Home Speech
Home speech recently came up in a conversation between some friends and I although we didn't use the phrase, mostly since I couldn't remember it at the time. I commented on the fact that Das says he can tell when I am talking to my family b/c I sound black, I also recounted a time when I called my dad using my office voice and he said I sounded like a white girl. One friend knew exactly what I meant but the other didn't. This intrigued me.
I've never actually talked to anyone who didn't speak decidedly differently at home. In fact I assumed everyone relaxed their speech in some manner when not out in the world at large. I've also never encountered anyone who didn't immediately know what I meant by sounding black, it's been such an understood part of my experience growing up in the south and working with the public especially doing a lot of phone work. One thing I've been repeatedly told is that I have a nice voice and that I sound different on the phone than I look. I've gotten lots of surprised stares when I show up for interviews after a phone screening. After getting a couple of jobs it's actually been let slip that the employer thought I was white from both my name and my voice so was surprised upon meeting me. Luckily for me in those instances surprised didn't equate to put off.
It makes me think about how there is an expected way of speaking that's considered proper and it's pretty narrowly defined. When I speak that way I lose the ethnic markers that would cause someone to assume I am a black american. It doesn't even have much to do with what I say so it's not that I'm using more or even any slang it's more in the cadence of my words. The somewhat sing song quality and slightly lower pitch which is more emotive than the pleasant, non revealing, higher pitched, business-like tones I assume when away from the safety of home or when interacting with people from other ethnic groups. I don't actually think it through before doing it, it's an autopilot thing that I've been doing from childhood. Funny how many little habits one develops so early you don't even remember their origin.
I've never actually talked to anyone who didn't speak decidedly differently at home. In fact I assumed everyone relaxed their speech in some manner when not out in the world at large. I've also never encountered anyone who didn't immediately know what I meant by sounding black, it's been such an understood part of my experience growing up in the south and working with the public especially doing a lot of phone work. One thing I've been repeatedly told is that I have a nice voice and that I sound different on the phone than I look. I've gotten lots of surprised stares when I show up for interviews after a phone screening. After getting a couple of jobs it's actually been let slip that the employer thought I was white from both my name and my voice so was surprised upon meeting me. Luckily for me in those instances surprised didn't equate to put off.
It makes me think about how there is an expected way of speaking that's considered proper and it's pretty narrowly defined. When I speak that way I lose the ethnic markers that would cause someone to assume I am a black american. It doesn't even have much to do with what I say so it's not that I'm using more or even any slang it's more in the cadence of my words. The somewhat sing song quality and slightly lower pitch which is more emotive than the pleasant, non revealing, higher pitched, business-like tones I assume when away from the safety of home or when interacting with people from other ethnic groups. I don't actually think it through before doing it, it's an autopilot thing that I've been doing from childhood. Funny how many little habits one develops so early you don't even remember their origin.
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