 | California English: Encyclopedia II - California English - Lexical characteristics
California English - Lexical characteristics
The popular image of a typical California speaker often conjures up images of the so-called Valley Girls popularized by the 1982 hit song by Frank Zappa or "surfer-dude" speech made famous by movies such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High. While many phrases found in these extreme versions of California English of the 1980s may now be considered passé, certain words such as awesome and dude have remained popular in California and have spread to a national, even international, level. The use of the word like for numerous grammatical functions or as conversational "filler" has also remained popular in California English and is now found in many other varieties of English. Other slang terms, such as bucket for an old car, or the adjective trippy, are more restricted to California.
California, like most Southwestern states, has borrowed many words from Spanish, especially for place-geographical names, food, and other cultural items reflecting the heritage of Latino Californians. High concentrations of various ethnic groups throughout the state have contributed to general familiarity with words describing (especially cultural) phenomena. For example, a high concentration of Asian Americans from various cultural backgrounds, especially in urban and suburban metropolitan areas in California, has led to the adoption of words like hapa (a person of mixed racial heritage—especially, but not limited to, half-Asian/half-European-Americans in common California usage) and fob (a newly arrived Asian immigrant). Not surprisingly, the popularity of cultural food items such as Vietnamese phở and Taiwanese boba in many areas has led to the general adoption of such words amongst many speakers.
California English - Northern vs. Southern California
A rivalry has gradually developed between Northern and Southern California. It is not surprising, therefore, that the regions have developed a few lexical differences.
For example, in California's car-centered culture, nomenclature describing the state's extensive network of freeways takes on a special prominence. One commonly noted difference (and perennial shibboleth) between Northern California and Southern California English is the way in which an article may be appended to the label of a major freeway. While most native or longtime Los Angeles residents (and Southern Californians generally) are likely to refer to US Highway 101 or Interstate 5, for example, as the 101 and the 5[4], residents of the San Francisco Bay Area and most of Northern California are more likely to refer to those same roads as just 101 and 5 or I-5.
Another common Northern California shibboleth is the way in which Bay Area natives refer to San Francisco, either by using its full name or simply The City. (The San Francisco Examiner is notable for its heavy use of the latter.) Newcomers sometimes distinguish themselves by using nicknames considered by locals to be passé, such as San Fran or 'Frisco. Visitors from Southern California, however, will sometimes use the latter terms intentionally, to demonstrate a mild or entirely feigned disdain.
The noun stressor hella is typically associated with Northern Calfornia culture and its users are often singled out in Southern California.
As mentioned earlier in this article, not all of the features mentioned beforehand are used by all speakers in California, and not all features are restricted in use only to the state. As with other U.S. states, some regional words and phrases used depends on what generation the person speaking was born into and the cultural influences on that person. For example, according to one former California resident, in the 1970s it was common in Los Angeles to refer to freeways by name instead of by its highway number (i.e., to say "the San Diego Freeway" instead of "the 405" was common in the 1970s).[citation needed]
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