California English
Alysa Lie' Asian-Californian accent
Play videoThis video analyzes the fact that Asian American communities in California do not partake in the caught-cot merger as most Californian accents do, using examples Alysa Liu speaking with the "caught" vowel in places where most Californians (and sometimes most standard American English speakers) would use the "cot" vowel. The video then gives an example of Liu's L-vocalization.
Kamala Harris criticized for style-shifting to voters
Play videoThis is a Fox "News" segment in which Kamala Harris is criticized/mocked for style-shifting in a speech at a political rally. The host argues that Harris switches rapidly from "a San Francisco elite to a Southern belle." It's not clear that the shift Harris performs is really into what some people call "Southern English," but the hosts use this claim to argue that Harris is artificially pandering to voters. Arguably, the r vocalization "four" and absence of copula could also be features of AAL, which the hosts are ignoring, deliberately or not, to characterize Harris as deceitful/unauthentic. Whose speech is most stringently policed? Why? See this book for an examination of President Barack Obama's language use and the public's response: Alim, H Samy and Smitherman, Geneva. 2012. Articulate While Black. See this paper for an analysis of (ing) and released /t/ in the campaign speeches of Obama, Romney, and McCain. D’Onofrio, A., & Stecker, A. (2022). The social meaning of stylistic variability: Sociophonetic (in)variance in United States presidential candidates’ campaign rallies. Language in Society, 51(1), 1–28
The Vocal Habit That Women Are Being Criticized for at Work
Play videoThis Wall Street Journal video talks about "vocal fry" and the "creaky voice" people have and how specifically women in the workplace have been criticized over this voice habit over men.
Surfer Bro Makes Plea for House Parties
Play videoExcellent example of back vowel fronting. Listen to his last name “Kroger”!
Do you call it Tanbark?
I brought this up on the first day of class. It is about how people call wood chips or mulch, "tanbark" in specific parts of the Bay Area. This is a reddit post by someone from the Peninsula. I thought it was interesting seeing the comments breaking down where they are from and what word they use.
Linguistics prof. analyzes Blink-182 Accent
Article about regional dialect and vocal stylings in pop-punk music. Goes into non-rhoticity and California Shift (article mentions Eckert!) [Published on 06-18-2015]
Cheekface
Play videoOne of my favorite bands sings with prominent features of West Coast English. In this song especially, in order to poke fun at a certain kind of west-coaster, the singer's vowels are very fronted. There's also a notable drawn-out "r" sound in "smarter" and "more". The way he says "American imperialism" is especially hilarious.
Vocal Fry Tik Tok
This Tik Tok is a joke about vocal fry and the California accent.
Where's My Juul??
Play videoSinger Lil' Mariko parodies the "SoCal girl" dialect of English in the song "Where's My Juul??", featuring a lot of u-fronting in the words "juul" and "cool."
WARNING for loud volume, profanity, guns, and descriptions of violence in the lyrics.
Bowl cut maintenance 1000
Play videoThis is a famous video of a man maintaining his bowl cut. As far as I know he did this without it being meant to be funny, but after becoming popular for having such a strong accent, created his merch etc. He is from southern California and obviously uses variables that people associate with California. See: "deuuud" instead of "dude" etc.
Californian Shift
Play videoWe talked about the Californian and Canadian BAT retraction and SNL does a great job of exaggerating that on their skit, the Californians.
Emilia Clarke Can Talk Like a Valley Girl
Play videoDuring this interview, actress Emilia Clark puts on an "American accent" in a situation to avoid being recognized. What came out was a very stereotypical "valley girl" accent representing vocal fry. Both Jimmy Kimmel and herself laugh and all in good fun of her accent. Even pointing out, how she loved "Clueless" when Kimmel asked where the inspiration for the accent came from.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (2/10) Movie CLIP - Spicoli Meets Mr. Hand (1982) HD
Play videoExamples of the third dialect in the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
R.S.V.P. - Clueless (1/9) Movie CLIP (1995) HD
Play videoSome examples of the third dialect in the 1995 movie Clueless.
Ed Sheeran tries American Accents
Play videoIn this video, British singer Ed Sheeran is asked by a fan during a Q&A session to do his best "American Accent". He goes on to say that he can do three different ones, starting with the "Valley Girl from California" one, then moving to the "Regular" one and ending with the "Southern Draw" one. Since English is obviously one language in and of itself, but different English speaking countries have different accents. For example, Ed has a British English accent. But there are also Australian English accents, Irish English accents, and so on. There are different accents for different parts of the world, but there are also sub-accents in different parts of the same country, as shown here by Mr. Sheeran.
West Coast Speech Community
Play videoThis is an example of a speech community. In the video, she is referring to the different ways in which her speech community interacts compared to the area she is in now. Her examples should be relatable to many living on the West Coast.
The unstoppable march of the upward inflection?
A short piece speculating on the origins of/reasons for upward inflection/"Valley Girl" speech. [Published on 08-11-2014]
Dude
Play videoThis video is a Bud Light commercial using the word Dude only. This video is a perfect example of Indexicality. The simple word is used in multiple contexts as well as multiple tones to convey completely different meanings.
Talk of the Town: Dontcha Hear the S.F. Lingo?
A local San Franciscan journalist makes a (not very linguistic) case for a unique San Francisco dialect.
Why this bilingual education ban should have been repealed long ago
Sociolinguist Phillip M. Carter makes the case for repealing Proposition 227 in California, which essentially banned bilingual education in the state in 1998.
Dude, Where's my Accent?
A 2013 Portland Monthly article on recent research that the California Vowel Shift is used in Oregon English.
Shoes
Play videoThe popular YouTube video 'Shoes," which demonstrates a number of California Shifted features, including the fronting of back vowels
"California" Accent
Play videoA short YouTube submission from a native Californian, first in his native accent, then in a hyper-sytlized "California" accent.
(Enlarge image)Valley Girl: Frank and Moon Zappa
Play videoA performance of Frank Zappa's song "Valley Girl," from the 1980s, featuring his daughter Moon Unit Zappa performing as a valley girl, and utilizing many features of California English.
The California Accent is Hella a Thing
This 2012 piece on Jezebel describes the voices of California Project currently in progress at Stanford. It includes an embedded clip of the SNL skit "The Californians," and the video "Shoes."
The linguistics of the East L.A. accent
A 2011 interview on Southern California Public radio about the East L.A. accent and Chicano English, with guest Carmen Fought.
Dude: Stanford Linguists Probe California Accent
Penelope Eckert and fellow researchers in California examine how English is spoken and perceived in different cities around the state in efforts to refute the stereotype that California English is accentless and homogenous.