white vs. black voices

Why is it that most black people sound different than white people when they talk?

Whether from Philly, Chicago or LA, I can usually tell within a few seconds if a speaker is black or white by the tone, inflection, and style of their voice.

Quote: missedhervee

Why is it that most black people sound different than white people when they talk?

Whether from Philly, Chicago or LA, I can usually tell within a few seconds if a speaker is black or white by the tone, inflection, and style of their voice.

Because you noticed a difference, you know what that makes you in today's society. The r word. You can't even say that word out loud anymore. There are no differences between black people and white people and how dare you suggest there is.

Put a lid on your politically correct ways, EB.

You libs always slay me with how you try to muzzle and stifle any form of inquiry other than what you left wingers approve of.

Maybe someday a conservative outsider will become president and there will be hell to pay!

Yes, a man for all seasons, for all reasons, and all for treason.

Quote: missedhervee

Put a lid on your politically correct ways, EB.
.

There are no differences in any races anymore, just watch TV
for a week and look at how many married couples are races
that you can't even identify. Where do they find these people
cuz I sure don't see them in Walmart. They look
black/Chinese/white/Hawaiian/Jamaican. I'm talking about
on the commercials. How many actors do they have to
interview before they find just that right look of mediocrity
and inability to identify their race.

I asked the original question not to be or because I am racist, but because it is by its very nature quite puzzling and deserving of an explanation.

Quote: missedhervee

Why is it that most black people sound different than white people when they talk?

Whether from Philly, Chicago or LA, I can usually tell within a few seconds if a speaker is black or white by the tone, inflection, and style of their voice.

Quote: missedhervee

I asked the original question not to be or because I am racist, but because it is by its very nature quite puzzling and deserving of an explanation.

An interesting question, and not racist as i see it.
Specifically comparing the voices of 'African Americans' and 'White Americans', I perceive that the former MAY have a deeper, gruffer voice. That could be a genetic trait. Or I could be imagining it
Setting aside national accents, which can be a clear differentiator, there are subtle and unsubtle dialects which tend to be localised to familial or ethnic groups, such as how certain folk might say 'ax' where another person would say 'ask'. There's sometimes a cultural echo effect too, where a person of one ethnic origin might have a totally different accent depending on who he's talking to. I can have a posh 'queen's English' accent and dialect when on the phone, but a very rough local accent when talking to family and friends. There can sometimes be no way to know the ethnicity of the person on the other end of the phone.
I'm often confused and amused when a British person of very different ethnic origin to my own speaks and has a most conspicuous British local accent. We see this sometimes with 'man on the street' TV interviews. I've occasionally been surprised on meeting a colleague who i'd spoken to extensively on the phone, to discover his or her ethnic origin is nothing like I'd imagined. E.g. someone of Chinese ethnic origin speaking with a broad Irish accent.

'Equal' <> 'The same'

Quote: missedhervee

Why is it that most black people sound different than white people when they talk?

Whether from Philly, Chicago or LA, I can usually tell within a few seconds if a speaker is black or white by the tone, inflection, and style of their voice.

Some of it is cultural. We have all heard of "ebonics." It is out there, some blacks just even in everyday talk use black slang white people will never use. Some disguise it around white people. I had a former assistant manager who was black but talked proper. But then he got around some black people when my other assistant was with him. She told me it was night and day, he sounded......well, she would never use the term and I will not here because it will get me suspended, but we all know it.

I have seen the same thing, soft-spoken and polite black guys when around only whites but another black guy shows up and the start talking black street talk. Whether that is how they are comfortable talking or want to impress each other who knows.

But the thing is no matter how much you try to hide it if you have grown up around this your "no accent" voice will still have some different tones. The example of the other end is that black woman who works with Howard Stern, I do not know her name. You would never guess she is black to hear her on the radio only. I would have to guess she grew up around white people with no regional dialect only.

But that is half the issue. Even when talking proper English you can often tell.

Remember the OJ trial and on the stand a guy said a voice "sounded Black" and the defense and media called it "racist?" Yet most of the country knew what the guy was saying, often you can just tell. Why?

Well, as much as the PC crowd hates to hear it black and white bodies are not 100% identical. Blacks dominate football and boxing for a reason, denser muscle mass. Blacks get sickle cell anemia and whites do not because blacks have a gene that does not block it. The same gene lets them work in hot, sweaty conditions which is why blacks were brought as slaves.

Black vocal chords are just different than white people. They have a deeper voice and a breathier voice. I think it was Reggie White who so much wanted to be an NFL announcer but his voice....he would never get the job with that voice.

Same as men have a different voice pattern than women. Women can easily sound "shrill" when talking. Podcast I used to listen to called that "sexist" but it is just a fact of life and something women must manage especially in business and politics. OTOH women's voices can be more easily comforting. Bottom line, sexes and races are not identical.

I have noticed that it isn't as bad as it used to be. A group that is pegged as the lowest class of society automatically, just due to skin color, as Af/Ams were certainly inescapably pegged for a solid century, is bound to be very isolated. I noticed back in the 60s/70s, when there was a move to get black athletes into the role as the "color commentator"* in sports broadcasts, that they had a challenge to find a black ex-athlete that was acceptable in the way he talked. Now they are all over the place.

* I guess we don't hear that expression much anymore? 'Color commentator' can still be googled.

I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me]

Quote: missedhervee

I asked the original question not to be or because I am racist, but because it is by its very nature quite puzzling and deserving of an explanation.

If you grow up in an area with a dialect and spend most of your early life in that neighborhood, it would be interesting if you picked up entirely different inflections.