Assignment task:
Familiarize yourself with the various vocal qualities, characteristics, qualifiers, and segregates of vocalics by reading Alessandra Padula's (2009) "Paralanguage" and "Vocal Qualities" in the Week 3 Learning Resources as well as the article entitled "Kinds of Paralanguage Communication."
Then, take a moment to learn about vocal fry from the article "Vocal Fry May Undermine the Success of Young Women in the Labor Market" and this video:
Then answer the following questions.
1. Examine how one person (your own voice, someone that you know personally or that you are familiar with his/her voice from radio, television, sports, or the movies) uses several of the vocal qualities, characteristics, qualifiers, and segregates either to enhance their presentation of self or detract from the way others perceive them. Some of the possibilities you might discuss include silence, vocal pauses, interruptions, volume, pitch, rate, accent, monotone, breathy, creaky, hoarse/raspy, nasal, twangy, etc. Provide a descriptive paragraph for your analysis of the individual's vocal characteristics. If you select a famous individual, include a link to his/her voice. (If you wish to select a familiar movie actor, you might sample "The All-Time Top 100 Voices in the Movies.")
2. Do you use vocal fry? How do you perceive others who do?
3. Why do you think listeners judge women who use vocal fry more harshly than men?