The identification of features of voice quality in social groups

Particular voice qualities are often associated in people's minds with particular languages. This is evident in the literature which has been covered and reviewed by Laver (1975: Ch. 2). These qualities have been variously referred to with such terms as ‘organic basis or basis of articulation’ (Sweet, 1906: 74), ‘articulatory setting’ (Honikman, 1964), ‘a quasi-permanent quality’ (Abercrombie, 1967: 91) and ‘voluntary long-term muscular settings of the larynx and vocal tract’ (Laver, 1970: 525).