Edinburgh, Scotland - where accent and its class markers have long been pretty rigid. The most obvious changes are creeping Americanisms, adopted from film, music and TV from since I was a child (the 70s). But the globalisation of influencer culture is flattening, or maybe it is homogenising historically broad accents too.
Great analysis. As for the comments, language is definitely a major part of it, but I think people are just clueless as to your point. Like using the word “ironically” when you mean to say “coincidentally.” I think people hear “influencer voice” and immediately think any influencer speaking anywhere, instead of the specific kind of speech you were referring to.
Born to write academic articles on language change and diversity, forced to pay bills.
It is what I love about your videos. Once you become aware of (socio-)linguistics and you have a degree of perception that others might not have, you simply cannot turn it off. In all three languages I speak fluently, I'm constantly listening, though not on purpose. Indeed, many people simply feel that just pointing out a certain peculiarity in speech is always carries a negative judgement but for me it's pure love and curiosity 😭