Information About

Valspeak
  CATEGORIES ABOUT VALSPEAK
   
1980s fads
   
slang
   
american english
   
valley girl
   
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Valspeak is a common name for the dialect used by Valley Girl s, stereotypical Dumb Blonde s, living in the San Fernando Valley , with rich parents, a superficial social life and a lot of attention for fashion and parties. This stereotype originated in the 1970s , but was at its peak in the 1980s and still popular in the 1990s . Though a fad, many phrases and elements of Valspeak, along with Surfer Slang and Skateboarding Slang , have become a permanent part of the California English dialect, and in some cases wider American English (such as the widespread use of "like" as conversational filler).

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 Unit 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.


Intonation




Emphasizing phrases

"totally", "so totally"
  • 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"
  • Usage: Expresses a state of emotion or a stance; may be used as a kind of conversational Cadigan .

  • Example: "She was like 'oh my gawd you have to see this', but I was like, 'no way, you're kidding!'"


"why"
  • Usage: Added for emphasis, but has no particular meaning.

  • Example: "Oh, why, that came out of nowhere!"


"duh!"
  • Meaning: "Everybody knows that!", "I can't believe you (think) that!", etc.

  • Usage: Usually said with heavy emphasis, often while rolling your eyes. Commonly begins a sentence or phrase, or is its own sentence.

  • Example: "Did you write that?" "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.

  • Example: "You expect me to wear that? As if!"


"Whatever!"
  • Meaning: "I don't believe you", "I don't care", etc.

  • Usage: Used as a complete sentence to dismiss a topic. Special emphasis is placed on "Ever".

  • 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!"


"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, so 'I have no idea' or something!"


''(Also see Vocabulary below.)''


OTHER CHARACTERISTICS

The dialect can often be distinguished by its intonation, and by its Pharyngealisation of certain consonant sounds, particularly the "L" and Rhotic "R" sounds occurring in the Coda . Pharyngealisation is rare in the English language and its presence here is possibly unique within American English , though it is detectable in similar circumstances in some variants of Irish English and Scottish English .


VOCABULARY

Note: The words "Outtie 5000", "Baldwin," "Loadie," "Monet," and "Postal" all came from the 1995 movie Clueless and were NOT in usage in the 1970s or 1980s. Those words were in fact, invented for the movie and were not even in usage before it became popular.


SEE ALSO



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