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.
