Valleyspeak

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A slang dialect of English popular among teenagers in California's San Fernando Valley during the 1980s, marked by distinctive vocabulary and intonation
2. The informal speech style of young Southern Californians in the San Fernando Valley in the 1980s, known for its catchphrases and upward-inflected speech
3. A regional slang variety that emerged among suburban youth in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles in the 1980s and was spread by popular culture

Etymology: Valleyspeak is a slangy dialect that grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California, drawing on the speech of its teenagers and young adults. Its best-known features are a flood of vowel-heavy exclamations, the replacement of "like" and "oh my God" with set phrases, and words that were bent or abbreviated for effect. The name is simply a compound of "Valley," the local shorthand for the San Fernando Valley, and "speak," so the word names a way of talking tied to one place. The alternative form "valspeak" is the same term with the first word clipped, a shortening that follows the familiar pattern of trimming a place name into something quicker to say. Both spellings refer to the same thing, and neither is a technical coinage; they are ordinary English words put together to label a regional way of speaking.

Synonyms: Valspeak