summarily referred to as ‘Lavender language’.
Because, along with other biological features, the vocal apparatus of women and
men is different, it is widely believed that gendered ways of speaking are natural.
However, stylistic distinctions, even pitch, which is most likely to reflect
physical conditions, are interlaced with social stereotypes whereby males and
females are assigned specific roles. It can be difficult, therefore, to separate
natural from cultural aspects of linguistic gender identity.
Pitch is one of the features of speech that change with age, like word choice.
Language is a tool we permanently adjust to our communication needs and thus
change; but we also retain certain features marking it out as characteristic of our
generation. Younger and older stages of life have their own in-group codes—
methinks.
Finally, we each have our own voice quality, style, and mannerisms, which
constitute an idiolect distinct from all others. The scientific study of speech
recognition has matured to a level reliable enough for forensic purposes, and
automatic speaker recognition software is widely employed for gatekeeping
applications. A voice, then, is to the ear what handwriting is to the eye.
In sum, your way of speaking gives you away. After listening to a recording of
your voice for a while, a trained linguist may come to the conclusion that you are
a white middle-aged college-educated lesbian solicitor who grew up in
Lancashire and whose father was/is probably Canadian. You may or may not be
aware of the features the linguist has recognized, emphasizing one or some of
them deliberately by way of identifying with a group and ‘presenting yourself in
everyday life’.
The parameters of linguistic identity can be ordered in the following hierarchy:
National language
Dialect
Sociolect
Ethnolect
Heritage/community language