Williams Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Dr. Suess are known as some of the most innovative “word” creators in history. However, their influence might be overtaken by a new group of people: teenage girls. Shakespeare is credited with inventing over 1,700 words, including “bedroom,” “courtship,” and “swagger.” Charles Dickens apparently came up with the terms “butterfingers” and “doormat,” and Dr. Seuss coined the word “nerd.” However, in comparison with all of these writers, newer words and phrases are created at a monumental rate and largely thanks to women. Sociolinguist William Labov observed that women are the drivers of linguistic change 90% of the time and compared to men, are ahead when it comes to vocabulary by almost one full generation. So why is this?
Looking back at history, women have always adapted to language changes faster than their male counterparts. A study that reviewed 6,000 women from the years 1410 to 1680 found that they incorporated 11 out of 14 linguistic improvements much quicker. One such woman was Queen Elizabeth I. Terttu Nevalainen, a linguist at the University of Helsinki in Finland and an author of the study states that she was “one of the most linguistically progressive people.” In her letters to her brother Edward, she uses “does” in place of “doth” and “has” in place of “hath.” Even when it comes to fictional women, they are portrayed to incorporate linguistic alterations faster. In another study done on the show Friends, intensifier words such as “so,” “really,” and “very” were more prevalent in Rachel, Phoebe, and Monica’s lines rather than Ross, Chandler, or Joey’s lines.
In terms of why girls tend to lead lexical innovation, there are several possible reasons. One reason, according to Gretchen McCulloch, the author of Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, is that women are just more socially aware. They typically have bigger social circles and are exposed to more linguistic diversity. Another reason is that women are viewed as caregivers and so both boys and girls tend to learn language from their mothers. In relation to today’s day and age, social media also plays a big role in the subject matter. Many users of social media are teenage girls and they are credited with popularizing and creating many of the words and phrases that are in trend. For example, while the Oxford University Press’ word of the year for 2023 was “rizz,” derived from the word charisma, its use online was heavily adapted by women.
However, even with being fast learners and adapters of newer terminology, women, specifically teenage girls, are faced with the most criticism for doing so. University of Toronto linguist Sali Tagliamonte shares that this is how generational gaps develop. “Because the older people start criticizing the young people for how they talk, and what they’re really doing is they are noticing language change, and they don’t like it,” states Tagliamonte. For this reason, it is important to acknowledge and credit women for the role they play in upkeeping and updating our language. Therefore, the next time you use the words or phrases such as “trauma dumping,” “situationship,” or “hellscape,” remember to thank women.
