Is there a technical name for this? (re: particular speech patterns)

the 'speech pattern' that Tom Brokaw has, and that Chris Myers has (and many others, though they're not exact replicas, of course)? I know people parody it and most know what I'm talking about, but is there a term for this type of talking, with some non-annunciation?

I'm serious, too. I wonder if there is a term to describe that type of speaking. I'm sure there is, but I don't know what it is and I really don't want to look it up in some linguistics/speech pathology sources. Just hoping someone knows this type of thing.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

All I know is that a lisp is an "apico-alveolar stop." Learned that in linguistics class.

And, for those who remember the farting post tape, the term "bilabial fricative" should elicit a grin.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

I know what you're talking about here, rokski. It doesn't strike me as an impediment. Brokaw has a very strong Philly/Mid-Atlantic accent, to my ears, anyway. Some folks in that region just don't do the letter 'L.'

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

Ehhh, LJB, Brokaw's from Yankton, South Dakota, and talks like it.

A lot of anchors come from the plains, as it is as close to a "neutral" accent as you can get.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

Just marking this thread so I can remember to ask Mrs. Expendable. She's a speach therapist.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

Bob Cousy has something similar and always attributed it to having spoken French at home while he was growing up.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

flyover-guistics?

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

Sounds Yankee to me.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

Cousy can't say the letter "R". Always drove me crazy listening to him talk about Russell.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

I dated a girl who talked like Elmer Fudd, i.e. "siwwy wabbit." She said it's because she grew up in Washington state and that's how they talk.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

LJB - I'm not criticizing it, honest. I'm just curious about it. A number of comics on SNL used to parody Brokaw, and they did it well. They had to have a certain approach to it, so if you can conceive of what you have to do to imitate it, I'm sure there's some type of classification for it, or something.

I want to make it clear I am not saying it is technically an 'impediment.' I'm just curious if there is a certain name/way to describe it than "the way Myers or Brokaw talks." I think Myers is from the south, so I don't think it's a dialect thing, but I could be wrong.

Platy - I don't think it's a lisp, but then again, I don't really know what 'lisp' means, to a linguist/speech expert. Maybe it is a lisp.

'Bilabial fricative:' Now that's some funny stuff.

expendable - Awesome! That's just the type of help I was hoping for.

Kirk - Very nice, very nice

Fenian - Great example. And now, thanks to ThomsonOne, I can hear Cousy in my head and remember his speech. I wonder if it is the same type of pattern as Barbara Walters, or like what Football Bat's ex's talked. I think there is a name for that speech pattern/impediment/whatever.

Brokaw and Myers often drop the ends of words, I believe. It might be even more specific than that (like certain sounds), but I'm not sure. I'm sure Chris Parnell, Darrell Hammond, etc from SNL could tell you more specifically what their speech pattern is like. It's almost like a 'meshing'/indistinctness of the sounds of a word or words when they say them. The result sounds kind of like a garbling of the sounds, or a dropping of certain sounds (at the end?), I think.

 

Re: Is there a technical name for... (re: speech pattern)

Part of his "Brokawness" is a tone of voice, in addition to an accent.