' As has been noted in the literature review, 'so' is perhaps one of the most controversial choices of intensifier, given that it is associated with a more female, expressive style of speech (Bulgin et al. 2008: 114). Previous literature indicates that women use 'so' overwhelmingly more than males, and that women from more traditional, gendered socioeconomic situations (living in rural areas, versus urban areas like Toronto) are far more apt to use 'so.' In this instance, the use of the world 'so' was favored by persons born in the 1970s. The reasons for this may be that persons born during this time period grew up in an era where using more emotive language was far more acceptable, versus their counterparts from the 1960s. However, in comparing the more factual 'pretty' with the more emotional 'so,' it is noteworthy that the youngest demographic groups use both intensifiers with far less frequency than either persons born during the 1960s or 1970s. This could be explained by several possible hypotheses, the first and most obvious of which is that young people today are using different types of identifiers than 'pretty' or 'so,' compared with persons in the past. Language inevitably exhibits generational shifts, and such a shift may be occurring today in the use of both grammatical constructions.

Evidence of a shift in expressive patterns is further supported by the third table, which shows that the use of the word 'right' (an intensifier, but used in different contexts than the words 'pretty' or 'so') is on the upswing. Given its relative lack of applicability in a variety of situations, in comparison with 'pretty' and 'so,' 'right' is still the least-utilized of all of the intensifiers. However, the younger the demographic group, the more the individual is inclined to use the word 'right.' While persons born in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s used 'right' approximately 36%; 20%, and 20% of the time respectively; with persons born in the 1980s, that percentage had climbed to 33% and for persons born in the 1990s, that percentage was up to 46%.

Conclusions

How to explain the shifts in the use of intensifiers amongst the populations being studied based upon their age and the decades when they were born? The demographics of Newfoundland have experienced a profound shift over the course of the past forty years. According to the Canadian government: "the demographics of NL have changed significantly over the past four decades. The Total Fertility Rates (TFR) -- the number...

Currently, the province's fertility rate is about 1.3 children, the lowest in the country" (Demographic profile: Newfoundland and labor, 2007, Canada).
Newfoundland's population has tended to 'skew' older than most of the other Canadian provinces, suggesting that young people in Newfoundland may be more isolated both from the culture of their peers and also of the society of Newfoundland as a whole. This could explain their more idiosyncratic uses of intensifiers, particularly the intensifier of 'right.' Patterns of intensifier use can act as bellwethers and revealers of larger social changes, Young people are the most flexible and adaptable demographics regarding how they use intensifiers. This fact, combined with the relative isolation of persons born in the 1980s and 1990s in Newfoundland, suggests there is little surprise that a unique speech pattern is manifested by younger Newfoundlanders.

References

Bulgin, J., Elford, N., Harding, L., Henley, B., Power, S., & Walters, C. (2008). So very really variable: Social patterning of intensifier use by Newfoundlanders online. Linguistica Atlantica, 29, 101-115.

Demographic profile: Newfoundland and labor. (2007). Canada, Economics and Statistics

Branch. Retrieved:

http://www.economics.gov.nl.ca/pdf2007/demographicprofilesnl.pdf

Tagliamonte, Sali a. (2006). 'So cool, right?': Canadian English entering the 21st century.

Canadian English in a Global Context. Special issue of Canadian Journal of Linguistics

51 (2/3).

Tagliamonte, S.A. (2008). So different and pretty cool! recycling intensifiers in Toronto,

Canada. English Language and Linguistics, 12(2), 361-394.

Tagliamonte, Sali a. & Roberts, Chris. (2005). So weird; so cool; so innovative: The use of intensifiers in the television series Friends. American Speech 80 (3), 280 -- 300.