Becoming Someone Else

For my becoming someone else assignment, I switched two of my m

ost common tones of voice and used them in the opposite situations as I normally would. For example, I used my more formal and professional voice at home with my mom, with the little girl who I tutor, and with my best friend Joel who I Facetimed. In contrast to that, I used my normal voice with the cashier at Target when I went grocery shopping. I used these different tones of voice in situations normally because of the way that I want others to see me. With my more formal sounding voice, I want to sound professional, polite, and put together. With my more causal voice, I feel like it makes me seem more approachable and genuine around those who I am close with or who I want to be close with. At first, this felt odd to me and went a little out of my comfort zone, because it was something that I am not used to and that I had to consciously pay attention to all the time.

When I tried this in the specific contexts, people never said anything to me about how my voice sounded different, (with the exception of the 8-year old that I tutor who asked why I was “talking funny” lol) but I did notice that often their tone of voice changed and began to match mine. For example, my friend Joel and I were talking about school on facetime and when I was talking in a more professional voice, I noticed he did as well. In addition to our tone of voice changing, we also used language that sounded more professional. I noticed the opposite when I interacted with the cashier at Target when I went grocery shopping. My more casual tone prompted the cashier and me to have a more casual conversation in which he talked about “the ‘VID” instead of using a term like the coronavirus or COVID. His tone also seemed less professional and more like a tone he would use with friends. This really surprised me because I was not expecting that something so small would affect the way people interacted with me.

One principle from the Bucholtz and Hall reading that I found prevalent in my experience was the partialness principle. The partialness principle says that depending on the situation, we highlight or show a particular part of our identity that fits the situation. I typically find myself using a more professional sounding voice in class, at the store, or when talking with adults who I may not know that well. This professional voice makes me feel more put together, polite and knowledgeable. On the other hand, I think my normal, more casual voice makes me sound approachable and relaxed, making it perfect for casual conversations. Part of why I think this experience felt weird to me at first was because I was using the voice that did not fit into the situation and therefore didn’t go with the identity that I typically want to highlight in each situation. I also found it interesting that oftentimes it seems like this is not something we are conscious of, but rather just something we do out of habit. I also think this experience highlighted the idea of relationality from the Bucholtz and Hall reading. Relationality says that your identity changes based on the context that you are in and the people you are around. I think this also explains why everyone who I tried this on also changed their voice and their word choice.

In conclusion, I think that this exercise showed me how much the situation I am in affects the identity that I show without even thinking about it. I also think it shows how much the people around you affect the way you talk and the words you use. If the person you are talking to is using a more professional tone, you are more likely to also use that tone unless you are consciously trying to not sound professional. I thought this was really interesting because I also think it shows a lot about how I want others to see me and how that differs in all kinds of different situations. That is also why I found this experience to be so surprising because I didn’t expect that something so small would have any impact on the way others interacted with me.