"So in a lot of country music, you might describe the singer's voice as bright or brassy or sharp. But I bet the word you really want to use is twangy. TZU-PEI TSAI: Twangy voice, it refers to a bright timbre that sounds like a children's taunting - nya na nya na nya na nya - or a witch's cackling (cackling)."
"TSAI: TV characters are like Fran, "The Nanny," Janice in "Friends" or Squidward in "SpongeBob SquarePants." (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS") RODGER BUMPASS: (As Squidward Tentacles) And let me just say there will come a day when I... TSAI: The voice quality, the timbre is related to Southern music. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "9 TO 5") DOLLY PARTON: (Singing) Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living. Barely getting by..."
"Before he began his Ph.D. in speech sciences, Tribby was a speech language pathologist. He'd tell people to use twang in their voice to be better understood. TSAI: But we actually didn't have data. SUMMERS: So Tribby and other scholars at Indiana University formulated a study. First, they got real people to talk in neutral voices, and then twangy voices."
Twang is a bright vocal timbre characterized by a nasal, piercing quality that resembles children's taunting or a witch's cackling. The timbre appears across musical genres including country, pop rock, and musical theater, and in distinctive TV character voices. The bright quality increases a voice's ability to project and remain audible over background noise, enhancing intelligibility. Experimental comparisons involved recording people speaking in neutral voices and producing twangy versions, then assessing projection and clarity. Vocal adjustments involve raising and lowering the larynx to modify resonance and achieve the twang effect.
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