Can we detect a homosexual from his accent?

Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:08 am GMT
Can we detect a homosexual from his accent?
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:12 am GMT
No.
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:02 am GMT
In certain cases, yes.
Damian   Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:41 am GMT
What a ludicrous thread this is! Consign it to the dustbin (or trash can if you happen to be American). Why not ask if it's possible to tell a left handed person by the way he walks....or she walks? Why assume that all homosexuals are male? This is just plain "stupit!" - as we say in these parts.
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:34 am GMT
C'mon look at it objectively, there are certain cases where you can tell, probably because they themselves want you to be able to tell. It is quite an interesting sociolinguistic phenomenon - putting on a false accent in order to 'sound gay'. Probably similar to white kids putting on a black accent to 'sound black' and be 'gangsta'. It may be stereotypic as not all gays talk like that nor do all blacks, and not all blacks are gangstas, but it certainly happens.
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:16 pm GMT
Yes, RP is so gay ;)
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:32 pm GMT
Damian

I'm sure you mean well trying to oppose the idea of stereotypes, but the fact is there are often typical traits that are exhibited by some gay people, and one of these can be a different voice. It's not a matter of accent though, more a case of pitch and intonation. The fact is many gay men and women do have a certain type of voice, which can be recognised as typically gay. And I say that as someone who is not straight and has spent time observing these things.
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:44 pm GMT
John Wayne had no gay accent!
guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:47 pm GMT
funny...
I saw a program on television dealing with steroid use by bodybuilders, male and female.

There was a straight female bodybuilder who was using testosterone to bulk up for competions, and she SOUNDED like a gay man--so much so that I thought at first she was. She spoke like a female, yet had a deeper voice due to the hormones.

So my theory is this: Female speaking (personality) + Male voice = Gay man sound

this cannot be turned around the other way so easily as it would require vocal chord surgery to undo the effects of testost. on a man's steavon (i.e. his voice)
Skippy   Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:43 pm GMT
In many cases yes.
Trawicks   Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:48 pm GMT
I think there can be a variety of gay sociolects, but this is dependant upon the speaker being within certain social spheres. The gay men I know who DON'T associate heavily with gay culture tend to have speech that is mostly indistinguishable from that of urban heterosexual men.
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:27 pm GMT
Yes, if you listen to the way they say their S's. They also tend to sound nasal.
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:28 pm GMT
Listen to Anderson Cooper on CNN
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:36 pm GMT
is anderson cooper gay?
Guest   Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:39 pm GMT
Yeah, my friend's ex-boyfriend slept with him. Cooper never said he's gay in public, but he was spotted with several younger man recently, and he attended a Scissor Girls concert for lord's sake!