Why Our Families Create Unique ‘Familect’ Languages
May 21, 2021
21 min
Full
650 of 3,393
May 21, 2021
Why Our Families Create Unique ‘Familect’ Languages
0:00 / 21:14
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
America the Jesuit Review Episodes Around May 21, 2021
Episode 650 of 3,393 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
21:14This episodeWhy Our Families Create Unique ‘Familect’ Languages
Summary
“Familects help us feel like family. Private in-group language fosters intimacy and establishes identity,” writes linguist Kathryn Hymes in her recent Atlantic piece, "Why We Speak More Weirdly at Home.” The in-group language of a ‘familect’ — comprising terms, phrases, inside jokes, gaffes and gestures — binds a family together. During the pandemic, with so many people spending extended time together in close quarters, these private lexicons took off as people innovated and riffed on language. We’ll talk with Hymes about the phenomenon and we’ll create a listener dictionary of the terms from your ‘familect.’
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.