All black people have an accent?

Question

You understand how not all men sound the same and neither do all women. But most women sound different in a way that is distinct from men.

Not all white people sound the same, and neither do all black people. But most black people sound different from most white people in a way that is distinct

Esp, when you talk on the phone, and people take offense that I am able to tell their race, when they speak on the phone, even if they talk proper.I'm not even saying that every single black person sounds this way. But most black people have an identifiably black voice. Why is this?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

To give you one thing, the FBI, CIA and other institutions employ linguistics who are able to tell you the gender, age, race, educational level and almost definite REGION somebody comes from by listening to a message left on an answering machine. So being able to tell differences and spot things that "give the speaker" away is something that quite some people can.

I have to admit I cannot tell too many differences. If you can, kudos to you. People might react offended because they think you are trying to hint at something by telling them you can tell their "race" via the phone, I think I might sense something swinging with those words if I was black and talking to you (white) on the phone.

"Why is this?" "Black" voices, if there even is such a thing - there hardly is, it is more the kind of language spoken in your family, the region you grew up in, the traditions kept in your family, the kind of school you went to, all kinds of factors that influence your range of vocab and the way you express yourself - tend to be "darker" if you compare them to voices by Asian people, for instance, or Caucasian, though that is a BROAD and very, very (unjustified) generalization. It is true, however, that, for instance, Asian speaker tend to have "higher", that is: lighter voices than your average European. It is not racist to state that, it is to do with your vocal cords and nothing else. :)

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

The most educated answer, without thinking I was being racist

Answer 2

Okay. Nice rant. Glad you notice things so well. Congratulations.

Answer 3

Not true! Only Terrel and Tara J believe that!

Answer 4

No theres no such thing as a Black accent

Answer 5

Many people attempt to legitimize it by calling it "ebonics", but it is simply the inability to speak properly, plain and simple.

Answer 6

You are a DUMMY CHARLIE D....

Answer 7

"Ebonics" and an "accent" are two different things.

And just to let you know, all people have an accent. Yes, even white people (though you believe them to be immune). I've noticed that many black people do tend to have somewhat Southern accents. This is because of the simple fact that black culture started in the South.

On the other hand, many white people at my school tend to make statements that sound like questions.

For example, instead of "We went to the movies." it will sound like "We went to the movies?" They add emphasis to the final couple or so syllables of their statement so that it ends up sounding like a question. That's an accent.

Answer 8

Mostly environmental, people grow up around neighbors and friends and they pick up words and speech patterns from others. The rapper generation has introduced a number of words and phrases that many white people characterize as black speech. I never ask a tech person what ethnic group they belong to, just "where are you located", they will always tell me what the weather is like.

Answer 9

It depend on what part of the country or region you are from. Every different place has it own dialect.