1994_02 Insight February 1994

              February 23,1994
Page 3
EM
IN FOCUS
Voices speak much
louder than words
By Jennifer McNulty
L'C Newswire
How long docs it take your mother
to recognize your voice when you cal I
hcr on the phone? For most people,
thc answer is just a word or two.
Research on the human voice rc-
onc who learns a lot about you from
just the sound of your voice.
Sociologist Dane Archer, a professor at thc University of California,
Santa Cruz, says strangers are able to
identify a person's age, gender, level
of education, birthplace, and emotional state after hearing only a few
words. Archer says our voices communicate wilh much more than words
alone, and hc calls thc nontext part of
speech vocal paralanguagc— pronunciation, intonation, accent, emotion,
pitch, volume, and other "markers"
that reveal so much every time wc
speak.
Archer demonstrates thc power of
the spoken word in a new videotape
tilled "The Human Voice: Exploring
Vocal Paralanguagc"
In thc video. Archer explores thc
ways in which our voices are revealing, including the indelible mark of
regional accents, the emergence of
different dialects like "surferepcak"
and "vallcyspcak," the universality
paralanguagc.
In one segment, subjects wearing
blindfolds listen to speakers count
from one to twenty. With only those
few words to go on, thc listeners arc
able to identify lhc age, sex, geographic background, and educational
level of the speaker. Archer says listeners also immediately pick up on
markers that indicate emotions—
of baby talk, or "parentese," when thetic, happy, angry, or sad, for ex-
adults speak to children. ample.
"It's amazing how much of our "The voice is like a violin or cello,"
background, geography, and sociol- hc says. "It is an instrument that de-
The voice is like a violin or cello. It
is an instrument that delivers the
music, but it is not limited by the
notes on the page."
—Dane Archer,
UC sociology professor
ogy is embedded in our voice, and
how easily and transparently it is
read," says Archer, an expert on communication whose previous video, "A
World of Gestures: Culture and Nonverbal Communication," has become
the most popular video distributed by
the University of California Extcn-
Ccntcr for Media and Independent Learning
In this new, 30-minutc video, Archer uses li vely. entertaining examples
to illustrate different aspects of vocal
livers lhc music, but it is not limited
by the noics on thc page. Wc reveal
much more when wc speak than just
thc words themselves."
Other subjects covered in the fast-
paced video include stuttering, thc
debate over so-called "standard En-
glish"and standard pronunciation, vocal impersonation, children's unique
talent for vocal imiiauon. and famous
paralanguagc, such as the distinctive
oratory of thc Rev. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
"To be effective, we can'l just
choose our words, wc have to perform ihcm to be persuasive," says
Archer.
Thc emergence of new dialects, or
styles of speech, is a fascinating area
of vocal paralanguagc. Surfers have
developed noi only a unique vocabulary but also a distinguishing accent,
which places "surferspeak" in thc
Young residents of thc San
Fernando Valley have developed another new paralanguagc. Linguists
are debating whether gay men have
created ihcir own distinctive form of
paralanguagc, dubbed "gayspcak."
Archer says gayspcak raises intriguing questions because its practitioners do not share a common regional
origin or background.
Paralanguagc is a universal phenomenon, and some formsarc consistent among cultures. For example,
people around thc world place extra
emphasison certain words losignal to
the I istetier lhat thc speaker means the
exact opposite of the words. Thc result? Sarcasm.
Similarly, speakers all around the
world use "parentese" when speaking
to children, and il turns out that baby
lalk may actually help children learn
language.
Paralanguagc carries positive and
negative stereotypes, and thc ability
of speakers to alter their voices depending on whom they're talking to is
called "code-switching."
People with regional accents may
be tempted to hide them if they're
linked to unfavorable stereotypes,
such as the perception that southerners
lack education, says Archer, who notes
that codc-swiiching is most common
See VOICES, Page 6
Survival of the smartest
By Eric Alan    	
StaffWriter
Thc average annual income of students falls well below the poverty
line, bul there arc strategics clever
students apply to make the green go
further.
Senior engineering studenl Slu
Phillips spends half of what hisclass-
matcs spend on textbooks.
Ever since hc was a sophomore,
Phillips has had his class schedule
mapped oul one semester ahead.
."I just went to the professors teaching the classes I would be taking next
semester and ask if they intended to
use the same text," said Phillips.
"They usually did, so I would make
a deal with someone currently enrolled to sell mc his book at the end of
the semester. Thc Kennel bookstore
doesn't sec much of my money."
Phillips said.
Save on the costs of clothes.
Pamela Degraw. a freshman , major undeclared, found a way to save
"I love shopping at thrift stores,"
said Degraw. "I have my own style
and they have everything I'm looking
for in the men's sections, a source of
lhe best in grunge."
"Before school started, I went shopping and came home with three complete outfits for under S35," Shc said.
"Church-owned ihriftstorcs arc die
best. You can gel really nice things
there. I even found my boyfriend a
dark brown herringbone sport-coal
with Icathcrclbow patches that's nicer
than thc one his parents gave him for
Christmas," Degraw said.
Save on your food budget like freshman art major Michael Lowcry. "A
couple of times a week I'll stop by
mom's house about an hour before
dinner lime." said Lowcry.
"Shc always wants me to stay; and
then she'll send all thc leftovers home
wilh me. I think all hcr Tuppcrwarc is
at my apartment."
Lisa Bowden, a senior liberal arts
major, cats for free loo. "My mom is
always bringing mc groceries or asking mc over for dinner," Bowden said.
"The trick is to let my mom know
I care about hcr, and then shc cares
about mc too. I'm always sending her
cards: you should see thc one I made
hcr for Valentine's Day." Bowden
said.
"I pasted some dried lavender and
yellow flowers on a small thin sheet
of cardboard and made a pop-up heart
thai I cut from a magazine and used a
toothpick dipped in whitc-oul to write
I love you' on the heart.
I can't wan for hcr lo sec u, she's
going to flip." Bowden said.
If all else fails, lhc financial aid
office can help make ends meet.
There are stale and federal programs available for those who can
demonstrate a financial need and satisfactory academic standing, among
other criteria.
See SURVIVAL, Page 6
Karen Toth/INSIGHT
CSUF enjoyed some sunshine between
rainstorms last week.
Fresno figs falling
By Jason Terada	
UC Newswire
Fig Garden. Fig Gigs, KFiG-
Radio...figs at one time were almost inseparable from thc identity
of the City of Fresno, not unlike
Hollywood and the film industry
and Detroit and automobiles.
However, much like the decay
of key industries occurring in these
two latter cities, figs in thc San
J oaqui n valley' s largest urban center have fallen from ihcir position
of prominence, literally losing
ground to tract housing and other
development
Once ranked as thc nation's
numberonc fig-producingcounty,
wiih more than 14,000 acres of
calimyma, adriatic, kadota and
mission figs under cultivation in
and around Fresno's city limits,
production in thc area has fallen to
lhc present level of less than 3,000
acres.
"Because of rapid development
in die area, much of thc fig acreage
that was older was bought up for
houses and shopping centers," said
Harry Andris.a farm advisorat thc
Univcrsiiy of California's Fresno
Couniy Cooperative Extension.
"Now a lol of the fig acreage surrounding thc town is owned by
developers, and not thc fig grow-
ers themselves."
Fig groves arc now centered in
the Madera foothills, moving the
area north of Fresno County to a
new position as thc country's
leader in the production of the
fruit.
Unfortunately, a numbcrof un
determined factors—anything
from differences in climate to thc
nutrient profile of Madera soils—
have caused fig quality to suffer as
a result of the relocation, although
thc amount of fruit harvested in thc
area has increased thanks to higher-
density planting, according to Ron
Klamm, manager of the California
Fig Advisory Board, based in
"Thc quality of fruit that we're
raising up north is not as good as
whal has been raised in the old Fig
Garden area, so although we're
getting quantity, we're not getting
thc desired good quality," said
Klamm. "I'm not as optimistic
about getting that long, teardrop,
beautiful, succulent fig up north."
Klamm added that fig growers
in Fresno have used every available acre lhat can be profitably
farmed lo maintain high levels of
quality for thc consumer market,
although the smaller frui l harvested
from new groves in Madera County
still meets standards set for the
industry.
"We're turning out as good a
quality product as in Fig Garden,
but you have to harvest more acres
to achieve thai level of equivalent
quality." Klamm said.
Thc fig tree's adaptability lo
northwest Fresno's thin, dense clay
topsoil and virtually impermeable
hardpan, hostile toother crops such
as nuts and grapes, may have contributed to its own downfall, according to Andris.
'That same marginal land is
See FIGS, Page 6
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