Discourse Marker
Vocal Fry: The Rules
Play videoA somewhat comedic look at what vocal fry is and a plea from the video's author to stop it. The narrator talks about vocal fry's spread across various mediums and how it may be a reaction to rising vocal intonation that went way too far.
Filmmaker and Speech Pathologist weigh in on what it means to "sound gay"
An episode of Fresh Air, profiling a filmmaker who made a documentary about sounding gay, as well as an interview with a speech pathologist who makes a number of troubling comments about features of youth language, including high rising terminals, creaky voice, and discourse markers. [Published on 07-05-2015]
Why do people say "like" so much?
A Grammar Girl post that summarizes Alex D'arcy's research on the discourse functions of like. [Published on 12-05-2014]
Speech markers reveal details about your age, sex, and lifestyle, scientists claim
A daily mail article discussing research that finds gender and age-based differences in the use of fillers [Published on 10-06-2014]
Like, You Know
Play videoA performance from poet Taylor Mali entitled "Like, you know" that comments on the use of a number of features of youth language.