People do a lot of weird stuff to fit into certain circles, gain “cred” or elevate their social standing. Some people buy gigantic SUVs and standard poodles, some get face tats, some get facelifts and some girls use vocal fry. And I just can’t get behind vocal fry. But it’s interesting so we should talk about it.
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This phenomenon came up in discussion in my linguistics course a couple of semesters ago and I was the only person in the class who could successfully imitate it (which was a proud moment but also made me wonder why I am such a natural). For those of you who do not know what vocal fry is, here is a short video example (albeit a very exaggerated one). You’ll get the idea:
If you have no sound or are supposed to be working instead of reading this, vocal fry is that low creaky voice that young women often use to try to sound more like valley girls. Their voice drops to a lower register at the end of their sentences and they vibrate their vocal chords so they kind of sound like a quietly dying goat.
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It started in music as a way to add vocal style to notes in the lower register and for some reason, was adopted into speech by young women everywhere in the U.S. Research suggests that women do this when they get together and that it is “maybe…a social link between members of a group.” If my friends ever heard me talking like this, they would probably disown me and that is why I love them.
One thing that deeply confuses me about vocal fry, is that, according to my professor, women use this technique to gain power in conversations – a place where men often dominate. Tell me what is authoritative about talking like you were raised in Beverly Hills? One theory I read is that a deeper pitch is more masculine, therefore women in more egalitarian societies speak in a lower pitch and vocal fry is associated with lower pitch. Hence, power gain through language. This sounds like a bit of a stretch to me, but hey – who’s arguing with science?
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I will give it to teenage girls though; they are truly pioneers. While happening upon girls using vocal fry makes me itch wildly and shuts down my body’s entire audial system (true story), these young women are actually being inventive with language to reach a certain goal. While that goal may be to fit in with the Debs or impress the frosted-tipped, spray-tanned So-Cal boy, they did it first and they have scientists talking about it. What did you invent that scientists are talking about, huh? But even though vocal fry is inventive, so is YOLO and “totes.” So listen up, girls, even though you may be linguistic geniuses, it doesn’t make you any less annoying, okay? GAWD!
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Cultural Curiosities 
I had no idea there was a term for this kind of thing. Honestly, I didn’t even know that “vocal style” was something scientifically researched. I don’t quite make the connection between this type of voice and sounding more authoritative, though. I can’t imagine what the scientists who have to study these sounds go through.
Also, I just clicked on one of the articles you linked to and couldn’t get over the existence of the Voice and Swallowing Center.