Inlinguistics, creaky voice (sometimes called laryngealisation, pulse phonation, vocal fry, or glottal fry) refers to a low, scratchy sound that occupies the vocal range below the common vocal register. It is a special kind of phonation[1][2] in which the arytenoid cartilages in the larynx are drawn together; as a result, the vocal folds are compressed rather tightly, becoming relatively slack and compact. They normally vibrate irregularly at 20–50 pulses per second, about two octaves below the frequency of modal voicing, and the airflow through the glottis is very slow. Although creaky voice may occur with very low pitch, as at the end of a long intonation unit, it can also occur with a higher pitch.[3] All contribute to make a speaker's voice sound creaky or raspy.
In the Received PronunciationofEnglish, creaky voice has been described as a possible realisation of glottal reinforcement. For example, an alternative phonetic transcription of attempt[əˈtʰemʔt] could be [əˈtʰem͡m̰t].[4]
Use of creaky voice across general speech and in singing is termed "vocal fry".
Some evidence exists of vocal fry becoming more common in the speech of young female speakers of American English in the early 21st century,[8] with researcher Ikuko Patricia Yuasa finding that college-age Americans perceived female creaky voice as "hesitant, nonaggressive, and informal but also educated, urban-oriented, and upwardly mobile."[8]
It is subsequently theorized that vocal fry may be a way for women to sound more "authoritative" and credible by using it to emulate the deeper male register.[9][10][11][12] Yuasa[8] further theorizes that because California is at the center of much of the entertainment industry, young Americans may unconsciously be using creaky voice more because of the media they consume.
^Basbøll, Hans (2005). The Phonology of Danish. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-824268-0. p. 24: The Danish stød [...] is [...] a syllable prosody manifested by laryngealization.
^ abcYuasa, I. P. (2010). "Creaky Voice: A New Feminine Voice Quality for Young Urban-Oriented Upwardly Mobile American Women?". American Speech. 85 (3): 315–337. doi:10.1215/00031283-2010-018.
^Coates, Jennifer (2016). Women, men and language: a sociolinguistic account of gender differences in language. Routledge Linguistics Classics (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315645612. ISBN9781138948785.
