Deep-voiced "vocal fry" thought to be creeping into American women's speech

By Cory Doctorow at 5:44 pm Sunday, Dec 11

A small sample-set study of young American women to be published in Journal of Voice found a high incidence of "vocal fry," a form of low-register speech once classed as a speech disorder and thought to cause damage to the vocal chords. Vocal fry occurs when speakers drop into the lowest register and sort-of gargle their words (here's an example MP3).

More than two-thirds of the research subjects used vocal fry during their readings, the researchers will report in a future issue of the Journal of Voice. The distinct vibrations weren't continuous. Rather, they arose most often at the ends of sentences. The patterns were "normal" variations, says co-author and speech scientist Nassima Abdelli-Beruh of LIU, because the women rarely slipped into vocal fry during sustained vowel tests—prolonged holding of vowels such as 'aaa' and 'ooo'—a classic way to assess voice quality and probe for possible disorders. Abdelli-Beruh says the creak is unlikely to damage vocal chords because speakers didn't creak continuously or even at the end of every sentence.

The study is the first to quantify the prevalence of vocal fry in normal speech, although other researchers have noted the pattern. The group is also the first to verify that American women are much more likely to exhibit the behavior than men, as its yet-unpublished data show that male college-age students don't use the creaky voice. The team's next steps will attempt to find out when this habit started—and if it is indeed a budding trend.

The researchers also plan to test students in high schools and middle schools to learn why young women creak when they speak. "Young students tend to use it when they get together," Abdelli-Beruh says. "Maybe this is a social link between members of a group."

'Vocal Fry' Creeping Into U.S. Speech (via /.) Tags: scholarship

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Just when you thought you couldn't loathe Limbaugh more, he defends The Lord's Resistance Army

By Xeni Jardin at 1:02 pm Monday, Oct 17

PHOTO, click for larger size without mosaic: Jean-Marie Anigbishe, 45, who was attacked by Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels near Ngalima sits with gaping head wounds at hospital in Ngalima in northeastern Congo February 21, 2009. Anigbishe was fleeing LRA massacres and left for dead on the road after he and his brother were attacked by LRA fighters. His brother in law was shot and killed and Anigbishe was found unconscious five days later with maggots eating away at his gaping head wounds. Thousands of Congolese fled their villages as LRA rebels roaming the bush carried out massacres. Picture taken February 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly)

At the New York Times Lede blog, Bob Mackey writes about Rush Limbaugh's new position of public support for the Central African warlords known as the LRA, or the Lord's Resistance Army. This is the military entity described by the Times as "a notorious renegade group that has terrorized villagers in at least four countries with marauding bands that kill, rape, maim and kidnap with impunity.”

It seems Limbaugh just likes the "Lord" part, and opposes president Obama's recent decision to get involved militarily. The U.S. recently announced a contribution of 100 Special Forces to deal with LRA. Now, any number of reasonable people might disagree with the administration's decision to send a token show of troops, but supporting the LRA is something only someone as stupid and evil as Limbaugh would do.

Here's an excerpt from a Human Rights Watch report on a recent LRA massacre (link contains "un-mosaiced" version of photo shown above in this blog post, which some may find disturbing):

The vast majority of those killed were adult men, whom LRA combatants first tied up and then hacked to death with machetes or crushed their skulls with axes and heavy wooden sticks. The dead include at least 13 women and 23 children, the youngest a 3-year-old girl who was burned to death. LRA combatants tied some of the victims to trees before crushing their skulls with axes.

More at The Lede.

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