Vocal fry

Young American women are increasingly copying celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears and introducing the technique of vocal fry into their speech "No waaaaaaaay" and "Oh my Gaaaaaaahhhd"). Technically, vocal fry is the lowest vocal register and the resulting sound is low and croaky. The technique enables singers to hit low notes and to make them last.

 

In a small study a group of US college students were asked to read some sentences. About two thirds of the women exhibited the 'creak', but men, on the whole, did not 'creak' at all. Researchers surmise that young women may use the technique to show group membership and/or solidarity.

 

For a couple of articles about the study with links to hear examples see here and here, and there's a lot of erudite comment on Language Log here.

Comments

[Helen Smedley]

This explains why my middle-aged husband, a speech & language pathologist with a degree in linguistics, has for a long time been commenting on 'creaky voice' among young(er) women in the UK media. The young women in question are speakers of British English so it would appear this phenomenon crossed the Atlantic a while ago...

[Virtual Linguist]

Thanks, Helen. That's very interesting.