"It's Like Ridic"

Impersonate a girl talking. In response to this order, most people switch to an upper range, and all of a sudden begin to add "like" after every word and uptalk. For decades, what we have named as Valley Girl talk and more recently Kardashian talk, have become markers of immaturity and stupidity. Yet, Dr. Penny Eckert, professor of linguistics at Stanford and linguists argue that women and teenage girls should be given credit for pioneering vocal trends and slang that serve more than to be just "cute". 


So, what do I mean by vocal trends? According to the Journal of Voice, after studying samples of recorded speech of women aged 18 to 25, the professors have found evidence of the emerging vocal trend of "vocal fry" aka a guttural fluttering of vocal chords. Need an example? Imagine the raspy, croaking sound at the end of sentences of Mae West saying, "Why don’t you come up sometime and see me." Or even more recently, it can be heard on SNL's Maya Rudolph's impersonation of Maya Angelou.

While uptalk and vocal fry can be found from Reese Witherspoon's portrayal of Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde" to the senior members of a Texas sorority, both vocal fry and uptalk are timeless vocal trends. In fact, vocal fry can be traced back to 1964 among British men who used this tool to establish their superior standing. Showing that it's not only women who have found vocal fry effective.


The question remains: why are we so fond of these particular vocal trends? More importantly, are women on to something? According to Fought, yes, "The truth is this: Young women take linguistic features and use them as power tools for building relationships.” In addition, these tools are particular effective when women are trying to assert their authority or position. Giving the saying, "It's not what you say, it's how you say it" a whole new meaning.

The next time you hear someone uptalk or use vocal fry, rather than criticizing his or her "mainstreamness" or convergence to pop culture, try it for yourself.