Hi, I'm from south-central New Jersey, currently fortunate enough to be "snowbirding" in Florida.
Through World Wide Words, the newsletter to which I have subscribed for a few years now, I discovered your radio broadcasts and website. Right now I am listening through my computer to the broadcast of Feb. 21st, last Saturday. The discussion of "creaky voice" brought to mind an advertisement I have seen LOTS recently on TV, both in NJ and here in FL. It's an ad for the NY Times Weekender edition, a three-day-per-week subscription. At the conclusion of the ad a girl-next-door type says, "Who doesn't like to start the weekend a day early?" in a VERY creaky voice. I had noticed the phenomenon but never heard a term for it, or realized there was any pattern to it.
For some time now, linguists have been studying a style of speaking known as creaky voice. In the United States, it's heard particularly heard among young white women in urban areas. New research about this phenomenon, also known as vocal fry, has been making the rounds on the internet. This is part of a complete episode.
Welcome, Grace. Funny, isn't it? Once you notice this thing, you start hearing it everywhere.Almost drove off the side of the road this morning listening to an NPR story about New Orleans that featured a very creaky-voiced young woman!
Be sure to check out the other thread about this topic here.