Influence of Social Contact on Linguistic Trends

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Exploring how language and accents evolve through social contagion, the chapter discusses speech accommodation theory and the spread of aspirational dialects. Examples like the 'valley girl' accent and aspirational styles in media are used to illustrate the impact of community interactions on linguistic behaviors.

Vocal fry. Code switching. Black Twitter. Valley girls. Culture vultures. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TALKING. Alie battles traffic to sit down with linguistics professor Dr. Nicole Holliday about intonational phonology: how tones and pitch help us bond with others and construct identities. Inspired in part by former President Barack Obama's masterful linguistic variability, Dr. Holliday's work focuses on how language is used in the crossing and construction of racial/ethnic boundaries. She graciously fielded tons of questions for a fascinating dive into the nuances and strict grammatical rules of African American Language, cultural appropriation, our educational system, honoring your identity, what not to wear in Paris and the roiling debate over who is the best rapper. Also: Alie is maybe a lizard person.

Follow Dr. Nicole Holliday @MixedLinguist on Twitter and Instagram

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Sound editing by Steven Ray Morris

Theme song by Nick Thorburn