“He sounds like a bureaucrat”: Variation of voice quality in stylistic performances

Abstract

Voice quality is a vital but understudied sociolinguistic feature in constructing style and personae. This study examines stylistic performances of character types in Beijing Mandarin, to understand how voice quality varies and comes to conventionally associated with social meanings. Acoustic analysis of recorded performances shows that voice quality is a dynamic variable that should be examined from the lens of different linguistic and discursive levels. Combined with meta-discursive analysis, the findings show that voice quality not only helps to typify a persona, but also contributes to forge relationships in frames of social interactions.