CHAT: Males who creak.
| From: | Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, August 24, 1999, 6:44 |
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> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 15:28:01 -0600
> From: dirk elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
> Hmmm. I understand that creaky voice is also a feature of northern
> English and Scots English dialects as well. There are some pockets of
> rural Utah where the older males have creaky voice as well; these places
> were originally settled by Danish Mormons. Where did my notes go on Utah
> English?
I think the creaky voice thing is restricted to males in Modern Danish
too. I haven't been able to decide by listening to females, but I'm
certain that when males try to sound effeminate, the first thing they
do is dropping the creaky voice.
(Not that the creaky voice is ever very pronounced... I can make my
voice much creakier than it ever gets during normal speech. But it
seems to take over some of the functional load of stress and
intonation, making speech sound more monotonous. That's probably why
most Danish males sound so boring when they speak English).
Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)