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'Vocal Fry' Creeping Into US Speech

Posted by timothy on from the how-totally-bizarre dept.

sciencehabit writes "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."

15 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. Just what we need by TheGoodNamesWereGone · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's early in the morning. I just woke up, so my sarcasm glands need emptying. Just what we need, millions of girls who sound like Britney Spears. There.

    1. Re:Just what we need by garyebickford · · Score: 3, Funny

      Are you by any chance from descended from Cretans?

      No, probably Goedel. :)

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    2. Re:Just what we need by datavirtue · · Score: 3, Funny

      You can't talk to us that way, your ID# isn't low enough. Go fuck yourself.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  2. coming up next by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next we'll be hearing autotune in everyday speech.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  3. Maybe it is from by Ice+Station+Zebra · · Score: 5, Funny

    Brushing their teeth with a bottle of Jack?

  4. Marge Simpson did it first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Marge Simpson did it first

  5. Re:vocal Fry? by bunratty · · Score: 4, Funny

    /squints Can't tell if speech disorder or latest fad.

    --
    What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
  6. Need a quirky speech style? by ajlitt · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why not Zoidberg?

  7. Re:"Study of 34 female speakers" by SteveFoerster · · Score: 4, Funny

    Surely on a college campus, you can find more than 34 females to do a study on?

    Come on guys, no one took the bait on this one?

    --
    Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
  8. Re:Nothing new by Slashdot+Assistant · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, and well rehearsed "duck face" poses used whenever a camera comes out. Really, if this becomes the common theme for women, I'd be hanging on to heterosexuality by my finger nails.

  9. Re:Nothing new by smisle · · Score: 3, Funny

    Words are like clothes, you mix and match and there isn't any right answer.

    Yup, but, just as with clothes, there are certainly WRONG answers

    --
    I'm not a bird, I'm a super-advanced flying stealth dinosaur!
  10. Re:Nothing new by CrankinOut · · Score: 3, Funny

    Actually, you know, I was, like, reading your note when, um, I realized, you know, that you confused vocal patterns with, like, language, you know what I mean.

  11. Re:Nothing new by datavirtue · · Score: 3, Funny

    People? I thought it was only my wife.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  12. Re:Nothing new by Random+Destruction · · Score: 5, Funny

    A self-professed pedant who uses the non-word "irregardless"? Turn in your card, it's time to retire.

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    :x
  13. Re:More worrying by jginspace · · Score: 3, Funny

    the inability to differentiate between how a word is spoken and how it is spelt ...

    You might be in the same club considering you harped on about that and missed:

    the kind of accent you might here from upper class