# Why is the south west US so hard to understand? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 27, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796 "2014-06-27T17:11:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/1 "2014-06-27T17:11:01Z")
Why is the south west US so hard to understand? Tucson Police [http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/2892](http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/2892) It is very hard for me to understand what they are saying. I don’t think it is style of department is big reason. :eek::eek::eek::eek: I think it is the accent and cadence. The flat accent ,fast talking and cadence. Other parts of the US seem to be more slower talking ,more drawn out words ,rising at least in the non south west part of the US. It is even worse the Tucson fire. [http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/16467](http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/16467) It sounds like they are a sleep :eek::eek: , it even masks me sleepy because they talk so flat and mono tone and so quiet. Other parts of the US is not like this at all .Other parts of the US even have more harmony or variation of time between words. Why are other parts of the US so different than the south west part of the US? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/2 "2014-06-27T17:18:07Z")
I wonder if that’s some kind of SOP for the department. Reduce air time? ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2014, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/3 "2014-06-28T07:04:09Z")
New Yorkers are hard to understand when they work for the transit company. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2014, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/4 "2014-06-28T07:40:46Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I wonder if that’s some kind of SOP for the department. Reduce air time? Could be. Two way radio systems typically have far fewer channels than handsets - the one I administer (not emergency services) has only two channels for 80 handsets - only about half of which are typically deployed at any one time - so a normal contention ratio of 1:20. Concise messaging increases availability. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2014, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/5 "2014-06-28T07:48:54Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I wonder if that’s some kind of SOP for the department. Reduce air time? I think that’s basically what happens, though it doesn’t even have to be for efficiency’s sake. There was another thread here where the OP was listening to different dispatch mannerism across the country and couldn’t understand why–contrary to popular expectations–the Southerners were not the slowest talkers. Probably what happens is that a particular department adopts a certain manner of dispatch discourse, and it just gets passed on to dispatchers in training. It probably helps that many dispatchers were once in the field, so they’d already been part of that particular discourse community for many years by the time they got behind the mic. I drove a taxi in L.A. right before they stopped purely voice dispatch, and whenever I heard the radios of the other cabs in the airport lot I always noted how differently they would pace and intonate their speech. IOW, what you hear on a dispatch is not only not normal speech, but it’s a highly arbitrary and contrived form of speech, in order to underscore the injunction to follow distinct “rules” of interaction. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/6 "2014-06-30T18:10:29Z")
Than why is it only the south west US that speaks flat and flat and mono tone. Other parts of the US words are more drawn out , some places even more so and more flat vowel ( in south west US ) as opposed to a tense vowel. for instance the word “seat” has a tense vowel, whereas “sit” would have a flat vowel. More harmony or variation of time between words…:eek::eek::eek: Above would look like this if person was talking in other parts of US in the non south west US. The , or …is when person pauses when speaking. Other parts of the US seem to be more drawn out words and tense vowels. Not saying it really is strong like southern accent say stop like stooooooooooooooooaaaap But does seem bit more drawn out. Other parts of the US words are more drawn out …some places even more sooooo and more flaaat vowel like as opposed to a tense vowel… for instance , , the word “seat” has a tense vowel, whereas “sit” would have a flat vowel. The , or … is when person pauses when speaking. The south west US seem more flat. Not saying cops on fox or should I say cops on spike TV now the cops show was as flat like the above link:eek::eek::eek:but is similar. It could be I’m not use to the south west US accent.So could explain why I’m having hard time understanding what they are saying. I do know even on TV show cops even in robbery or shooting people speak mono and quite.People in other parts of the US are not like that at all. I think it is south west US accent that is confusing be and more noticeable on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/7 "2014-06-30T18:18:40Z")
Honestly, sweat, I don’t understand what the holy hell you’re talking about. For one thing, I can understand most of this, and I’m not from there. For another, you are using clips of radio chatter, which is naturally going to be of low quality and certainly not typical of the way people would normally speak anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/8 "2014-06-30T19:16:12Z")
I agree that it’s due to peculiarities of police and fire radio chatter. I came to Tucson from Pennsylvania and had no difficulty understanding people here. Especially if you watch the local news on TV, you’ll have no difficulty understanding the announcers. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/9 "2014-06-30T19:42:23Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I agree that it’s due to peculiarities of police and fire radio chatter. I came to Tucson from Pennsylvania and had no difficulty understanding people here. Especially if you watch the local news on TV, you’ll have no difficulty understanding the announcers. Are you saying people in Tucson or the south west US do not sound any thing like that. How can radio training teach you accent and cadence?That seem to be confusing me the accent and cadence. The flat speaking ,tone, pitch-range, loudness, rhythmicality and tempo and harmony or variation of time between words all seem to be confusing me.Most people when they are trying to learn new accent have very hard time with this.So how can dispatch training change this ? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/10 "2014-06-30T20:18:02Z")
I’m having far more trouble just trying to parse your grammar, let alone what you’re on about. wtf? ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/11 "2014-06-30T20:24:00Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I’m having far more trouble just trying to parse your grammar, let alone what you’re on about. > > wtf? Read up on cadence and linguistics. Parts of speech. > **[Intonation (linguistics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intonation_%28linguistics%29)** > > In linguistics, intonation is the variation in pitch used to indicate the speaker's attitudes and emotions, to highlight or focus an expression, to signal the illocutionary act performed by a sentence, or to regulate the flow of discourse. For example, the English question "Does Maria speak Spanish or French?" is interpreted as a yes-or-no question when it is uttered with a single rising intonation contour, but is interpreted as an alternative question when uttered with a rising contour on "Spani... Than read my thread above. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/12 "2014-06-30T21:28:08Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Read up on cadence and linguistics. Parts of speech. That’s not the problem. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/13 "2014-07-01T02:52:04Z")
OP: To me, you are more difficult to understand that anyone in the SW. And that’s just your writing, not your speech. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/14 "2014-07-01T04:14:23Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Are you saying people in Tucson or the south west US do not sound any thing like that. > > How can radio training teach you accent and cadence?That seem to be confusing me the accent and cadence. > > The flat speaking ,tone, pitch-range, loudness, rhythmicality and tempo and harmony or variation of time between words all seem to be confusing me.Most people when they are trying to learn new accent have very hard time with this.So how can dispatch training change this ? Yes, I’m saying that people in Tucson do not sound anything like that. The people who work in fire, police, and rescue dispatch do not sound anything like that off the job. They adopt a specific way of speaking to suit their professional environment. They do not sound like that in their everyday speech. You are hearing a very few people in a specific work situation and generalizing about a few hundred thousand people in Tucson who do not speak on the radio. If you run into the average Tucsonan on the street, or in the store, he’s going to be as understandable to you as any other American. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/15 "2014-07-01T04:28:59Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Yes, I’m saying that people in Tucson do not sound anything like that. The people who work in fire, police, and rescue dispatch do not sound anything like that off the job. They adopt a specific way of speaking to suit their professional environment. They do not sound like that in their everyday speech. You are hearing a very few people in a specific work situation and generalizing about a few hundred thousand people in Tucson who do not speak on the radio. If you run into the average Tucsonan on the street, or in the store, he’s going to be as understandable to you as any other American. Well dispatch training may teach you to talk fast or slow , I doubt it can remove regional accent and cadence. These girls are close to what I was listing too the flat accent ,lack of harmony or variation of time between words ,mono tone ,quiet and fast talking. Accent Tag: California (Response to GabbyGoesHa) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/I4XxjcCfNtY/hqdefault.jpg "Accent Tag: California (Response to GabbyGoesHa)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4XxjcCfNtY) ACCENT TAG!!! California https://www.youtube.com/embed/NsJqya8XLl4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque Both these girls seem to have flat accent and similar to the dispatchers. Note TV broadcasters have training to talk fast ,remove cadence or rhythmicality and tempo and harmony or variation of time between words.But that is lot of training. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/16 "2014-07-01T04:35:28Z")
9-1-1 supervisor chiming in. Yes, we train personnel to speak in a contrived manner on the radio. Radio-speak is slower than normal speech and with added repeats of key information. The hope is that this will limit how often responders must ask for the dispatcher to repeat a transmission - cutting down on how much time the radio channel is tied up. Dispatchers must use a more emotionally neutral tone of voice. Whether it is a robbery in progress or a parking lot fender bender, the dispatcher should not use a pleading tone of voice to indicate urgency or lack thereof. Let the information speak for itself. It can come across as disinterest to those not familiar with the style. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/17 "2014-07-01T04:45:32Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > 9-1-1 supervisor chiming in. > > Yes, we train personnel to speak in a contrived manner on the radio. Radio-speak is slower than normal speech and with added repeats of key information. The hope is that this will limit how often responders must ask for the dispatcher to repeat a transmission - cutting down on how much time the radio channel is tied up. > > Dispatchers must use a more emotionally neutral tone of voice. Whether it is a robbery in progress or a parking lot fender bender, the dispatcher should not use a pleading tone of voice to indicate urgency or lack thereof. Let the information speak for itself. It can come across as disinterest to those not familiar with the style. I wonder if this Northern thing? I do find dispatchers in the north to talk slower than dispatchers in the south west part of the US. The dispatchers by the great lakes have more slower way of talking.They talk louder on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/18 "2014-07-01T05:16:27Z")
**sweat209** , have you ever heard language tapes? Subway/train “next stop” announcements? They’re very different from normal speech, in different ways. Every day I hear my Swedish coworkers talk about a place called Perstorp. They say something I’d transliterate as “péestop”. The lady in the train’s announcements makes it sound like “pe e e é e eeeees tóp”, she takes forever. It’s not supposed to be normal speech. And may I ask where are you from? In general, people understand more easily those accents to which we’ve been exposed most; SW accents will rarely be found on language tapes, movies or TV series; Tucson dispatch-speak, never. I know many ESL-speakers who can understand British accents just fine but don’t give them a Woody Allen movie that’s not subtitled; me, I have no problem with the immense majority of American accents but can’t watch The Tudors without subtitles (other British series are fine), Scottish accents no problem, Scouser I wish it could come subtitled. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/19 "2014-07-01T06:01:58Z")
Here are some people talking in southwestern American accents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2vM04zuO90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZbaBNjt4O0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdjcgAOoHe0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIFRXjauGog Does the OP feel these people have a noticeable accent? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/20 "2014-07-01T06:04:08Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Accent Tag: California (Response to GabbyGoesHa) > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4XxjcCfNtY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4XxjcCfNtY) > ACCENT TAG!!! California > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsJqya8XLl4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsJqya8XLl4) > Both these girls seem to have flat accent and similar to the dispatchers. Are you kidding? That’s someone reading a list of words off her phone for a Youtube video. As an applied linguist by profession, I find that kind of data dubious at best, and I don’t how you could attempt to draw large conclusions about regional characteristics by using it. It’s decontextualized and inorganic. And it’s pretty lazy data collection. Why don’t you _get out into the field yourself_ and record _your own_ data, if you’re so convinced about this–instead of sitting around scrounging stuff off the internet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796.md?page=2)