Creaky Voice
Vocal Fry Tik Tok
This Tik Tok is a joke about vocal fry and the California accent.
vocal fry (and uptalk)
Play videoThe second part of the video has a detailed breakdown of vocal fry and uptalk, including how to change from modal voice to creaky voice, the stigmas associated with the two styles, and the linguistic function of creaky voice in other languages (Danish, Burmese, etc).
Vocal Fry
Play videoThis video over emphasizes the difference of women with and without vocal fry. Vocal fry is becoming more and more common in young women, this small clip just explains the difference of vocal fry.
Vocal fry
Play videoA CDC News broadcaster explores the use of vocal fry (a.k.a. creaky voice) among women and considers the debate surrounding this speech quality's stigmatization. (Also note some of the comments below the video that highlight this topic of conversation as somewhat polarizing/ controversial.)
Emilia Clarke Can Talk Like a Valley Girl
Play videoDuring this interview, actress Emilia Clark puts on an "American accent" in a situation to avoid being recognized. What came out was a very stereotypical "valley girl" accent representing vocal fry. Both Jimmy Kimmel and herself laugh and all in good fun of her accent. Even pointing out, how she loved "Clueless" when Kimmel asked where the inspiration for the accent came from.
Talking While Female
Play videoThis video shows how there are different ideologies according to women's voices. There is the not-so popular vocal fry, which in this video, says is considered less trustworthy. There are also other examples, like; the uptalk, the high voice, the low voice, etc. It is unbelievable that women have to consider changing their voices, so they don't fall into the ideology of their original voice.
Lake Bell Calls Girls Out On "Sexy Baby Vocal Virus"
Play videoThis video clip shows Lake Bell on Conan O’Brien’s talk show. While discussing her upcoming movie, Bell goes into discussion about her annoyance with what she calls “sexy baby vocal virus” and vocal fry. Lake demonstrates what she means by each of these, as well as explains what they are. Both pitch and vocal fry are the main features of these vocal habits. Bell also makes a gender specific claim, that it is women who fall into this habit of speech. Also, during the clip, while talking about her new movie about voice overs, both Bell and O’Brien style-shift between voices and different ways of speaking, representing performativity.
Vin Diesel Vocal Fry
Play videoVocal fry is popular with female celebrities. It's assumption toward young women that this linguistic form of speaking is incorrect; this raspy, low tone represents weakness. But why is it more acceptable for a male to use a form of vocal fry? Vin Diesel is a prime example. His character is strong, smart and courageous.
The Science behind Vocal Fry
Play videoThis video provides a more practical look at the idea of Vocal Fry, which has recently become such an analyzed concept across the globe. In the video, the youtube channel known as "BrainStuff" attempts to explain what Vocal Fry is and what happens when it is performed.
Faith Salie Vocal fry
Play videoFaith Salie in this video reflects on her experiences as a Rhodes scholar and comedian. Salie talks about societal perceptions of a dichotomy between intelligence and comedic ability. The misconception of vocal fry being an indication of lower intelligence falls apart amidst her clear academic success.
Why Do Girls Have Creaky Voices?
Play videoThis sociolinguistic artifact covers the topic of "Vocal Fry" or the new way young women talk in which the tone and sound of their voice sounds creaky. People don't exactly enjoy hearing someone talk using vocal fry, and studies have proved that girls who interviewed for a job and spoke using vocal fry were deemed more untrustworthy than those who didn't, and were viewed more negatively than men who used vocal fry, which relates to gender differences in spoken language and language use. What is particularly interesting is why vocal fry is so common among young women. This artifact suggests that linguists think that women tend to be the "vocal trailblazers" because they are more sensitive and receptive of social interactions and more likely able to pick up on settle vocal cues such as a "fry", again accounting for the gender differences in spoken language and language use. Also, there is a theory that vocal fry is simply a form of in-group communication between young girls.
Howard Stern on vocal fry
Play videoThis video is a voice recording of Howard Stern discussing vocal fry used by a contestant on the show the Bachelor. Stern discusses the use of vocal fry and refers to it as "an epidemic" that women are using where they begin to switch back in forth between a croaking voice and their "feminine voice"
If you don't have anything nice to say, SAY IT IN ALL CAPS
An episode of This American Life on internet trolls, which includes a segment on the criticisms of female TAL contributors who use creaky voice, with an interview with Penny Eckert. [Published on 01-23-2016]
A response to Naomi Wolf
Deborah Cameron's excellent response to Naomi Wolf. [Published on 07-26-2015]
Naomi Wolf misses the point about vocal fry: It's just an excuse not to listen to women
A response to Naomi Wolf's article suggesting young women should stop using vocal fry because it makes them sound less authoritative. [Published on 07-27-2015]
Young women, give up the vocal fry and reclaim your strong female voice
Author and feminist Naomi Wolf pens an article for the Guardian urging young women to stop using marked features like vocal fry and uptalk. [Published on 07-24-2015]
Filmmaker and Speech Pathologist weigh in on what it means to "sound gay"
An episode of Fresh Air, profiling a filmmaker who made a documentary about sounding gay, as well as an interview with a speech pathologist who makes a number of troubling comments about features of youth language, including high rising terminals, creaky voice, and discourse markers. [Published on 07-05-2015]
Sam Adams TV Commercial
A commercial for the beer brand Sam Adams, narrated by a young women who uses creaky voice. [Published on 04-17-2015]
Vocal Fry on This American Life: Freedom Fries
A segment on This American Life that profiles the complaints the show has received about the use of "vocal fry," or creaky voice, by its female commentators. It profiles the dominant stereotype that it is used by young women only, and that it indexes a set of negative attributes. Penny Eckert is interviewed on her recent research on NPR and creak that finds an age-based difference in perceptions of creak. Ira concludes, "people who don't like to listen to young women on the radio have moved on to vocal fry." [Published on 01-23-2015]
NPR: Talking while female
An NPR video piece on the criticisms of women's voices, including their use of higher pitch, HRT, creaky voice, and their evaluation as less authoritative [Published on 10-24-2014]
Vocal Fry may hurt women's job propsects
An Atlantic article summarizing the study of Anderson et al that concluded that use of creaky voice makes women less hireable. [Published on 05-29-2014]
Vocal Fry doesn't harm your career prospects
A critique of the Anderson et al. study that found that females using creaky voice were judged less desirable. The author points out that the matched guise approach involved speakers who were taught to produce more creaky guises, so that the creak is an imitation. Further, the creaky utterances were longer and had lower pitch, raising questions about what listeners were reacting to. [Published on 06-06-2014]
Study: Women with creaky voices deemed less hireable
The Washington Post reports a research study that found that women who used creaky voice were judged by listeners to be less competent, less educated, less trustworthy, less attractive, and less hireable. The research team concludes that speakers should "should undertake conscious effort to avoid vocal fry in labor market settings." [Published on 06-02-2014]