Posted on 12/11/2011 1:13:33 PM PST by Dallas59
A curious vocal pattern has crept into the speech of young adult women who speak American English: low, creaky vibrations, also called vocal fry. Pop singers, such as Britney Spears, slip vocal fry into their music as a way to reach low notes and add style. Now, a new study of young women in New York state shows that the same guttural vibration—once considered a speech disorder—has become a language fad.
Vocal fry, or glottalization, is a low, staccato vibration during speech, produced by a slow fluttering of the vocal chords (listen here). Since the 1960s, vocal fry has been recognized as the lowest of the three vocal registers, which also include falsetto and modal—the usual speaking register. Speakers creak differently according to their gender, although whether it is more common in males or females varies among languages. In American English, anecdotal reports suggest that the behavior is much more common in women. (In British English, the pattern is the opposite.) Historically, continual use of vocal fry was classified as part of a voice disorder that was believed to lead to vocal chord damage. However, in recent years, researchers have noted occasional use of the creak in speakers with normal voice quality.
That girl is nearly impossible to listen to.
At the end of a sentence, she lowers a her voice and a very low raspy waver comes over the end of the last word.
Yes...low wavy raspy on the end of each word at the end of each sentence. It’s not the accent.
How did it start? Somewhere in the TV land fer shore!
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You wrote: “Speaking ‘frog.’ Everything old is new again.”
Reminds me of the Marine Drill Instructors from the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment, MCRD Parris Island, SC.
The 3rd Battalion DI’s had a distinctive “frog” voice unique to the Battalion. Much so, that if you encountered one of their Recruits with a “Walking Chit” who was headed for a Dental Appointment or some other appointment, an Officer or SNCO who might question his destination knew immediately from which Battalion he came when the Recruit spoke.
This trend may be part of feminism, to strip women of “feminine” voices.
When I was hitting my teens, I was lectured by more than one woman that my voice was too high, too girlish. I had to speak lower, “like a man”, to be treated as an adult and as respectable.
I lowered my voice because that is what I was told to do as an adult and to be respected. Then I scaled back my career when I had kids and received criticism that it wasn’t good enough for a woman with a college education.
When she speaks, does Drew Barrymore sound like the “fry” to which you referred?
You and me both, me probably more so.
That high, effeminate vocal mannerism in young men you mentioned: Boys working at fast food joints seem to be particularly afflicted with this (my only live social interaction is at those places, so I know). I'm positive none of us 60's - 70's boys sounded anything like that.
It's suffocating, and worthy of ridicule.
But when I think about it, I remember George Elliot's description of one of her characters in Middlemarch: Cynthia, Dorothea's younger sister. Her voice is described as flat, staccato, and gutteral. That's how I talk, and my face is usually expressionless, rather like Cynthia's. I think it might just be a character trait. Maybe there are more of us in America now because we are no longer being burned as witches. LOL!
It’s a fad like valley girl ditzoidism. Moving in herds; speaking in herds... They repeat the same phrases, too.
Had a girl over who my son was dating. She did this low garbled thing with a question mark after every second or third sentence.
About drove me nuts, but as my husband says, it’s a short trip.
I have to fight with my vocal students to keep them from doing this. When they sing Pop songs, they imitate this affectation from contemporary vocalists. I find it especially inappropriate when they apply this to Spiritual Music, as it sounds like they are being “sexual”. It is REALLY disgusting when 8 year olds do it!
I try to correct girls and sometimes guys on that.
* You’re allowed to make factual statements without requiring a consensus. Say what you saw or did, without adding the verbal question that they agree with your version of reality.
* You are allowed to state your opinion without asking the “is that OK?” question tone to seek approval for your opinion.
* It gets worse when person to person conversation seems impossible to get concrete, direct answers. It all has to be vague, non-committal, “could, would, might want to”, not “I want X”. As if making a “I want X” statement is offensively harsh. Yet these same individuals can spout absolutes “this is bad, this is wrong, this is evil” in an online conversation.
I thought what Bobcat Goldthwait did was vocal fry.
“Pop singers, such as Britney Spears, slip vocal fry into their music as a way to reach low notes and add style.”
I always thought they did to cover up the fact that they can’t sing. LOL!
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