Sociolinguistic Artifacts

This video is a clip from an interview with sociolinguist Valerie Fridland discussing how the evolution of language is often catalyzed by women. Fridland explains that because women often hold caregiving roles in the home, they pass on their language to children more than men do, leading to intimate diversification. Additionally, once children are in school and begin developing speech patterns that are distinct from those of their families and more closely align with those of their peers, women have been observed to use more novel language than men, which is often later adopted into standard language. She cites the transition from "doth" to "does" in written English, a change observed in texts by women a generation before it appeared in works by men. Interestingly, Fridland also notes that some aspects of language, such as the regular use of "totally", become enregistered as highly feminine, which contradicts this trend and prompts a clear pushback in men's language.