Oh, The Voice...?
Gay male speech has been the focus of numerous modern stereotypes, as well as sociolinguistic studies, particularly within North American English. Scientific research has uncovered phonetically significant features produced by many gay men and demonstrated that listeners accurately guess speakers' sexual orientation at rates greater than chance. Historically, gay male speech characteristics have been highly stigmatized, so that such features were often reduced in certain settings, such as the workplace.
Research does not support the notion that gay speech entirely adopts mainstream feminine speech characteristics — rather, that it selectively adopts some of those features.
I think I may have a 'gay' voice. At least that's what I was told when I was around thirteen. At least according to that definition of Gay Male Speech I found on wikipedia. You would have to ask Huntley, though. He'd be the only one here that would know...
BTW, if you've never thought about having a 'gay voice' count your blessings. That means you 'pass'. At least on the phone.
XOXO
HuntleyBiGuy:
ReplyDeleteThat’s a lot of information. I found it interesting how people (straight and gay) change their voice depending on the situation. I also found it interesting about the gay lisp being more of the prolonged “s” sound then the “th” sound.
Since I’ve only been with you in a non-professional environment, I can confirm that you have a gay voice, though I wouldn’t call it a pronounced one. And it’s just another thing that makes you so lovable and charming.
XOXO 👨🏼❤️💋👨🏽
Interesting video! I would have been interested in hearing more about the lesbian studies, though. I've never noticed any distinctive "lesbian voice," I must say.
ReplyDeleteI do think gay men articulate more; I know I do.
ReplyDeleteBut everyone, gay and straight, speaks differently based on the person to whom they are speaking, be it friends, co-workers or strangers.
As a young queerling on the phone, I would get the "Yes ma'am" response and be highly offended, but then my voice changed and that ended. Thankfully.
xoxo
Big says,
ReplyDeleteBob is right. Everyone uses a different manner of speaking based on who they're talking to because we present ourselves differently in different situation. It's quite normal. Also, like Bob, on the phone I was often mistaken for my mother. That changed with puberty.
I am ***still*** assumed to be gay based on voice pitch, and I guess my articulation. But that precise pronunciation, my dears, is from being trained for the stage.
XOXO
I have a lot of voices. You just end up doing that when you're an actor. The first time I was made aware of 'gay voice' was actually on stage during a performance. For our senior class play, we were doing a murder mystery and I played a flamboyant film director 1930's style - cigarette holder, silk scarf, beret, etc. I thought I was doing a sophisticated voice, being very droll, very Noel Coward... I finished a little monologue and there was a pause waiting for someone to pick up their cue, when someone in the audience yelled 'faggot' - a fellow classmate. You could have heard a pin drop. Everyone froze and the moment felt like an eternity. I was mortified. And that's when I learned about 'gay voice' which I have... so suck it. I'd rather have gay voice than be an ignorant asshole who yells 'faggot' in the middle of a play. Kizzes.
ReplyDelete