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Another Clueless Study?
Studies Take, Like, Time and Research
Sometimes it feels like academic studies are conducted just so the National Post can write cheeky headlines about them. A single study, as most human beings should by now realize, doesn’t necessarily prove anything, and serve more entertainment purposes. Despite that knowledge, our friends at University of Toronto have come to the conclusion – from one pilot study – that young females tend to direct trends in language. In the abstract, linguistics professor Sali Tagliamonte asserts that “viewed across different age cohorts (tweens, teens, and young adults)…females lead linguistic change.”
Commenting further on perhaps the only study ever to use the term “tween,” Tagliamonte puts the research in a language everyone can dig:
“One of the most pervasive findings of sociolinguistics is that when you have language changing, women tend to lead the change. They pick up the new form and they carry it forward probably about a generation ahead of the guys.”
An emphasis was put on “why teens, mostly girls, frequently use ‘like’ and ‘just’ during conversations.”
As IF!
Not having read the entire research (and actually likely to believe the preliminary findings), Torontoist still urges skepticism in these sorts of studies. In one article, it states that the study was conducted with the help of four undergraduate student researchers, using 29 members of their own families and friends as subjects. Families? Friends? Undergrads? Sampling bias much? Furthermore, doesn’t “like” or “just” sound as if they’re out of Clueless (starring Alicia Silverstone and Stacey Dash), the mid-90’s exploration of the similar subject? Whatevs.