Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents
Linguist Valerie Fridland guides us through the history of accents and why certain ones stick while others disappear, and what they reveal about power, identity and belonging.
Listen 51:42
Has anyone ever poked fun at the way you talk, how you pronounce a word or phrase? For Philadelphians, it might be “wooder” “caw-fee” “bee-yoo-dee-full” or “jeet?”
But all of us have some kind of accent and there’s a fascinating history behind how they’ve developed over decades and often centuries, as groups of people spread apart and intermingled.
Today we’re going to dive into that history with linguist Valerie Fridland. We’ll look at why certain accents stick and others disappear, and what they reveal about power, identity and belonging. Fridland has a brand new book titled Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents.
Guest:
— Valerie Fridland, professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada and author of Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents.
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