Dissecting the Linguistic Patterns of Kamala Harris

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

The Democratic presidential ticket has literally diverse voices. While Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech is influenced by her Californian origins, the way Minnesota governor Tim Walz talks reflects his roots in Nebraska. In our podcast, linguist Nicole Holliday expands on her viral TikTok analyses of Harris’s speech patterns and the ideological stereotypes we attach to pronunciation and intonation. Recommended reading: Watch one of Holliday’s viral TikToks Bilingualism Is Reworking This Language’s Rainbow Grammar Changes How We See, an Australian Language Shows E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you seen the Real Madrid lineup?
0:02.0	Colin Bridgerton's back.
0:03.0	With the undead and it's all about the Iron Throne.
0:06.0	You have to watch it.
0:08.0	What's it on? Bridgerton? Netflix.
0:10.0	The matches on TNT sports.
0:11.0	How should the dragon only on now?
0:13.2	Ugh, that's the one I don't have.
0:15.4	TV that flexes with what's trending?
0:18.4	New E-E-T-V lets you add and remove subscriptions monthly.
0:23.0	Search E.E. TV requires E.E. broadband, 24 month contracts.
0:28.0	Content may vary terms apply. From coconut trees to brat summer, folks of the internet are hard at work trying to analyze Comla Harris's presidential
0:44.0	campaign. But if you want to really understand how people perceive the
0:47.9	Democratic nominee, it's not enough to just listen to what Harris has to say.
0:51.8	You also have to pay attention to what Harris has to say.
0:52.6	You also have to pay attention to how she says it.
0:55.7	You exist in the context of all in which you live
1:00.1	and what came before you.
1:02.1	For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.
1:05.0	Today I'm chatting with Nicole Holliday,
1:07.0	an acting associate professor of linguistics
1:09.0	at the University of California Berkeley.
	...

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