Your voice is your ability to represent your point of view.
So which voices are getting validated? Why are certain voices getting repressed? How do we end accent prejudice?
Daniel and Ben are speaking to Dr Jane Setter, author of Your Voice Speaks Volumes, on this episode of Talk the Talk.
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We talk about voices, including an experiment Daniel conducted to see if people could tell the different between gay and straight men’s voices.
Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/33819937
Leave That In!
A bonus news item about babies and numeracy. And then it’s time for Lightning Round with Jane — lots of questions about accents.
Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/33900243
Reflections on 392: Your Voice
Welcome to Reflections.
Sometimes you take a bit of a risk with a guest if you don’t know them or you haven’t heard them interviewed before. But talking to Jane Setter was a very low-risk move. I’ve been following her on Twitter for quite a while (@JaneSetter), and I know she’s smart and funny. So when I got the chance to interview her for her book Your Voice Speaks Volumes, I jumped at it, as talking to Jane was something I’d been wanting to do for some time. And I’d say Ben and I were quite rewarded by our chat.
Accent is one of those things that cuts pretty deep. I feel that as someone with an American accent in Australia. And I’m not just on the receiving end. I’ve noticed an unpleasant habit, and maybe you do it too: when I restate a political or religious opinion that I think is regressive and stupid, I restate that view with kind of a rustic accent. You know the one I mean. It’s a pretty bad habit; people from rural areas may or may not hold those views, but why tie that into the way they talk? So it’s something I’ve tried to be aware of and shut down in my conversation.
Jane had lots more suggestions for fighting accent prejudice, and some of them appear in the interview. I just have to say that the book is a fun read, so everyone should go and check it out.
Thanks for listening.
Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/33876370
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Show notes
Madonna says infamous faux British accent was ‘Guy Ritchie’s fault’
https://news.yahoo.com/madonna-british-accent-guy-ritchie-fault-121822559.html
Babies understand counting years earlier than believed — ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191024075018.htm
Your Voice Speaks Volumes – Jane Setter – Oxford University Press
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/your-voice-speaks-volumes-9780198813842?q=Voice%20Speaks%20Volumes&lang=en&cc=gb
It’s apparently possible to hallucinate people’s accents | SBS News
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/it-s-apparently-possible-to-hallucinate-people-s-accents
Separated by a Common Language: Book week 2019: Jane Setter’s Your Voice Speaks Volumes
https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2019/11/book-week-2019-jane-setters-your-voice.html
‘Got’ and ‘gotten’ in British and American English | Stroppy Editor
https://stroppyeditor.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/the-us-has-gotten-this-word-back-and-the-uk-probably-will-too/
The Ideology Behind Donald Trump’s Paris Withdrawal – The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/11/ideology-behind-donald-trumps-paris-withdrawal/601462/
Transcript
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