Monday, March 17, 2014

The Kardashians Are Revolutionizing Our Language?

          Yesterday, I was browsing the internet and I stumbled upon an article that left me thinking for the rest of the Sunday night and deprived me from my sleep. ‘’They’re, Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve’’ by Douglas Quequa  is an article from The New York Times that talks about how women are revolutionizing language by their way of talking. It explains how through their ‘’vocal fry’’, constant repetition of the word ‘’like’’ and the usage of words like ‘’ bitchin’’ or ‘’ridin’’ women are innovating the English language and are creating ‘’social cues’’ in which it is easier to start a conversation and where they have an authoritarian role.

         Of course, being a woman, I felt deeply honored and proud while reading this article. I felt delighted about me and my‘’sisters’’ being ‘’language pioneers’’. For a moment, I even dared to compare us to Shakespeare and his brilliant mind.  But as I reached the end of the article, I leaned back on my chair and I exclaimed: ‘’This is like so coooooool!’’.  For a second, I froze and heard the echo of my words down the hall… ‘’like so cool… like… so... cooooool’’. It didn’t sound right. In the echo, I did not hear innovation or cutting edge words. Instead, I heard ignorance, illiteracy and an insult to all the great writers like Dickens and Shakespeare. Of all the words and phrases in the English language, all I could formulate to express my excitement for this article was ‘’like so cool’’.

        As I sunk into a puddle of shock and shame, I started rethinking on whether that article was right. The article was written by Douglas Quequa who is a renowned author and, by being a man, it reduced the possibility that the article was biased. Nevertheless, this did not fully satisfied curiosity. In his article, Quequa said that women talk this way in order to establish ‘’social cues’’ and also, to show their power and authority.  He gives diverse examples of how these techniques were also used by men. For instance, in 1964 British men used ‘’vocal fry ‘’to denote their superior social standing and in 1991, Cynthia McLemore, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania, discovered that ‘’senior members of a Texas sorority used uptalk to make junior members feel obligated to carry out new tasks’’.

      However, this is no consolation for me. Although, Quequa states that by talking this way we ‘’assert power’’, I find that hard to believe.  If we take a look at the powerful women of modern times, we do not see them applying of these techniques.  When have we heard Queen Elizabeth ll say ‘’We are ridin to the Buckingham Palaaace?’’ or heard Janet Napolitano use vocal fry in one of her speeches at  the University of California. Excuse me for being too cynical, but these are women that are powerful, who do assert their power and never has the human ear  heard them say a statement as a question or expand the sound of a word.

         On the other hand, the author does present a group of powerful women that use these linguistic techniques: our guilty pleasure, the Kardashians.  Now, hold your faces of disgust and before you comment on how wrong it is to consider the Kardashian sisters powerful women, let’s evaluate the situation.  First, we must agree that the term ‘’powerful’’ has taken various meanings in today’s world. Thanks to technology, power takes different forms whether it's Twitter followers or likes on Instagram; yet one thing remains the same: ‘’money = power’’.

    Together, Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian have a net worth of $78 million, an international trademark (which is their last name) and three clothing stores in the United States.  As for ‘’modern’’ power, Kim Kardashian is paid $10,000 for advertising a brand in a tweet from her account.   It comes as no surprise since she and her sisters have between 20 to 9 million followers on social media like Twitter Instagram and Facebook.  As much it hurts to admit, it’s undeniable that these women are rather powerful despite their poor usage of the English language or, should I say, ‘’innovative vocabulary and grammar’’.

        If what the article explains is right, it is possible that part of the success of these sisters is their way of talking. Their vocal fry, ‘’uptalk’’ and slang words may have indeed opened social cues which we fall for in their reality show, Keeping up with the Kardashians. Through their vocabulary, they create a welcoming environment in which one cannot help but to want to be in it. They speak in a way that you can easily understand what they are saying or the situation that they are in. Their inflections add rhythm to their conversations which some might consider annoying but that seems to be what partially appeals to the 3.5 million weekly viewers.


        Innovation or blasphemy, this derived language used by girls is becoming more present in today’s society and as proven in the article,  it is used by women who are influential  and authoritative in our world. So, to all purists out there, braise yourselves for dark times are coming for the English language.  Maybe in 20 years, we’ll see a female president saying: ‘’ Change we caaaaan tots believe in? Bible’’. Let’s all just hope that the empowerment of women means the evolution of a language and not the decay of one.