2nd-year Old Dominion University English PhD Student attends Hawaii International Conference

PR Log (Press Release) – Dec 27, 2008 – Miriam D. Dufer, an English Rhetoric and Textual Studies PhD student will present "Language and Culture: The Valley Girl Phenomenon". Dufer's research is based on the phenomena that began in the 1980s with young girls in Southern California speaking "Valspeak" and how that way of speaking swept cross America and made it to the rest of the world. Additionally, she looks at how prevalent the "Valspeak" remains today. Dufer talks about how language and culture influence one another. Examining words like "like", "fer sure", "whatever", and "gag me with a spoon", Dufer will present at the conference on January 12, 2009.

The 7th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities will be held from January 9 (Friday) to January 12 (Monday), 2009 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa in Honolulu, Hawaii and organized by Hawaii International Conferences. Honolulu is located on the island of Oahu. The main goal of the 2009 Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various arts and humanities related fields from all over the world to come together and learn from each other. An additional goal of the conference is to provide a place for academicians and professionals with cross-disciplinary interests related to arts and humanities to meet and interact with members inside and outside their own particular disciplines.


Miriam Dufer was born and raised in Alabama, where she graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and a minor in Creative Writing in 1998. She graduated from California State University Dominguez Hills in 2005 with an M.A. in Humanities with a concentration in Literature. She is presently a 2nd year PhD student at Old Dominion University and a Major in the United States Army. She and her family live in Kapolei, Hawaii. Visit Dufer’s website at www.mdufer.com.