'Social media creates a new way to spread features of language quickly all over the world. New words spread fast and far,' the expert told Fox News Digital
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People have started to notice that many of their favorite TikTok content creators may be speaking with a unique accent all their own, and some linguistic experts are saying this new accent represents the future of the English language.
University of Warwick associate professor of linguistics, Dr. Christopher Strelluf, spoke to Fox News Digital about this phenomenon, explaining that there does seem to be a unique accent that’s becoming common among social media content creators and that it’s actually a glimpse into the future of how we may all be speaking.
Multiple outlets like the BBC and Vice have reported on what many see as a new phenomenon that some social media users call "TikTok voice," "TikTalk," or "influencer speak."
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A linguistic professor from the U.K.'s University of Warwick discussed why there seems to be a unique English accent common among a variety of TikTok influencers. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
Vice quoted University of Edinburgh sociolinguist Christian Ilbury, who said, "people are noticing a style becoming associated with influencers or micro celebrities," that can sound "overly informative or really colloquial."
Many social media users have noticed this accent too. One told the outlet she calls the accent "lavender voice" and noted that influencers use it because "people listen to soft tones." Another described it as "a type of ASMR" – a popular audio technique Vice noted many influencers use to evoke a "relaxing, tingling sensation" among viewers.
A third social media user commented that the prevalence of this accent represents "the homogenous monotony of the content consumed."
The BBC described this influencer speak as a sort of "accent" or set of "linguistic quirks" that "have emerged on YouTube or Instagram for well over a decade" and are now found on TikTok. This accent is characterized by "’uptalk’ – a rising intonation on declarative sentences – and ‘vocal fry’: a soft creak as you speak."
Strelluf described these specific qualities, telling Fox News Digital, "’Uptalk’ is the use of a rising intonation at the end of a statement. American English traditionally uses a falling intonation at the end of statements and a rising intonation at the end of questions. So, in a way, uptalk makes a statement sound more like a question."
According to Strelluf, this "TikTalk" is not a new accent or budding dialect but just a natural evolution of human language that is being magnified due to the prevalence of social media in our daily lives. That’s why so many people are now noticing it.
"Because young people use TikTok, we’re hearing the changes in language on TikTok. TikTok might help spread some of those changes — maybe by reinforcing that this is the way cool young people talk— but that would just be helping along innovations that are taking place on their own. Really, what’s changing is our awareness of innovations in English," he said.
Essentially, users and linguistic experts are getting a clearer picture of how English and other languages develop in real time.
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Prof. Strelluf explained that this seemingly new "TikTalk" accent is a natural, real change to the English language that is being pushed predominantly by women and is more visible on massive social media platforms. (Estee Williams / Hannahlee Yoder)
He compared "TikTalk" to the "Valley Girls" voice widely mocked in the 80s, saying, "Neither of these features is new to TikTok. When I was a kid, people made fun of ‘Valley Girls’ for using uptalk. A decade ago there were a lot of news stories about teenage girls using uptalk and vocal fry to mimic Britney Spears and the Kardashians."
"Now the same features have been recognized on TikTok."
The linguistic expert noted that much of this change in language comes, and has always come, from women.
Strelluf continued, saying, "Language is always changing and women are usually the leaders of those changes. Sociolinguists have studied innovations in English in communities all over the United States for more than half a century. By far, the most consistent finding in all these studies is that, whatever way English is changing, it is women who are the leaders of change."
He provided a recent observable example of this, saying, "the stereotypical accent of New York City is changing. It’s increasingly unusual for a younger person to sound like Donald Trump or the characters in the old Saturday Night Live ‘Coffee Talk’ skits. With each generation, New York English has changed to be more like the dialects we often associate with the Midwest."
Strelluf continued: "And with each generation, women have been farther along changing New York City English than men. (The same thing is happening in local dialects all over the United States, including in the accents of big northern cities like Chicago and Detroit, and Southern accents in places like Atlanta and Nashville."
"The local dialects are changing in the direction of dialects we might associate more with the Midwest, and it’s almost always girls and women who are the leading edge of change," he added.
"Social media creates a new way to spread features of language quickly all over the world. New words spread fast and far," Strelluf declared, though he noted most of the actual changes in "our systems of sounds and grammatical rules" come from "face-to-face interactions" rather than these digital platforms.
Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
