[altura]

Something I’ve always wondered about but cannot ask because it is so non PC.

Why can one always tell (nearly always) black people by their voices, as in when they call in to a radio talk show or when you hear them comment on sports shows. It’s been... how long? 150 years anyway. Can someone ‘splain that to me?

[gardengirl]

Dunno the answer to that one, but I’m with you on the wondering.

I would think it’s along the same line as hip hop/rap. I can’t even stand the beat of those, much less the words.

A great deal of it has to do with education and peer pressure, I’m sure. I speak very differently than I write, unless I’m intentionally doing dialect.

Another pet peeve: than and then

Than is a choice
Then is a period of time

[Mrs. Don-o]

My husband and I were just talking about this. A few generations ago, black (and white) people treasured any of the tokens of education they could acquire, especially if they came from poor, rural, "backward," or (in the case of my forebears) immigrant backgrounds.

They carefully mastered and preserved correct pronunciation, diction and tone because it was their currency in the world of thought. Think of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan.

My neighbor from back home, a black teacher now in her 80's who was educated in the 1930's, spoke clearly and correctly down to the last detail --- and her vocal skill impressed: it commanded respect. Her four children and her grandchildren speak just as beautifully as she did.

All this makes me appreciate that correct speech is transferred intergenerationally. If the youngsters don't interact daily, intensively, with conversationally competent parents --- or are not rescued by their teachers -- it's lost in one generation.

[Erasmus]

It's not just the speech patterns; I think that, on average, there are differences in the shape of the vocal tract that subtly color the timbre of the voice, and which suggest the speaker's race. By no means in all cases.

(IMHO, there is nothing "racist" in this observation.)

[wideminded]

Why can one always tell (nearly always) black people by their voices, as in when they call in to a radio talk show or when you hear them comment on sports shows.

I have wondered about this many times, as it often seems possible to tell if a voice you hear comes from a black person, and this also often seems to be independent of the level of education.

I considered the possibility that there was a physical reason, but I have also noticed that I cannot usually identify British-born black people by their voices. So my current conclusion is that this voice sound is learned. The typical black voice in this country has a little bit of southern in it. And I think that this has a lot to do with the great migration of southern blacks to northern cities. The common voice sounds are then learned by very young children and passed down through the generations.