The Usy Effect in Adolescence

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When you're a young person what you really want to do is stand out in some way. A lot of times that's tied into these groups that are marginalized in society such as African-American culture or drag culture. In inner city schools if you want to not get beaten up for your lunch money every day one of the ways to do that is project speech features that signal toughness non-conformity physical strength. These features then grow up with them so they become part of the language of the larger mainstream culture.

Language changes, and that's not a bad thing! This week, Adam is joined by sociolinguist Valerie Fridland to uncover how language is much more malleable than we're led to believe, and how the resistance against new slang often disguises an attempt to limit the influence of marginalized communities. Pick up Valerie's book at factuallypod.com/books

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