Valspeak

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Valspeak is a common name for an American sociolect, originally of Los Angeles, Californians, in particular Valley girls. This stereotype, which originated in the 1970s, became a national fad for a certain period. Many phrases and elements of Valspeak, along with surfer slang and skateboarding slang, are stable elements of the California English dialect lexicon, and in some cases wider American English (such as the widespread use of "like" as a hedge). Elements of valspeak can now be found virtually everywhere English is spoken, particularly among young native English speakers.^[1]

The term "Valley Girl" and the Valley manner of speech was given a wider circulation with the release of a hit single by Frank Zappa entitled "Valley Girl," on which Moon Zappa, Frank's fourteen-year-old daughter, delivered a monologue of meaningless phrases in "valspeak" behind the music. This song, Frank Zappa's only Top 40 hit in the United States, popularized phrases such as "grody to the max". Some of the terms used by Moon were not actually Valley phrases, but were surfer terms instead (such as "tubular" and "gnarly"). But due to the song's popularity, some of the surfer phrases actually entered the speech of real Valley teens after this point. The Los Angeles surfing subculture, on the other hand, did not generally begin using the Valley terms, and in fact often despise users of the terms.

One of the earliest appearances of Valspeak and the Valley Girl stereotype on television was through the character of Jennifer DiNuccio, played by Tracy Nelson in the 1982-83 sitcom, Square Pegs. According to an interview with Nelson included on the 2008 DVD release of the series, she developed the character's Valspeak and personality prior to the Zappa recording becoming popular.^[2]

Valspeak is used heavily in the 1995 film Clueless and quite a lot in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, and Wayne's World. The character of Tiffany Blum-Deckler in MTV's Daria also uses Valspeak.

Contents 1 Intonation 1.1 Emphasizing phrases 2 See also 3 Notes 4 External links

[edit] Intonation

Excessive use of high rising terminal is common in valspeak. Statements have rising intonation, causing normal declarative language to appear to the listener as interrogative. This is also known as "uptalking", and is similar to the Australian Questioning Intonation (or AQI).

[edit] Emphasizing phrases

"totally", "so totally", "Totes"

• Meaning: "very" or "really"
• Usage: Can be used anywhere in a sentence, even in syntactically awkward positions (e.g. before verbs)
• Examples: "I totally paused!", "He so totally said that to her!"

"like"

• Meaning: Indicates that an approximation follows, rather than a precise description or verbatim quote. "I was like 'Oh my God!' " means "I said something like 'Oh my God!' or otherwise indicated my suprise." Preparing listeners for less precision facilitates Valspeak's traditionally high speed.
• Usage: Quotative particle.
  • Example: "She was like 'oh my gawd you have to see this', but I was like, 'shut up! you're kidding!'"
• Usage: Filled pause or hedge.
  • Example: "Her new hat is like, a greeny-brown color."

"why"

• Usage: Added for emphasis, but has no particular meaning.
• Example: "Oh, why, that came out of nowhere!"

"duh!"

• Meaning: "Everybody knows that!", "Obviously!", etc.
• Usage: Usually said with heavy emphasis, often while rolling your eyes. Commonly begins a sentence or phrase, or is its own sentence.
• Example: "Haven't I heard that before?" "Duh, it's like a famous quote!"

"As if!"

• Meaning: "You are wrong", "It's not going to happen", "You wish", etc.
• Usage: Used in its own sentence, usually to contradict the previous sentence or demonstrate skepticism: "As if (I would ever do that!)".
• Example: "You expect me to wear that? As if!"

"What-ever!"

• Meaning: "I don't believe you", "I don't care", etc.
• Usage: Used as a complete sentence to dismiss a topic, often during situations where the person delivering the phrase understands that the argument is lost or pointless. Special emphasis is placed on "Ever". It is used as an often weak comeback to other's insults.
• Example: "You're, like, so totally out of nail polish? What-EVER!"

"Worst (something) ever!"

• Meaning: Short for "This is the worst (something) I have ever seen!"
• Usage: Usually said with significant pauses between each word.
• Example: "Worst. Movie. Ever (sometimes written as "evar")!"

"so", "like", "OK", "you know", "or something"

• Usage: Usually used as fillers with no particular meaning.
• Example: "So OK, I was totally like, you know, 'I have no idea' or something!"

"I know right?!"

• An interrobang of agreement.
• Example: Person1: "Ugh, those UGGs are so 2005" / Person2: "I know right?"

[edit] See also

• California English
• Filler (linguistics)
• Jive filter - a novelty program that translates English into parody forms.
• Like: As a discourse particle
• Pink Five - a Star Wars parody fanfilm starring a Valley girl.
• Gap Girls - a Saturday Night Live sketch, prominently featuring Valspeak phrases.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• cs.utexas.edu: "Valspeak" text translator
• Clueless: the script
• Lotozo, Eils (September 4 2002). "The way teens talk, like, serves a purpose". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. http://www2.jsonline.com/enter/gen/sep02/71334.asp.  Citing Siegel, Muffy E. A. (2002). "Like: The Discourse Particle and Semantics". Journal of Semantics 19 (1): 35-71. http://jos.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/19/1/35. 
• Catherine Tate - Valley Girl parody