Like Totally Dude--Valley Speak: Bright Ideas in Public Speaking with Dr. Sunny
Channel: Dr. Sunny
Date: 04/05/2017

Like, Gag me with a Spoon..Public Speaking can be so hard because of umm....like verbal fillers...

IT’S LIKE SO BITCHIN BECAUSE EVERYONE IS SO NICE. THOSE ARE THE WORDS OF FRANK ZAPPA’S DAUGHTER MOON ZAPPA ON HIS 1982 SONG “VALLEY GIRL”

THIS STYLIZED VOCAL SOCIOLECT--A SOCIAL DIALECT BASED ON YOUR CLASS, ETHNICITY OR AGE--WAS ALL OVER SITCOM TELEVISION IN THE EIGHTIES SO IF LIKE ME--YOUR MOM STILL USES --SO--LIKE--AND YOU KNOW--ALL THE TIME...CHANCES ARE SHE WAS INFLUENCED LESS BY FRANK ZAPPA AND MORE BY THE MEDIA CULTURE SHE GREW UP IN…. ESPECIALLY CLUELESS AND CHER HOROWITZ:

I put R.S.V.P. ’cause it was a sit-down dinner. But some people came that like did not R.S.V.P. I was like totally buggin’.

THE VALLEY GIRL SOCIOLECT IS ALSO KNOWN AS UP-SPEAK, UP-TALK, RISING INFLECTION, HIGH RISING INTONATION….OR IN THE MOST FORMAL OF TERMS HIGH RISING TERMINAL.  

THIS MEANS AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE YOU RAISE THE PITCH OF YOUR VOICE AS WE NORMALLY DO IN QUESTIONS….BUT YOU’RE NOT ASKING A QUESTION, SO YOUR RAISED PITCH MAKES YOU SEEM CLUELESS.  THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU WANT WHEN YOUR SPEAKING.  

WHEN YOU’RE WATCHING YOUR REHEARSAL VIDEO, MAKE NOTE OF UPSPEAK AT THE END OF SENTENCE AND MAKE ARROW CUES TO REMIND YOURSELF TO KEEP YOUR PITCH DOWN.

THE OTHER MAJOR CHARACTERISTIC OF THE VALLEY GIRL SOCIOLECT IS USING SPECIFIC FILLER WORDS LIKE UMMMMM YOU KNOW…..TOTALLY, GAG ME WITH A SPOON.  YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO CONQUER THESE AND OTHER FILLERS BY SUBSCRIBING TO MY CHANNEL.

Are you looking to take public speaking online while also earning college credit?

This is the place for you.  Try Dr. Sunny!

Dr. Sunny Skye Hughes teaches at Santa Fe College-ranked #1 community college in 2016 by the Aspen Institute.

You can take the class from anywhere as a transient student.
Learn more here: https://www.sunnyhughes.com