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What is this thing women and girls are doing with their voices? It makes them sound sort of strangled.?
I don t think it s natural. It s seems to be a fad like uptalking where they add a questioning intonation at the end of sentences. This effect is not intermittent. They conduct entire conversations with that strangled sound. Even professional actresses and commentators are doing it on TV. Not all of them of course, just the young ones. What are they doing and how are they doing it. If you were trying to imitate it what would you do?
2 Answers
- RWPossumLv 72 years agoFavorite Answer
Ending declarative sentences with questioning intonation originates in the Deep South. In a 1957 film, a southern woman says, "I'm a very good entertainer" with that intonation. It conveys the inference, "Do you know what I mean?" She is a prostitute.
My only explanation for this is that it has been used in the South to convey, "Do you want more? Should I explain?"
Another characteristic of American women's speech that some of us find unnerving is the tendency to produce speech sounds in the center of the mouth, like young children. This "baby talk" was satirized by Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon in their song "Valley Girl."
"I'm sure" > "I'm shir"
This central speech is probably why you say it sounds strangled.
- Anonymous2 years ago
Maybe it's they way you made them feel. Depressed.