@@Rollwithit699 When you think about the subject matter of the video, it's likely that he said, "..the English language." with an uptalk inflection. He was thinking about uptalk, so therefore he uptalk-ed, haha!
That's wonderful. However, old lady 'creakiness' is not vocal fry. That creakiness in an older woman's speech-or a raspiness in an old man's-happens through the physical degradation of the mucosa and tissue in the throat, especially of the vocal cords. On the other hand, the _vocal fry_ is done either on purpose or out of bad speech habits. Vocal fry is used in order to emphasize certain words and phrases to express disgust, but also boredom.
Joel Lusk I was thinking the same thing. Ironic how he acts like all these things are undesirable female traits but he's doing one of them the entire time
Joel Lusk Very much so. He can't even show a proper example of Vocal Fry because he's doing it all the time himself. But anyway, to me most Americans sound like they are vocal frying. In the UK it's associated with an upper class drawl and more common in men with very affected voice - a bit like this guy.
Joel Lusk I believe his voice is naturally creaky. There's nothing he can do about it. My dad's voice is like that. According to my grandma, his voice is getting more creaky as he gets older. And btw, he's not an native english speaker (english is his third language), so it has nothing to do with this new trends. When young people do the vocal fry, it is not their natural voice. They are absolutely capable of speaking normally without the creaking.
I feel your pain. All three of these things have become a dreadful, cringe-inducing epidemic. These poor souls need to be told how wretched they sound, but, of course, few of us want to tell them in person. Thanks for the much-needed public service announcement.
Or "right, so". Did you also notice "sort of" is beginning to replace "like". Listen to NPR sometime and count the number of times you hear "sort of" along with "so", uptalk and vocal fry. Enough already!
@@briandelion49 I started dating this girl, and I noticed that "I guess" started creeping into my vocabulary, the ironic thing is that she/is was rather intelligent, even so all this sorta/kinda type bullshit drives me nuts.
He's actually really good at imitating teens and teens are the majority who speak this way. Yes all three of these things are horrible in the adult and corporate world, however, in some work places it's tolerated or completely overlooked and not seen as an issue. This type of speaking will NEVER be found in the executive suite of life.
my professor linked to this video for what not to do in our podcast project. this made me want to talk like this even more in said project because old guys on the internet complaining about younger generations is exactly what no one needs and it's funny because this guy and my professor both use "like" in ways that no one else does, except for the people making fun of people who say "like"
@@lapacker you may be right, but can easily just use "about" or "approximately" in place of "something like" here. agreed not as big a deal though. especially where I say that all the time myself. 😂
Yeah, but it's like, so true like, how like, the Kardashians speak like this, like all the time. ARRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. I CANNOT STAND IT! Thank you for this clip. I would have been crushing watermelons with my bare hands if I was presenting this subject matter. So thank you - very well done!
As a young person I never really saw the problem of the uptalk and the vocal fry. I personally don't think that this degrades our language or exhibits less confidence. We have to remember that communication comes from body language, 85% to be exact. if someone is confused about whether a person is "asking them or telling them" they should really look at their perception of body language. I feel if people are using the word "like" shows more confidence because of the stigma that is behind this speech pattern. The policing of someone's voice and voice patterns really frighten me.
I'm really sick of people acting like it's misogyny or agism to criticize vocal fry and upspeak. When people are criticizing people's use of those things it's not because they are using them, it's because they are ABUSING them. Everyone vocal fries and upspeaks to some degree based on the type of meaning they are trying to convey, but it's different when every sentence is upspeak or ends with vocal fry. This guy is actually a good example. His voice has vocal fry tendencies, but every sentence is not ending in vocal fry.
Yes, that is the intent. Starting a sentence with 'So', 'Like', 'Listen' or similar words can be an effective way to grab people's attention before speaking
I think that we should stop worrying about how people are saying things and more about what they are saying. I find it interesting that the presenter doesn't seem to notice his own vocal fry in his voice, as it can be heard throughout the video.
l think the way we say things is very important, how often have you heard it said " it`s not what you say it`s the way that you say it" !! And actually WHAT logic is there in stating a fact as a question, it`s utterly ridiculous as is the practice of " like" at every opportunity, ie, " it was, like" tuesday" ( voice raised at end, NO, " lt was tuesday, not like tuesday, the uk always has to be the puppet of everything that comes out of America and even there they do not like it !!
@@mrdev9843 Karen is right. If you want people to take you seriously, then learn to speak well. Nobody is owed an audience. One has to attract and engage an audience.
+David Dover I noticed nowadays lots of young "men" talk with a whining nasal gayish voice. Actually, the maker of this video also has a bit of a gayish voice.
THis guy is my hero, my brother croaks all the time. With a mumbling flat monotone croak and my dad hates it. My dad waits until my brother is completely done talking. My dad says Open your mouth and speak English, now wtf did you say! I just laugh it is comical. My brother gets really mad. I think they uptalk in The Office TV show all the time "Seriously!!!" I think it progressed from there.
+lovelle spice Well, quite possibly. But just to give you a hint as to the Arbitrariness of Language and stuff, there's this hyperbolic expression 'to die laughing', derived from Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" as far as I'm concerned. That's probably what I meant when posting that comment in agony. Cheers.✌
Pauline P haha. Lovelle Spice was referring to your use of word “literally” instead of “figuratively” (another bad trend in modern speech), not to expression “to die from laughter”. Thanks for taking your time and googling it’s origin btw, now I know when it was first used.
As a linguist (Yes, I have a degree in Linguistics), none of these are a "degradation" of English any more than you could call modern English a "degradation" of Old English or Middle English. It's simply language change. In order to see and appreciate this, you have to study linguistics and other languages. Uptalk: Intonation patterns vary across languages. It's not surprising to see new patterns develop among a set of speakers of a language. From a sociolinguistic perspective, speech communities develop specific dialects as ways of group identification. It's just a type of shibboleth, if you will. Like: It's become a discourse marker. Other languages make use of particles for things like asking a yes/no question, marking causality, marking incredulity, etc. Chinese puts "ma" at the end of a statement to turn it into a question. The phenomena that lead to this could be similar to the usage of "like". The current prevalence of "like" is almost completely colloquial and has not been adopted into the written language. "Said" itself wasn't recorded as being used with inanimate objects until the 30's. Creaky voice: Some languages use creaky voice to differentiate between words. In some places 'caught' and 'cot' have merged into having the same vowel. Now imagine if one of them starts to always be pronounced with creaky voice. Now it will be the creaky voice quality that distinguishes between the words and not the vowel as in other dialects. Language is fascinating and linguistics is the science that aims to explain it. Language never "degrades"; it simply changes. I recommend "The Unfolding of Language" by Guy Deutscher to help you understand more about the underlying processes that result in language change.
How many languages have you studied diachronically? Modern French or Spanish or Italian would sound silly to Latin speakers. Take a linguistics course and gain some perspective.
Regarding "uptalk" specifically: you could have been briefer and simply have stated that all inquiry into the subject should in your view be merely descriptive. The poster if obviously making a normative assertion. His use of the term degradation implies valuation. What the vector is only he can say, but it's likely something along the lines of firmness; that is, the tonal properties of speech reveal the psychic state of the speaker, and that the uncertain ending indicates a progressive degeneration among people in our society of character, of which firmness/resoluteness in speech is a key element. It should be furthermore stated that the tonal aspects of such attributes are quite often *not* arbitrary, unless you think "large","huge","gross" (German), could ever have referred to small and "klein","tiny","pipsqeak","miniscule" could ever have referred to large things.
On the contrary, language, like ANYTHING can degrade. Richness of expression, definition, eloquence are all quickly disappearing. What the speaker is saying here in particular about the use of "like" is correct. It is clearly being used in many cases as a (very poor) substitute for better choice of words due to a *lack* of vocabulary. This reducing inventory amongst young people will inordinately lead to diminished abilities of expression among their generation. Our universe is vast, and as human beings, our range of feeling, awareness, and most of all, our need to be implicitly understood is VAST. A smaller dictionary is regressive. And even more pertinently, the newer generations vocal over-dependance on tonation as a means of imparting their meaning, is going to leave them sorely lacking wit all dere txt spk. They are losing the advanced tools of expression. It's so easy even for our generation to be misunderstood. They won't have a hope of any form of satisfactory understanding of each other. That is most definitely *degradation*. And I am sorry, but you don't need to name your credentials as a "linguist" in order to make your point. In fact, it lessens your points. Sorry.
"On the contrary, language, like ANYTHING can degrade." The languages that are degrading are the ones that are currently going extinct from not being spoken. English is a robust language, undergoing language change, not degradation. "Richness of expression, definition, eloquence are all quickly disappearing." Once again, English is changing and none of those things are disappearing, let alone quickly. For the use of like (and this topic in general), I point you to: "Like, Degrading the Language? No way!" by John McWhorter. That essay also deals with "diminished abilities of expression". People are expressing themselves in new, creative ways, and that ability is in no way diminished. "Our universe is vast, and as human beings, our range of feeling, awareness, and most of all, our need to be implicitly understood is VAST." If people are communicating, then that's being accomplished. Language is essentially nothing more than a negotiation tool. "A smaller dictionary is regressive." There are English language dictionaries with 600,000 words. People know on average 20-35,000 and seem to get along just fine without the other 500,000+ words. "They are losing the advanced tools of expression. It's so easy even for our generation to be misunderstood. They won't have a hope of any form of satisfactory understanding of each other. That is most definitely degradation." Once again, I point you to the essay by McWhorter. He dismantles your entire argument. Do you have any linguistic credentials or are you simply one of these armchair grammar nazis who have no actual science or theory to back them up?
Pretty sure that its his natural voice. And the voice starts to become lower and creakier as you get older. Its not normal for young females to sound like that though. Have you ever seen Kim Kardashian speak lol
@@EliullGameplays Not sure I'd agree that there is such a thing as a "natural voice" that anyone can have or speak with, no matter how unconsciously or artfully one speaks.
What I find equally interesting is the frequency of lisping and falsetto voice among some gay men. I had a discussion about this with a gay friend who both lisps and uses falsetto frequently. He did not know why he did it and had no answers why it is prevalent among certain gay men. We both had theories, but no fact-based supposition. Young girls today using up voice, vocal fry and the like do so by modeling. Could this be the reason for lisping and falsetto voice by some gay men? It would be an interesting study. Perhaps it has already been done and I am simply not aware of it.
I think what you are referring to as "lisping" is actually a sibilant "s" (or hissing "s"), which is common among gay men - I don't hear the lisping thing any more often with gays than with straights. As to falsetto, yes, I think gay men often speak high in their vocal range, which may be a result of a lack of confidence from a young age .
You are correct in the terminology, but "lisping" is what it is referred to in the public lexicon so that is what we called it. We discussed confidence as a result, and perhaps that is a contributing factor, but then straight men who lack confidence would do it as well and it's not common among straight men. Also, why would it be so ubiquitous across social, economic and geographical borders? My friend noted that in Greece he found the hissing "s" and falsetto common among certain gay men there as well. He thought it due to a desire among some gay men (who he referred to as the "nelly") to have more feminine characteristics, such as a higher voice and softer pronunciation of certain consonants. Whatever the reason, it is very interesting how prevalent it is among certain gays in cultures around the world.
***** This. I had a gay male friend in my youth who told me to shoot him if he ever developed "gay voice". Unfortunately, he did eventually develop it and I didn't have the heart to shoot him. x] I think it's a way to falsely feminise the voice. Like how drag queens falsely feminise their looks and behavior - it's not based on reality or what women are actually like. Gay men are not women but there's a real predilection to believing that they are "as good as a woman" on some level. There is nothing feminine about being a gay man (or masculine about being a gay woman). Sexual preference doesn't make you a different gender ... bleah.
+Kalleesto In the 60s a gay relative had a mate who lisped- and was obviously gay (lived in SF) and it was interesting to run in to him 25 years later (he'd split up with relative) - the lisp was completely gone, and more masculine attire. Perhaps the need for the affectation no longer existed and perhaps he'd found his identity. I didn't have the chance nor the comfort level to take him aside and ask at the time so I'll never know!
Can you do a video about something that's lately been a pet peeve of mine: the progressive degeneration of "Bob is rude" to "I feel like Bob is rude" and even "I kinda feel like Bob is rude". "Bob is rude" seems to me adequate; indeed, "I think.." would even be omitted in most languages, since everything *I'm* saying is obviously what *I* think. "Bob is rude" would be how it's said in many other languages without anyone thinking it arrogant or off-putting. If one wishes to express uncertainty it could be stated as "Bob seems rude", but the excessive "I feel like.." belies a prevalent timidity among people today.
I do not get the "I feel" term instead of " I think " because one is logic and the other is an emotion. The term " I feel " is way over used. Talk about showing lack of confidence by not being able to think it, say it and mean it. As a supervisor in a small company. I hear applicants say "I feel" and it is a "NO HIRE" I don't care what you feel, we need your skills and knowledge not your feelings. This is the real world.
"Bob is rude" is a VERY clear statement. Not everybody feels entitled to judge so because that's rude by itself. So version no. 2 seems an appropriate way to express oneself. Version 3 is bullshit, I agree. (Please excuse my mistakes, it's not my native language).
In the UK in the North of England we use 'like' at the end of a sentence. For example " There's no way i'm doing that like' it's a short way of saying 'you understand'. Anyway, I enjoyed that video like.
American Dudes in their mid 30's also say like too often... I couldn't stand it when I was dating back in 2013... now I'm married to a European who speaks better English than a native..
I'm spannish and I've been looking for this concepts as I find them in EVERY VIDEO IN UA-cam. It's very upsetting and didn't know it had a name. I hope I don't end talking like them). Thank you for the explanation and sorry for my english (I'm still learning).
I agree with this guy and i'm a woman the English language is going down hill and I do think it's due to low self esteem and some of them are just imitating others .
I have a lot of trouble with vocal fry (I think) and saying "like", except I use it with an "um" or an "uh". Part of me thinks this is an evolution of the English language, not some sort of degredation, especially if you understand how language evolves. I'm not sure mine is a vocal fry, I think I just have a creaky/raspy voice, but for a male I have a pretty high pitch, so I'm not sure it works well with that. I've been trying fix using "um" and "like" in between pauses for years now. I've definitely improved in that capacity. I know that I have the vocabulary but I'm always second guessing myself. I'm probably a better speaker than I think, but there's always a gnawing doubt.
That’s the issue, this started as a lack of self confidence and a failure to tell people how to minimize “um” with little alternative so people resorted to the word “like.” This is in fact a degradation of language, not an evolution.
I completely agree with the chap in this video. I'm in the UK and this horrible, hateful style of speech is everywhere these days. If I'm speaking to someone and they make a statement with a rising inflection at the end, I always say "I don't know", or "I've no idea." Once you've said that a couple of times they may begin to wonder why. This then gives you the opportunity to say "You sounded as if you were asking a me question." I once said that to a woman whose speech was particularly aggravating, and she then replied "Well that's just the way I speak?". In the UK we have adopted a lot of awful speech patterns from the Australian TV soaps that came over in the eighties and nineties. Listen to any young person saying the vowel O nowadays. The diphthong has changed. It now starts at OY and finishes at OO. It's what you might expect to hear in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth, but not coming out of the mouths of seemingly every UK citizen under the age of twenty five! No worries. That's another Australian phrase I cannot bear, and you hear it everywhere now. Sorry everyone, rant over.
"Like" is used by boys and men also. I have a teenage son who does it, even though the rest of the family does not. It's peer-related, and probably will disappear as he gets older. I don't have the low opinion of teenagers and young people that you seem to have. Valley Girl-speak was "outed" in the 1980s, but it didn't destroy civilization, anymore than Elvis records or dungaree jeans did in the 1950s (according to my 90-yr-old father in law).
And my daughter IS a defense attorney, and doesn't use "Like" or Vocal Fry, and neither do her female colleagues. It's hilarious that you use that as an example - as if everyone is Legally Blonde. You need to meet more people.
Boys and men that use "like" are not real boys and men. Biologically, they are boys and men but they aren't what boys and men used to be. Tough, respected, not a little bitch like today's liberal cucks that couldn't change a spare tire if they're life depended on it.
Vocal fry reminds me of the sound that the evil ghosts from "The Grudge" make. I first noticed it about 10 years on a big Pharma TV commercial; shortly thereafter I got a new job where two of my female supervisors spoke with vocal fry. One especially would give a long creak at the end of every sentence. My first reaction upon hearing them speak was, "GODDDDD, that's like fingernails on a chalkboard, what the hell is going on with these women?" Mostly young American bimbos talk with vocal fry, although I've heard a few older women speak like this. There's a new IHOP TV commercial in which a young Black woman speaks like a valley girl and immediately following her is a young white woman who speaks with vocal fry. It's enough to make me question my existence. I'm not sure who started vocal fry (Britney Spears and Brooke Shields come to mind as possible candidates) but whoever started it should be banished to Antarctica.
These are just three speech patterns that really get up my nose these days. Vocal fry in young women is especially grating and seems to be contagious. If it doesn't go out of fashion soon I don't know what I'll do. I'll probably lose my job when I'm rude to a customer who keeps doing it. At least uptalk and vocal fry can't be done at the same time. As for like, that's contagious too. I think it depends on individual awareness and monitoring of one's own language. Something I find encouraging is when I come across a young person who is intelligent and articulate. A teenage pilot appeared on TV and was discussing his plans to become a commercial pilot for a major airline. He was a breath of fresh air because there was not a like to be heard, let alone uptalk or vocal fry. These irritating bad habits in language are all contagious, but only if you're not paying attention and/or don't care that they're happening. Consequently I don't do any of these things.
How is making a language your own a dumbing down of the language? If anything, experimentation will help the language evolve faster. I guess you're a person who doesn't like change. I'm sorry you're so judgmental of others.
Thank you for this video. I came here searching for an 'answer' on why the ANNOYING Kardashians sound dumb, pathetic, and yes, annoying. I really like the Asian lady's presentation of the, err, epidemic! Well done!! This HAS to be recognised at least, and addressed somehow, even by excellent videos like this!
I am from Los Angeles. Interestingly I was always specifically annoyed by vocal fry and overuse of the word "like" however, I confess I caught myself talking in uptalk tone. It has subconsciously become a standard way of talking.
I'm from Hollywood.And some of my friends from the valley used to have a natural upward inflection in their words.But, now a person can be from back east,or the deep south, or anywhere.And you can't even tell where they're from because of this annoying crap.The Kardashians have done their job well.
When I watch an Australian TV interview, most sound like every sentence ends with matter of fact statements. I don't know how to explain it, but you'll notice if you watch one
I was so relieved to find that creaky voice is a problem. My ex did it and it drove me crazy. I think things will continue to degrade. Bunch of dumb valley girl/ ghetto talking people who don't know where Austria is on a map and can't write cursive.
I like your analysis, sir. Thank you! Don't mind the other comments that try to pull this video into the infinite number of internet arguments out there.
A colleague of mine wrote some definitions for a test for our students, which was very kind of her. She wrote "Radioactive is like nuclear like what happened in Hiroshima". It was written exactly as she would say it, which is the point at which language degradation becomes really worrying.
Another irritating affectation common among young people is the excessive and often superfluous use of "literally". For example, "This is literally the first time I've been to New York". On occasion, it is even used in such a way that renders the statement entirely implausible. "My exam went literally Titanic." Try to imagine the speaker tumbling out of the exam hall and landing in a frigid ocean.
When I was a teen in the 70s, kids were already saying "Like" over and over. Another substitute we had for "Said" was "Goes," as in "I told him I had a crush him and he goes 'I have a crush on you too.'" Sometimes we'd say "went" to indicate past tense but we usually used "Goes" regardless of tense. Thankfully, I don't use any of these anymore, hah.
My former coworker was in his late twenties, he constantly said "Like" and "Totally". He even said "Totes" because he thought it was cooler than "Totally". Imagine a 6'3" bearded, greasy, smelly guy saying "Totally" at least 15 times in one phone conversation to a CLIENT! One time, he called a client location to ask a question and he was speaking in a very high pitch... THEY HUNG UP ON HIM! LMAO! I didn't have the heart to tell him that masculine men don't want to hear whiny, uptalking Valley Girl "like" men.
I don’t think he is sexist or ageist if you watch the whole video, especially the last sentence, it’s a pretty well thought out video coming from a genuine place, he just comes off as sexist/ageist because people like to jump to that conclusion. He actually very carefully explained all 3 of these concepts well, it was the fact that you could see emotion in the man that people want to attack him. I started to think the video was taking an uncomfortable sexist turn, but as I watched I realized that’s the problem with our society today; we all always want to destroy people who show true emotion, and a true conviction to change something for the better. That’s why people hate Don Lemon and Sean Hannity, (and many others, such as Kaepernick) for the same reason. I’m 22 by the way
LOL, this dude has the vocal fry!
vocal fry is normal in males .Cause our voice register in naturally low .Know the difference.
😭😭😭😩🤌
@@Goddambruh no, it is not. it is a epidemic in males as well.
@@Goddambruh and it is annoying as hell.
It's natural in him
He doesnt recognize his own constant use of fry.
Your very first sentence was uptalk.
haha
lmao
@@Rollwithit699 When you think about the subject matter of the video, it's likely that he said, "..the English language." with an uptalk inflection. He was thinking about uptalk, so therefore he uptalk-ed, haha!
😂fr
I came here to say this…stopped watching the video after that! 🤣
My mother lived to be 93, and her voice never developed a trace of creakiness. She never sounded like an "old lady." Her mother never did, either.
That's wonderful. However, old lady 'creakiness' is not vocal fry. That creakiness in an older woman's speech-or a raspiness in an old man's-happens through the physical degradation of the mucosa and tissue in the throat, especially of the vocal cords. On the other hand, the _vocal fry_ is done either on purpose or out of bad speech habits. Vocal fry is used in order to emphasize certain words and phrases to express disgust, but also boredom.
Ok, correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this guy doing vocal fry... for the entire video? Hah
Joel Lusk I was thinking the same thing. Ironic how he acts like all these things are undesirable female traits but he's doing one of them the entire time
Joel Lusk Very much so. He can't even show a proper example of Vocal Fry because he's doing it all the time himself. But anyway, to me most Americans sound like they are vocal frying. In the UK it's associated with an upper class drawl and more common in men with very affected voice - a bit like this guy.
Joel Lusk I believe his voice is naturally creaky. There's nothing he can do about it. My dad's voice is like that. According to my grandma, his voice is getting more creaky as he gets older. And btw, he's not an native english speaker (english is his third language), so it has nothing to do with this new trends.
When young people do the vocal fry, it is not their natural voice. They are absolutely capable of speaking normally without the creaking.
Joel Lusk Also, he used, "like" a couple times. Seems to be a bit angry and his point is coming across as bitter rather than educational.
Not only this, but he is also tsk-ing us to death. Palato-alveolar clicks may very well be my kryptonite...
I am concerned he , like, left his iron switched on.
LOL
No way like. That's so badddd(uptalk) isn't ittttt(fry) seriously drives me fekin mad
Either he ives in an 80 sq ft apartment or else he wants to show us that he irons and keeps a clean kitchen.
I feel your pain. All three of these things have become a dreadful, cringe-inducing epidemic. These poor souls need to be told how wretched they sound, but, of course, few of us want to tell them in person. Thanks for the much-needed public service announcement.
ua-cam.com/video/AjPZJERYP0c/v-deo.html
In my experience, boys and girls both overuse "like".
This video should have ended with him saying "Now get off my lawn!".
Why is that? He's not a grumpy Clint Eastwood. He's just trying to preserve intelligent speech.
that's, like, hilarious
Starting every sentence with "so"
OMG>>>> I LOATHE that habit. I find it so stupid and attention seeking. I cringe.
Or "right, so". Did you also notice "sort of" is beginning to replace "like". Listen to NPR sometime and count the number of times you hear "sort of" along with "so", uptalk and vocal fry. Enough already!
Ha ha I do this iriatates my mum alot
Geeez I hate that SO much!!
@@briandelion49 I started dating this girl, and I noticed that "I guess" started creeping into my vocabulary, the ironic thing is that she/is was rather intelligent, even so all this sorta/kinda type bullshit drives me nuts.
YOU have Vocal Fry!!!
Natural*
I think "air quotes" are a form of degradation. :-)
He's actually really good at imitating teens and teens are the majority who speak this way. Yes all three of these things are horrible in the adult and corporate world, however, in some work places it's tolerated or completely overlooked and not seen as an issue. This type of speaking will NEVER be found in the executive suite of life.
You won’t believe how much I can relate to this
my professor linked to this video for what not to do in our podcast project.
this made me want to talk like this even more in said project because old guys on the internet complaining about younger generations is exactly what no one needs
and it's funny because this guy and my professor both use "like" in ways that no one else does, except for the people making fun of people who say "like"
This is absolutely brilliant.
At 6:40 he says "something like 75% of female college students" ( using "like" as "approximately")
No,,, there's nothing wrong with saying "something like". That is a standard English phrase. Interjecting "like" every other word is the problem.
@@lapacker you may be right, but can easily just use "about" or "approximately" in place of "something like" here. agreed not as big a deal though. especially where I say that all the time myself. 😂
@@orang3hill why would he? "like" is perfectly fine for the occasion.
Yeah, but it's like, so true like, how like, the Kardashians speak like this, like all the time.
ARRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. I CANNOT STAND IT! Thank you for this clip. I would have been crushing watermelons with my bare hands if I was presenting this subject matter. So thank you - very well done!
As a young person I never really saw the problem of the uptalk and the vocal fry. I personally don't think that this degrades our language or exhibits less confidence. We have to remember that communication comes from body language, 85% to be exact. if someone is confused about whether a person is "asking them or telling them" they should really look at their perception of body language. I feel if people are using the word "like" shows more confidence because of the stigma that is behind this speech pattern. The policing of someone's voice and voice patterns really frighten me.
How ironic, he literally uses vocal fry.
There's a difference between using it just at the end of sentences and having it consistently in your regular talking voice
I'm really sick of people acting like it's misogyny or agism to criticize vocal fry and upspeak. When people are criticizing people's use of those things it's not because they are using them, it's because they are ABUSING them. Everyone vocal fries and upspeaks to some degree based on the type of meaning they are trying to convey, but it's different when every sentence is upspeak or ends with vocal fry. This guy is actually a good example. His voice has vocal fry tendencies, but every sentence is not ending in vocal fry.
tv92taylor lol you are an idiot.
How about the overuse of "So" as the beginning of a sentence... It seems to mean, "listen, I'm going to say something"
Jacques Untel
Amen, when did that happen? My kid does that
Yes, that is the intent. Starting a sentence with 'So', 'Like', 'Listen' or similar words can be an effective way to grab people's attention before speaking
True. Very commonly used by women who still behave like high school girls.
I think that we should stop worrying about how people are saying things and more about what they are saying. I find it interesting that the presenter doesn't seem to notice his own vocal fry in his voice, as it can be heard throughout the video.
l think the way we say things is very important, how often have you heard it said " it`s not what you say it`s the way that you say it" !! And actually WHAT logic is there in stating a fact as a question, it`s utterly ridiculous as is the practice of " like" at every opportunity, ie, " it was, like" tuesday" ( voice raised at end, NO, " lt was tuesday, not like tuesday, the uk always has to be the puppet of everything that comes out of America and even there they do not like it !!
you just missed the entire point
@@mrdev9843 Karen is right. If you want people to take you seriously, then learn to speak well. Nobody is owed an audience. One has to attract and engage an audience.
Voice croak sounds acceptable on male, not a female. Males naturally have DEEP voices. Voice fry is definitely harsh and masculine.
+David Dover I noticed nowadays lots of young "men" talk with a whining nasal gayish voice. Actually, the maker of this video also has a bit of a gayish voice.
very good. i mean like very good
I like the uptalk talk in his creaky voice
THis guy is my hero, my brother croaks all the time. With a mumbling flat monotone croak and my dad hates it. My dad waits until my brother is completely done talking. My dad says Open your mouth and speak English, now wtf did you say! I just laugh it is comical. My brother gets really mad. I think they uptalk in The Office TV show all the time "Seriously!!!" I think it progressed from there.
5:41 is exactly my reaction watching this video :D
I love it xD I literally died watching the imitations xD
So you're dead? Your ghost is posting this?
+lovelle spice Well, quite possibly. But just to give you a hint as to the Arbitrariness of Language and stuff, there's this hyperbolic expression 'to die laughing', derived from Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" as far as I'm concerned. That's probably what I meant when posting that comment in agony. Cheers.✌
Pauline P haha. Lovelle Spice was referring to your use of word “literally” instead of “figuratively” (another bad trend in modern speech), not to expression “to die from laughter”. Thanks for taking your time and googling it’s origin btw, now I know when it was first used.
This is like comedy gold?
As a linguist (Yes, I have a degree in Linguistics), none of these are a "degradation" of English any more than you could call modern English a "degradation" of Old English or Middle English. It's simply language change. In order to see and appreciate this, you have to study linguistics and other languages.
Uptalk: Intonation patterns vary across languages. It's not surprising to see new patterns develop among a set of speakers of a language. From a sociolinguistic perspective, speech communities develop specific dialects as ways of group identification. It's just a type of shibboleth, if you will.
Like: It's become a discourse marker. Other languages make use of particles for things like asking a yes/no question, marking causality, marking incredulity, etc. Chinese puts "ma" at the end of a statement to turn it into a question. The phenomena that lead to this could be similar to the usage of "like". The current prevalence of "like" is almost completely colloquial and has not been adopted into the written language. "Said" itself wasn't recorded as being used with inanimate objects until the 30's.
Creaky voice: Some languages use creaky voice to differentiate between words. In some places 'caught' and 'cot' have merged into having the same vowel. Now imagine if one of them starts to always be pronounced with creaky voice. Now it will be the creaky voice quality that distinguishes between the words and not the vowel as in other dialects.
Language is fascinating and linguistics is the science that aims to explain it. Language never "degrades"; it simply changes. I recommend "The Unfolding of Language" by Guy Deutscher to help you understand more about the underlying processes that result in language change.
How many languages have you studied diachronically? Modern French or Spanish or Italian would sound silly to Latin speakers. Take a linguistics course and gain some perspective.
Regarding "uptalk" specifically: you could have been briefer and simply have stated that all inquiry into the subject should in your view be merely descriptive. The poster if obviously making a normative assertion. His use of the term degradation implies valuation. What the vector is only he can say, but it's likely something along the lines of firmness; that is, the tonal properties of speech reveal the psychic state of the speaker, and that the uncertain ending indicates a progressive degeneration among people in our society of character, of which firmness/resoluteness in speech is a key element. It should be furthermore stated that the tonal aspects of such attributes are quite often *not* arbitrary, unless you think "large","huge","gross" (German), could ever have referred to small and "klein","tiny","pipsqeak","miniscule" could ever have referred to large things.
Dustin Hampton
On the contrary, language, like ANYTHING can degrade. Richness of expression, definition, eloquence are all quickly disappearing. What the speaker is saying here in particular about the use of "like" is correct. It is clearly being used in many cases as a (very poor) substitute for better choice of words due to a *lack* of vocabulary. This reducing inventory amongst young people will inordinately lead to diminished abilities of expression among their generation. Our universe is vast, and as human beings, our range of feeling, awareness, and most of all, our need to be implicitly understood is VAST. A smaller dictionary is regressive.
And even more pertinently, the newer generations vocal over-dependance on tonation as a means of imparting their meaning, is going to leave them sorely lacking wit all dere txt spk.
They are losing the advanced tools of expression. It's so easy even for our generation to be misunderstood. They won't have a hope of any form of satisfactory understanding of each other. That is most definitely *degradation*.
And I am sorry, but you don't need to name your credentials as a "linguist" in order to make your point. In fact, it lessens your points. Sorry.
"On the contrary, language, like ANYTHING can degrade." The languages that are degrading are the ones that are currently going extinct from not being spoken. English is a robust language, undergoing language change, not degradation.
"Richness of expression, definition, eloquence are all quickly disappearing." Once again, English is changing and none of those things are disappearing, let alone quickly.
For the use of like (and this topic in general), I point you to: "Like, Degrading the Language? No way!" by John McWhorter.
That essay also deals with "diminished abilities of expression". People are expressing themselves in new, creative ways, and that ability is in no way diminished.
"Our universe is vast, and as human beings, our range of feeling, awareness, and most of all, our need to be implicitly understood is VAST." If people are communicating, then that's being accomplished. Language is essentially nothing more than a negotiation tool.
"A smaller dictionary is regressive." There are English language dictionaries with 600,000 words. People know on average 20-35,000 and seem to get along just fine without the other 500,000+ words.
"They are losing the advanced tools of expression. It's so easy even for our generation to be misunderstood. They won't have a hope of any form of satisfactory understanding of each other. That is most definitely degradation." Once again, I point you to the essay by McWhorter. He dismantles your entire argument.
Do you have any linguistic credentials or are you simply one of these armchair grammar nazis who have no actual science or theory to back them up?
jajajaj... " I was like" "He was like".... you made my day with that, bro
Best video on the subject.
Lol! You are right! Eight years later it's even worse? Like now grandma's are like talking this way growl.
Did you realise the author of this video actually does vocal fry "like" fifty times? :-P
I think it's just his originally deep voice
He does. I noticed that right away. But apparently vocal fry is okay in older males.
Pretty sure that its his natural voice. And the voice starts to become lower and creakier as you get older. Its not normal for young females to sound like that though. Have you ever seen Kim Kardashian speak lol
The depth of pitch has almost nothing to do with creaky voicing.
@@EliullGameplays Not sure I'd agree that there is such a thing as a "natural voice" that anyone can have or speak with, no matter how unconsciously or artfully one speaks.
What I find equally interesting is the frequency of lisping and falsetto voice among some gay men. I had a discussion about this with a gay friend who both lisps and uses falsetto frequently. He did not know why he did it and had no answers why it is prevalent among certain gay men. We both had theories, but no fact-based supposition. Young girls today using up voice, vocal fry and the like do so by modeling. Could this be the reason for lisping and falsetto voice by some gay men? It would be an interesting study. Perhaps it has already been done and I am simply not aware of it.
I think what you are referring to as "lisping" is actually a sibilant "s" (or hissing "s"), which is common among gay men - I don't hear the lisping thing any more often with gays than with straights. As to falsetto, yes, I think gay men often speak high in their vocal range, which may be a result of a lack of confidence from a young age
.
You are correct in the terminology, but "lisping" is what it is referred to in the public lexicon so that is what we called it. We discussed confidence as a result, and perhaps that is a contributing factor, but then straight men who lack confidence would do it as well and it's not common among straight men. Also, why would it be so ubiquitous across social, economic and geographical borders? My friend noted that in Greece he found the hissing "s" and falsetto common among certain gay men there as well. He thought it due to a desire among some gay men (who he referred to as the "nelly") to have more feminine characteristics, such as a higher voice and softer pronunciation of certain consonants. Whatever the reason, it is very interesting how prevalent it is among certain gays in cultures around the world.
***** This. I had a gay male friend in my youth who told me to shoot him if he ever developed "gay voice". Unfortunately, he did eventually develop it and I didn't have the heart to shoot him. x]
I think it's a way to falsely feminise the voice. Like how drag queens falsely feminise their looks and behavior - it's not based on reality or what women are actually like. Gay men are not women but there's a real predilection to believing that they are "as good as a woman" on some level.
There is nothing feminine about being a gay man (or masculine about being a gay woman). Sexual preference doesn't make you a different gender ... bleah.
+Kalleesto In the 60s a gay relative had a mate who lisped- and was obviously gay (lived in SF) and it was interesting to run in to him 25 years later (he'd split up with relative) - the lisp was completely gone, and more masculine attire. Perhaps the need for the affectation no longer existed and perhaps he'd found his identity. I didn't have the chance nor the comfort level to take him aside and ask at the time so I'll never know!
+over under sideways down I have noticed that too, nowadays lots of young men and even young women talk with a whining nasal gayish voice.
YOU have vocal fry!
well said, it's a pitch pandemic used to make the talker appear sophisticated and trendy, but point it out to them and they look at you incredulously.
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The frequent use of "like" reminds me of "It's my party" episode in Family Ties. That was hilarious!!
I think a good word to describe the motivation for using “uptalk” is to be COY.
Can you do a video about something that's lately been a pet peeve of mine: the progressive degeneration of "Bob is rude" to "I feel like Bob is rude" and even "I kinda feel like Bob is rude". "Bob is rude" seems to me adequate; indeed, "I think.." would even be omitted in most languages, since everything *I'm* saying is obviously what *I* think. "Bob is rude" would be how it's said in many other languages without anyone thinking it arrogant or off-putting. If one wishes to express uncertainty it could be stated as "Bob seems rude", but the excessive "I feel like.." belies a prevalent timidity among people today.
He is talking about that in this video
I do not get the "I feel" term instead of " I think " because one is logic and the other is an emotion. The term " I feel " is way over used. Talk about showing lack of confidence by not being able to think it, say it and mean it. As a supervisor in a small company. I hear applicants say "I feel" and it is a "NO HIRE" I don't care what you feel, we need your skills and knowledge not your feelings. This is the real world.
"Bob is rude" is a VERY clear statement. Not everybody feels entitled to judge so because that's rude by itself. So version no. 2 seems an appropriate way to express oneself. Version 3 is bullshit, I agree. (Please excuse my mistakes, it's not my native language).
Oh gosh! I totally agree. I just came to the US and I thought it’s just a normal US pattern of speaking. Thanks for the explanation.
No it isn't normal. We're going to take these people away and deal with them.
Forever alone...
In the UK in the North of England we use 'like' at the end of a sentence. For example " There's no way i'm doing that like' it's a short way of saying 'you understand'. Anyway, I enjoyed that video like.
Ya know, Nauru2000 has vocal fry and doesn't realize it.
A guy with vocal fry is commenting on vocal fry?
I think he just has a deep voice.
Pretty good!
What about starting an explanation with the word: So
Or repeating a conversation but intercepting parts of it with: blahblah....
So funny, I get accused of asking questions like they are statements...do I need to practice up talk?
American Dudes in their mid 30's also say like too often... I couldn't stand it when I was dating back in 2013... now I'm married to a European who speaks better English than a native..
Hahaha. True. Many Millennial men are fryers and talk like high school girls.
hes like likw quoting girls on subway followed by campy "what" hes fryin too
I would love to have this man as my English teacher, he is clear, funny and knowledgeable. Great video!
I'm spannish and I've been looking for this concepts as I find them in EVERY VIDEO IN UA-cam. It's very upsetting and didn't know it had a name. I hope I don't end talking like them). Thank you for the explanation and sorry for my english (I'm still learning).
This is soooooooo awesome! Made me laugh :)
The last 30 seconds are golden!
Very insightful. Thanks for the video
2017 and this is still going strong. Wish you would've addressed people beginning every sentence with "so".
I agree with this guy and i'm a woman the English language is going down hill and I do think it's due to low self esteem and some of them are just imitating others .
it ain't going downhill it is just becoming richer. Get with the programm Angie.
@@PHlophe English is degrading fast through poor education and lazy students.
Isn’t he talking in vocal fry constantly??
I have a lot of trouble with vocal fry (I think) and saying "like", except I use it with an "um" or an "uh". Part of me thinks this is an evolution of the English language, not some sort of degredation, especially if you understand how language evolves. I'm not sure mine is a vocal fry, I think I just have a creaky/raspy voice, but for a male I have a pretty high pitch, so I'm not sure it works well with that. I've been trying fix using "um" and "like" in between pauses for years now. I've definitely improved in that capacity. I know that I have the vocabulary but I'm always second guessing myself. I'm probably a better speaker than I think, but there's always a gnawing doubt.
That’s the issue, this started as a lack of self confidence and a failure to tell people how to minimize “um” with little alternative so people resorted to the word “like.” This is in fact a degradation of language, not an evolution.
@@bubblehead4270 ua-cam.com/video/uwgpvBFi28E/v-deo.html
I completely agree with the chap in this video. I'm in the UK and this horrible, hateful style of speech is everywhere these days. If I'm speaking to someone and they make a statement with a rising inflection at the end, I always say "I don't know", or "I've no idea." Once you've said that a couple of times they may begin to wonder why. This then gives you the opportunity to say "You sounded as if you were asking a me question." I once said that to a woman whose speech was particularly aggravating, and she then replied "Well that's just the way I speak?". In the UK we have adopted a lot of awful speech patterns from the Australian TV soaps that came over in the eighties and nineties. Listen to any young person saying the vowel O nowadays. The diphthong has changed. It now starts at OY and finishes at OO. It's what you might expect to hear in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth, but not coming out of the mouths of seemingly every UK citizen under the age of twenty five! No worries. That's another Australian phrase I cannot bear, and you hear it everywhere now. Sorry everyone, rant over.
lol! fella what are you on about . SMH!
"Like" is used by boys and men also. I have a teenage son who does it, even though the rest of the family does not. It's peer-related, and probably will disappear as he gets older. I don't have the low opinion of teenagers and young people that you seem to have. Valley Girl-speak was "outed" in the 1980s, but it didn't destroy civilization, anymore than Elvis records or dungaree jeans did in the 1950s (according to my 90-yr-old father in law).
And my daughter IS a defense attorney, and doesn't use "Like" or Vocal Fry, and neither do her female colleagues. It's hilarious that you use that as an example - as if everyone is Legally Blonde. You need to meet more people.
Boys and men that use "like" are not real boys and men. Biologically, they are boys and men but they aren't what boys and men used to be. Tough, respected, not a little bitch like today's liberal cucks that couldn't change a spare tire if they're life depended on it.
Didn't know being a boy or man was contingent on the ability to loosen and tighten lug nuts. Are women that can do so also boys and men?
Your son is gay.
You forgot to tell everyone to hit "like".
This is like SOOO FUNNY. Lol thanks for the video! Really enjoyed it!!!!
Yes, he is a bit stuffy and falls into the things he mentions, but there are good points.
Thank You very much! I did enjoy it. Greetings from Spain
Your voice is fried, dude
This reminds me of "It's my party" episode of Family Ties in which this way of talking is hilariously portrayed.
I think the high final tone in "uptalk" is in lieu of a deleted "you know?"
Vocal fry reminds me of the sound that the evil ghosts from "The Grudge" make. I first noticed it about 10 years on a big Pharma TV commercial; shortly thereafter I got a new job where two of my female supervisors spoke with vocal fry. One especially would give a long creak at the end of every sentence. My first reaction upon hearing them speak was, "GODDDDD, that's like fingernails on a chalkboard, what the hell is going on with these women?"
Mostly young American bimbos talk with vocal fry, although I've heard a few older women speak like this. There's a new IHOP TV commercial in which a young Black woman speaks like a valley girl and immediately following her is a young white woman who speaks with vocal fry. It's enough to make me question my existence.
I'm not sure who started vocal fry (Britney Spears and Brooke Shields come to mind as possible candidates) but whoever started it should be banished to Antarctica.
I hate to tell you this, but you have that popular habit of over-using the word "so".
Uptalk comes from news anchors on TV. LIsten to how they speak.
Lmao. This is one of the best videos I've seen. Right on the mark for calling out those irritating and decadent speech patterns.
this is sheer gold. 😅😅😆😆well done
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🎉
who is he to talk?? he's consistently using vocal fry throughout almost ALL of his words...
When he first started talking he was using uptalk and vocal fry. 😅
He has vocal fry naturally too!
These are just three speech patterns that really get up my nose these days. Vocal fry in young women is especially grating and seems to be contagious. If it doesn't go out of fashion soon I don't know what I'll do. I'll probably lose my job when I'm rude to a customer who keeps doing it. At least uptalk and vocal fry can't be done at the same time.
As for like, that's contagious too. I think it depends on individual awareness and monitoring of one's own language. Something I find encouraging is when I come across a young person who is intelligent and articulate. A teenage pilot appeared on TV and was discussing his plans to become a commercial pilot for a major airline. He was a breath of fresh air because there was not a like to be heard, let alone uptalk or vocal fry.
These irritating bad habits in language are all contagious, but only if you're not paying attention and/or don't care that they're happening. Consequently I don't do any of these things.
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His future court room scene sounded a lot like the movie Idiocracy.
that court scene was brilliant hahaha
This is great! Thank you!!!
How is making a language your own a dumbing down of the language? If anything, experimentation will help the language evolve faster. I guess you're a person who doesn't like change. I'm sorry you're so judgmental of others.
Thank you for this video. I came here searching for an 'answer' on why the ANNOYING Kardashians sound dumb, pathetic, and yes, annoying.
I really like the Asian lady's presentation of the, err, epidemic! Well done!! This HAS to be recognised at least, and addressed somehow, even by excellent videos like this!
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I am from Los Angeles. Interestingly I was always specifically annoyed by vocal fry and overuse of the word "like" however, I confess I caught myself talking in uptalk tone. It has subconsciously become a standard way of talking.
I'm from Hollywood.And some of my friends from the valley used to have a natural upward inflection in their words.But, now a person can be from back east,or the deep south, or anywhere.And you can't even tell where they're from because of this annoying crap.The Kardashians have done their job well.
When I watch an Australian TV interview, most sound like every sentence ends with matter of fact statements. I don't know how to explain it, but you'll notice if you watch one
You said "Like 75%". 😉
I was so relieved to find that creaky voice is a problem. My ex did it and it drove me crazy. I think things will continue to degrade. Bunch of dumb valley girl/ ghetto talking people who don't know where Austria is on a map and can't write cursive.
Many thanks for this. I found it fascinating.
Gag me with a spoon
in a sexual way or what
The 80's!
I like your analysis, sir. Thank you! Don't mind the other comments that try to pull this video into the infinite number of internet arguments out there.
A colleague of mine wrote some definitions for a test for our students, which was very kind of her. She wrote "Radioactive is like nuclear like what happened in Hiroshima". It was written exactly as she would say it, which is the point at which language degradation becomes really worrying.
im addicted to the word like sorry
Another irritating affectation common among young people is the excessive and often superfluous use of "literally". For example, "This is literally the first time I've been to New York". On occasion, it is even used in such a way that renders the statement entirely implausible. "My exam went literally Titanic." Try to imagine the speaker tumbling out of the exam hall and landing in a frigid ocean.
Vocal fry is fun
Airline pilot vocal fry is the only legal form that I know of :^)
When I was a teen in the 70s, kids were already saying "Like" over and over. Another substitute we had for
"Said" was "Goes," as in "I told him I had a crush him and he goes 'I have a crush on you too.'" Sometimes we'd say "went" to indicate past tense but we usually used "Goes" regardless of tense. Thankfully, I don't use any of these anymore, hah.
Hilarious! Also too nauseatingly true.
My former coworker was in his late twenties, he constantly said "Like" and "Totally". He even said "Totes" because he thought it was cooler than "Totally". Imagine a 6'3" bearded, greasy, smelly guy saying "Totally" at least 15 times in one phone conversation to a CLIENT! One time, he called a client location to ask a question and he was speaking in a very high pitch... THEY HUNG UP ON HIM! LMAO! I didn't have the heart to tell him that masculine men don't want to hear whiny, uptalking Valley Girl "like" men.
I study French and I find uptalk bizarrely similar to French rising intonation, which is standard
Did he say vocal Flair?
@@daphnemiller5910 WOOOOO!
I don’t think he is sexist or ageist if you watch the whole video, especially the last sentence, it’s a pretty well thought out video coming from a genuine place, he just comes off as sexist/ageist because people like to jump to that conclusion. He actually very carefully explained all 3 of these concepts well, it was the fact that you could see emotion in the man that people want to attack him. I started to think the video was taking an uncomfortable sexist turn, but as I watched I realized that’s the problem with our society today; we all always want to destroy people who show true emotion, and a true conviction to change something for the better. That’s why people hate Don Lemon and Sean Hannity, (and many others, such as Kaepernick) for the same reason. I’m 22 by the way