This article made me angry. I don't get angry very often. See what you think because I am in the minority, I'm aware!
Vocal fry is the Kardashian creak - watch the video halfway down the article first if you are not familar. I don't love it or hate it, but I think it is interesting (how descriptivist of me!).
Most of you will have read my post containing Mary Beard's article on valuing women's voices and that really struck a chord with me - what right do we have to denigrate (criticise) a particular way of speaking? Lakoff thought tag questions and other co-operative speech techniques were 'deficient' but Fishman and others explored their value decades ago.
You are taught to be tentative and offer alternative interpretations in your study of language and so you should - open up dialogue to find out more and reach a better understanding.
So, should people using vocal fry and uptalk be taught that this makes them sound like airheads and they shouldn't do it? Or should there be more publicity about the value of it so that people who use it are less discriminated against?
Read the comments too.
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