“So like I have a lot of homework tonight, like and I don’t know like if i will like be able to hangout like because like I also have blogs like to write for SC like 200 class.” Doesn’t that sound horrible. The constant use of the word “like” is a form of speech that is all too common in today’s generation. Take this for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FSQYBjkGq4
British actress Emma Thompson speaks out against teen slang, and the word “like.” She says, “young people make themselves sound stupid by speaking slang outside of school. But while the use of the word “like” might annoy her, it fulfils a useful role in everyday speech.” Thompson calls this so called “slang,” sloppy language. Teens can sound more educated if they were to leave the repetition of certain words out of their daily language. Many people assume that the constant use of “like” is just a filler word, and filler words are a way that all humans stall when searching for something to say, and there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that, right? Well, there isn’t anything wrong with the word itself, and it is a way that our generation communicates with one another.The more disconnected you are from the group that uses a word in a different way than you, the more that use stands out. It will be invisible to teenagers.
On the other hand, the refuting opinion states that people who use an excessive amount of filler words are redrafting in their heads what they want to say, so that it will be portrayed as intelligent or accurate speech. However, I disagree with this statement. If someone is using a lot of filler words, they are not 100% confident on the points that they want to get across to their intended audience. Filler words are good if they are used in moderation. The example above in the video posted is a portrayal of the way that teens in today’s generation over use the word like. The word “like” started off as a simile, or a comparison of two things. The reason people use the word like so much is because they want to make themselves sound more generalized and they don’t want to seem as if they have such a strong opinion. This being said, they take the break down of simile because they are trying to use it as a buffer of their own opinions.
A study was conducted showing the effects of speaking rate and word frequency on pronunciations in conversational speech. Through a newly developed ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) system is used to shows the accuracy of these digital systems, as oppose to human face-to-face conversation, which tends to lag behind the precision of systems. The hypothesis of this study is “that there is a significant interaction between rate and word predictability in humans.” After an observational examination of two classes of factors: estimates of speaking rate and measures of word predictability, it brought linguists to recognize that word frequency, increased speaking rate and word likelihood can persuade a significant change in expectations of the pronunciations of words that are commonly used.
For years, media has had a strong impact on people of society. Following the leads of actors and actresses young individuals especially have become corrupt and changed by the media they see in their everyday lives. According to the International Business Times and Dr. Stephen Croucher, a professor of Intercultural Communication studying speech behaviors at University of Jyväskylä in Finland, “estimated that the use of filler has increased over the past 30 years, with media proliferation and images of what is commonly called ‘Valley-talk’ and ‘California-speak.'” Media and movie influences portraying girls in their mid and late teens, overusing the word ‘like,’ ‘you know,’ ‘um’ and ‘I mean’ influences younger audiences and people of the same age to adapt a similar type of language and speech.
I know that there has been many times in my life that my parents, my teachers, or my employers have yelled at me for over using filler words. I have been accused of lying, uncertainty, and have been deemed as unconfident. It is a serious issue that many teens struggle with today. The sophistication and seriousness is taken away and over looked when conversations solely consist of likes, thats, um’s and but’s. My monitoring ones own speech and thinking thoughts out thoroughly before we speak, communication will undoubtedly be improved.
“In any case, for the record, ECG, a strategic communications consultancy, made the following admonition about fillers: ‘Fillers distract. They drown your message. They impair your delivery by diminishing your ability to align pacing, pauses and vocal variation to content. They make you seem uncertain, unprepared and unknowledgeable. They take up time and add no value.'” (International Business Times)
This is really an interesting article! I found many people like to say “like” when they want to say something. I strongly agree with your statement, I also think only when a person cannot explain his or her opinion clearly, the one would ask “like” for help and tries to give some examples or illustrations. I think there have many other words better than “like”, such as “for example” or “besides”. People need to pay more attention on what they are saying and update their choices of using words intentionally. Overall, this is a good posting that reflect on actual life.