ETHNOGRAPHY: PHONETIC SLURRING PART ONE: FINDING THE RIGHT SUBJECT (phonetic symbols not available in the typed version) The effects of alcohol upon daily (and nightly) discourse is an often understated and misunderstood phenomenon with complexities and circumstantial nuances often overlooked by observers. The common "slur" actually contains more elements than the common voiceless or voiced alveopalatal fricative, i.e. "Ish [I ] there a problem, offisher [ fI ]?" or the exaggerated vowel sounds. In fact, there is a direct correlation between the amount of alcohol consumed and the phonetic inflections and restrictions, creating a language of its own. My ethnography took place initially in the "Orange Grove" Bar, where I studied the effects of intoxication upon various known and unknown people. Since people tend to alter their own vocabulary according to their own colloquial orientation, I hid a recording device discretely hidden upon myself and asked people to say words that would indicate dialect, and annunciatory level. When people were asked to say the word "syllabic", which I thought might indicate the awkwardness imposed upon the consumer's mouth by the liquor, the results were negligible. However, people tended to alter their speech biased by the fact that they were under observation. Plus the fact that the people generally were not as intoxicated as I would have liked limited the range of the slurring. The difference (I asked them to say the word "syllabic" upon entering the bar, and then again upon exiting) between the independant variables was barely noticeable. I also asked for a few inebriates to say the word "water", to see if individual dialects were accentuated or stifled by the alcohol. (The premise being that the pronunciation of the word "water" is purportedly pronounced differently by each dialect. A few people blurted the word out, as if it were a stop consonant. There were a few devout drinkers who adamantly refused to even say the word, a point which I should have considered. I walked away ashamed and dissatisfied. The next day, I was stricken with inspiration. I decided to turn my project into a case study. I reasoned that if the consumption rate is so great a deciding factor, it would be much easier and accurate to monitor the consumption of one person, and to apply the effects to the phonetic structure of that person's vocabulary. Fortunately, I found an individual whose vocabulary was virtually limited to a mere twenty phrases (which he sometimes combined for circumstantial needs). Thus I was able to carefully record his progress through a sample evening. In order to acquire the desired effects, I asked (with little effort) the subject to consume at least twelve drinks. The dependant variables, the phrases and one word replies are as follows: 1. "Yo, are you guys raging?" 2. "Sometimes." (said with a Cuban accent [s ntain ] 3. "It's kinda psychedelic." 4. "Kinda-budda" 5. "Surepal" 6. "What do you think about that?" 7. "That's coldblooded." 8. "I can't do nuthin' for you man." 9. "Noteven" 10. "You're clipped." 11. "What are you trying to say?" 12. "My Uzi weighs a ton." 13. "Listen to fuckin' Einstein." 14. "Yo, easy, Smash" 15. "Yo, ease up, Holmes." 16. "(That's) Weak." 17. "I'm high, how are you?" 18. "You're scarred." 19. "Yo, homeboy, what's up widdat." 20. "Word." PART TWO: CULTURAL INTRUSION The expressions that the subject (John) uses are generally based on California lingo and Rap music, (mostly Public Enemy) and John will use dialects and inflections attributable to the source. One of John's friends is from Los Angeles, and they both tend to use lingoes indiginous to California when conversing: (Tattered, Bobbaboos, "Who are you trying to kid?", shine, clip, clean, scarred, fully, squirelly, Wally, Murph, KB's, cripplers, cryptoes, porkers, railers, fatties, grinding, surepal, noteven, and a slew of others.) There are also several non-verbal expressions used by John, (and obviously others, or no one would understand him). Most of the signs are variations of the "Loser" sign, made by making a letter "L" out of the thumb and forefinger and holding it, palm out, up to the forehead. The "Joker" sign is made by hooking the thumb and making a "J". The "Clown" sign is made by hooking both the thumb and the forefinger into a "C". The "Weak" sign is made by making a loser sign with both hands and connecting them at the thumb tips at a right angle, making a "W". The "Zipperhead" sign is a bit more complicated. It is made by making a "Z" out of both hands horizontally parallel, facing the opposite direction, with the thumbs overlapping at a 45 degree angle. Ira, a friend of John's who happens to be a loser with a big nose, recieves the "Ira-loser" sign, which is the normal Loser sign, the forefinger pressed against the bridge of the nose and the thumb pressed underneath the nose. There are others, such as Wally, Murph and several variations on the "Loser" theme i.e. "peace, loser", "later loser", "die, loser", "hang loose, loser", "fuck off, loser", and "die, fucking loser"(also known as "fuck off and die, loser". However, none of the hand signals are significantly influenced by the alcoholic consumption. They tend to be used more often in the heavy state of intoxication, perhaps the hands are easier to communicate with after fourteen beers. But the focus of the study is the spoken words and how the consumption rate is proportional to phonetic exaggerations and omittals/limitations. The independent variables are the phonetic structures of English expression are as follows: ____________________________________________________________ THE STOP CONSONANTS: puh-voiceless bilabial buh-voiced bilabial tuh-voiceless alveolar duh-voiced alveolar ____________________________________________________________ AFFRICATES: t (c) "Church" voiceless alveopalatal d "Judge" - voiced alveopalatal ____________________________________________________________ NASALS mmmmm, nnnnnnn, n "Sing" ____________________________________________________________ FRICATIVES fff - voiceless labiodental vvv - voiced labiodental "thin" - voiceless interdental "then" - voiceless interdental sss - voiceless alveolar zzz - voiced alveolar "shoe" - voiceless alveopalatal "azure" - voiced alveopalatal x "ich" (German) - voiceless palatal (gargle sound) - voiced palatal ____________________________________________________________ VOWELS front - , I, e, , back - u, , o, , a ____________________________________________________________ SEMIVOWELS/SEMICONSONANTS j - "you" w - "wuh" - "puissance" ____________________________________________________________ LATERALS & LIQUIDS - "Milk" SUPER SEGMENTALS - pitch, stress, juncture ARTICULATIVE INTRUSION ASSIMILATION CONSONANT LOSS MATATHESIS JUNCTURE LOSS, DISPLACEMENT ____________________________________________________________ PART III: THE STUDY First of all, the stop consonants are exaggerated in the expulsion of breath following the consonant sound. Stop consonants are the most popular phonetic element of an inebriated person. For example, a drunk person would much rather use the word "Buzzed" to describe their condition than "Intoxicated". "Buzz" is easier to say, and the tipsy mind tends to lock into franker, blunter communication. With John, however, "Buzzed" is an early term, lasting up to the fourth or fifth beer, but into the second six pack, and towards the end of the night, words like "hammered" and "wasted" come into play" Into the fricatives, the voiceless labiodental is usually voiced, as in the expression "Flailing as usual". The "fff" sound is restricted, and thus voiced. John tends to say "vlailing" when extremely intoxicated. The interdental fricatives also are often voiced under the influence. When John says "Then", the "th" sound is voiced and there is also a slight, dipthonged "z" sound. The alveolar fricatives don't usually turn into alveopalatals until after the eighth beer. the "sss" sound is usually voiced and is percieved as "zometimes". By the twelfth beer, however, "zometimes" changes into " mtains" with a "sh" sound. Affricates tend to accentuate the "t" sound in the voiceless and the "d" sound in the voiced. For example, the expression "Are you guys raging", the "d" sound in the "raging" early in the intoxicatory phase is accentuated, and later on the "dg" actually turns into a voiced alveopalatal fricative thus "Are you guys Ra[ ]ing?" The nasals usually don't play a significant role in John's speech metamorphosis until late, when his discourse becomes unintelligible and mostly without any awareness of communication. This "other" language seems to indicate a complete inactivity of the brain, and sounds like "uhnnnnnn". The vowels cannot be applied to the phonetic effects of alcohol. Vowels serve as catalysts which are framed by the subjected consonants. However, the vowels tend to affect the supersegmental value of stress, and John's drunken mouth seems to add inflection to words with significant vowel content. i.e. "Naaaahdeeeeven". The semi-vowels and w tend to become increasingly plosive as John's rate of consumption accelerates. For example, if John has just done a beer funnel, and is watching someone do a slow, incomplete or convulsive funnel, he will probably say "wheak", with a heavy blowing sound after the "w". Among the supersegmentals, the stress is, as with most drinkers, raised during drinking bouts. However, John's stress peak arrives at around the eighth beer, and the stress is usually back down to below the sober level after the twelfth beer. the stress is usually raised when John is quoting Public Enemy or he feels that one of his twenty credos might actually add an element of inexorable poignancy to a conversation. The varying pitch of the words is usually unaffected by the alcohol. Pitch is ususally an arbitrary and inconsistent part of John's speech pattern. Juncture is probably the most heavily affected part of John's speech while drinking. After a six pack, several expressions consisting of three to six words will become a single word or utterance. After a twelve pack, all junctures are completely lost and the words mash together in complete assimilation. Consonant loss- the crisp, punctuating consonants of his communication are lost after two or three beers: consonant loss serves as the first sign of intoxication. Consonants such as s, p, k, t become softened and become z, b, x (ich German sound), d. Assimilation and displacement become a major emphasis in John's drunken tongue. The words and letters not only take on qualities of the adjacent words and letters, but as the consumption increases, the words become a string of vowels scantily clad by loose, garbled consonants. Metathesis is unapparent in the speech patterns. PART THREE: APPLICATION Expression #1: "Yo, are you guys raging?" After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #2: "Sometimes" - [ ] After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #3: "That's kinda psychedelic" After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #4: "Kinda-budda" After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #5: "Surepal" After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #6: "What do you think about that?" After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #7: "That's coldblooded." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #8: "I can't do nothin' for you man." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #9: "Not even" pronounced [ - ] After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #10: "You're clipped." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #11: "What are you trying to say." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #12: "My uzi weighs a ton." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #13: "Listen to fuckin' Einstein" After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #14: "Yo, easy, smash." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #15: "Yo, ease up, Holmes." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #16: "Weak!" After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #17: "I'm high, how are you?" After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #18: "You're scarred." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #19: "Yo, homeboy, what's up widdat." After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: Expression #20: "Word." - very glottal, like a pterydactyl After 6 Beers: After 12 Beers: SUMMARY In conclusion, I would like to say that the common "slur" is a much misunderstood and unfairly stigmatized form of voluntary speech mutation. The communicative effects of alcohol upon an individual are not mere verbal handicaps, but rather serve as a form of liberation: The individual, incapable of censuring his/her speech patterns, releases a base, psychologically introspective form of expression which expurgates the raw, primal truth within. By applying the direct phonetic alterations to my subject's vocabulary, it can be viewed as not only a physical but a cultural intrusion of articulation. John's speech was brought to a more common, self-colloqualized form devoid of the limiting censorship of the superego and formalities of sobriety. The speech is transcending into not only a different language, but an entirely unique form of communication. "A drunken mind says what a sober mind thinks." -Benjamin Franklin