# drawl/slur



## Gamen

Buenas tardes.

Estuve leyendo un post anterior en el que se explicaba que "to drawl" es pronunciar repitiendo los sonidos o arrastrando las palabras: "howww arrrre youuu?. 

Ahora bien, también leí que "to slur" es más o menos lo mismo.
Me gustaría que un nativo me aclarara la diferencia.

Es difícil entender el significado de estas palabras para los hispanoparlantes, además porque en español no tenemos un verbo de una sola palabra para significar "arrastrar las palabras".


Doy un ejemplo para que me indiquen si están bien empleados estos verbos:

A mother who teaches her son to speak *drawls/slurs* to pronounce the sounds slowly. This way the baby is able to easily learn them by means of the imitation.


Aguardo comentarios.
Muchas gracias.


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## chileno

Parece que sí hay una acepción como la que dices. Yo nunca la había escuchado en ese contexto. Solo que por ejemplo un borracho habla slurring o slurred. Lo otro que por acá se usa mucho es para comentarios racistas.

Drawl, yo lo entiendo más bien como el deje (entonación) de un acento regional.


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## Gamen

¿Podrán ser usados como sinónimos entonces slur/drawl?


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## Lis48

_Slur_ definitely has a negative connotation ( e.g. you slur your words when you are drunk) and refers to your pronouncing them in a different way to the way you would normally speak e.g. in your example, the mother _slurs _her words when talking to a baby, because she does not normally speak in that way.
_Drawl_ is used more positively for the natural way some dialects are spoken when vowels are drawn out longer than normal e.g. I find it hard to understand Texans because they _drawl_. It would be rude of me though to say that they _slur _their words because it´s just their accent and they are not doing it deliberately to confuse me!


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## Cenzontle

Creo que "drawl" se refiere a una manera regional de hablar lentamente, con las vocales alargadas de tal modo que se convierten en diptongos.
En el inglés americano se oye con frecuencia la frase "southern drawl", pero nunca "northern drawl".
La palabra "drawl" por sí misma no expresa necesariamente ninguna actitud, aparte de la que pueda tener el hablante para con una u otra región geográfica.
Por otro lado, "slur" se refiere a una pronunciación—típica de un borracho, como señala chileno—en que algunos sonidos se omiten o se pronuncian indistintamente.
"Slur" lleva la conotación de un hablar defectuoso.


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## Gamen

Thank you Lis.
Would it be possible anyway to use "drawl" in my example of the mother teaching her baby to talk or it is just applicable to the way of pronouncing the wovels in certain dialects?

Thank you cenzontle.
I saw your post after I have published this one, so I'm editing.


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## vidaverde

Son diferentes porque se utilizan para describir distintas situaciones. 

Slur es traslapar los sonidos (el ejemplo del borracho lo dió en el clavo), no pronunciar las cosas claramente.

Drawl suena algo parecido tal vez pero se utiliza para describir la manera lenta de hablar las personas del sur de los EU. Por eso se dice que alguien tiene un "southern drawl". 

No utilizaría ninguna de las dos para describir cómo habla una mamá con su niño o bebé. En tu primer ejemplo diría "A mother who teaches her son to speak *enunciates* to pronounce the sounds slowly. This way the baby is able to easily learn them by means of the imitation."

"Enunciate" es pronunciar las cosas clara y lentamente para que se pueda apreciar cada sílaba. Drawl y slur implican una pronunciación no clara, la primera por causa de accento regional y la segunda por algún trastorno del habla.


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## chileno

Gamen said:


> Thank you Lis.
> Would it be possible anyway to use "drawl" in my example of the mother teaching her baby to talk or it is just applicable to the way of pronouncing the wovels in certain dialects?
> 
> Thank you cenzontle.
> I saw your post after I have published this one, so I'm editing.




I don't think so. The mother has a drawl and that will be learned by the baby. 

Pretty much like people from the Argentinian city or region, Córdoba, where the people elongate A's  That's a drawl.


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## Gamen

Crystalclear Vidaverde and chileno!
Thank you very much.

"To slur" (speaking with another accent with respect to the "majority" because of a different origen) and "to drawl" (speaking defectively like a drunk) are opposed to "enunciate" (speak clearly).

But I think that someone who has another accent just speaks differently, but I don't think we can say he does not enunciate, what do you think?


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## scotu

> "To slur" (speaking with another accent with respect to the "majority"  because of a different origen) and "to drawl" (speaking defectively like  a drunk) are opposed to "enunciate" (speak clearly)..



al revés


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## Gamen

Yes, sorry. Thank you for the remark scotu!


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## SydLexia

What the mother does is "draw out" the sounds: she makes them longer. 

A real 'drawl' changes the quality of the sound and introduces extra elements.

syd


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## vidaverde

We do not use the word drawl for all accents. We only use it to describe the accent of people from the states in the Southeastern U.S. (Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, etc.) It is a very specific word. We would not use it to describe a foreigner´s accent or the accent of someone from another part of the country - even if they speak slowly (unless their accent imitates a Texan accent!).

Syd (previous comment) also makes good points.


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## chileno

y'all crazy!


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## MarlyK

"Slur" is only used when someone is under the influence of a substance and/or when the person in question has suffered a stroke; it's a way of speaking that's disabled by either a physical malady or a drug. More or less.


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## grahamcracker

Lis48 said:


> I find it hard to understand Texans because they _drawl_.


Oh, Nooooo! Say it ain't sooo.


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## Gamen

To sum up:
So, the verb "to drawl" has a very restricted meaning related to the way of pronouncing in the southeastern in US. It would be a short reach word if cannot be applied to other situations. In the dictionaries that reach is not specified. One can read that the meaning is "hablar arrastrando las palabras". (to speak dragging one's words). For the rest, it is not a good definition and it's not enough to understand the real limited extension the meaning of the word has and, what's more, it leads to interpret another different thing. 

As for the word "to enunciate", quoted by vidaverde, it is interesting to point out that it is about a false friend or cognado with regard to Spanish, since we have the verb "enunciar" but with a different meaning, that is, "to state", "to express". 
I really don't know if in English the verb "to enunciate" also takes the meaning in Spanish has, beyond the first meaning already mentioned, *to speak clearly*. In Spanish, we would say "articular" to express this meaning of "to enunciate".


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## chileno

Gamen said:


> To sum up:
> So, the verb "to drawl" has a very restricted meaning related to the way of pronouncing in the southeastern in US. It would be a short reach word if cannot be applied to other situations. In the dictionaries that reach is not specified. One can read that the meaning is "hablar arrastrando las palabras". (to speak dragging one's words). For the rest, it is not a good definition and it's not enough to understand the real limited extension the meaning of the word has and, what's more, it leads to interpret another different thing.



Not only the southern states, I might be wrong, but to me people from New York and Ohio they all have a drawl too. 




Gamen said:


> As for the word "to enunciate", quoted by vidaverde, it is interesting to point out that it is about a false friend or cognado with regard to Spanish, since we have the verb "enunciar" but with a different meaning, that is, "to state", "to express".
> I really don't know if in English the verb "to enunciate" also takes the meaning in Spanish has, beyond the first meaning already mentioned, *to speak clearly*. In Spanish, we would say "articular" to express this meaning of "to enunciate".



To enunciate and to articulate are used here in the US. To enunciate is to speak clear, and to articulate is to coordinate ideas. So an articulated person is that * one* who states clearly his/her ideas with no hesitations and no repetitions.

That's my understanding.

I guess in both languages, to articulate has the same definition, but the usage differs a little bit.


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## Raquel8

Drawl es como hablan los cordoooooobeses.


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## chileno

Raquel8 said:


> Drawl es como hablan los cordoooooobeses.



Y claaaro queee sí.


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## galazin

SydLexia said:


> What the mother does is "draw out" the sounds: she makes them longer.
> 
> A real 'drawl' changes the quality of the sound and introduces extra elements.
> 
> syd



I agree with SydLexia.  You are confusing "drawl" with "draw out the sound."  To draw out the sound is to make the words deliberately much slower.  No one speaks like this on a regular basis.  It is done for emphasis or to teach a baby or someone learning a foreign language.


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## Gamen

Thank you Galaxin.
So, in my example of the first post, I should have used "draw out" instead of "drawl":

A mother who teaches her son to speak* drawls/slurs *to pronounce the sounds slowly. This way the baby is able to easily learn them by means of the imitation. *(wrong)*
A mother who teaches her son to speak _*draws out*_ the sounds to pronounce them slowly  and carefully. This way the baby is able to easily learn them by means of the imitation. *(correct)*


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## aloofsocialite

You could say it like that, but I like the earlier suggestion of "enunciates" more, it's slightly more precise that the mother is trying to modulate her voice in such a way as to make the sounds most easily recognizable and reproducible by the child.  Saying that she draws out the sounds is fine but it doesn't necessarily mean that what she's saying is clear, just elongated. 

I agree with the earlier assessments of drawl and slur.  In the US people from the South are most often said to speak with a drawl.  Slur is what you do when you are ebrio.  Drawl is like arrastrar las palabras y modular la voz hasta que suene algo melodiosa. Es a veces un habla cerrada o difícil de entender.


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## mattb1971

chileno said:


> Not only the southern states, I might be wrong, but to me people from New York and Ohio they all have a drawl too.



I'm a Texan without a drawl, and many regional accents sound like drawls to me. Watch _Fargo_ for some fine, fine upper Midwest drawls ("oooh yaaaah.")

For a fine bit of slurring without a drawl, watch Benicio del Toro in _The Usual Suspects._


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## Lis48

Gamen said:


> To sum up:
> So, the verb "to drawl" has a very restricted meaning related to the way of pronouncing in the southeastern in US. QUOTE]
> 
> You can drawl around the world! The Aussie drawl is also well known.


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## SydLexia

There are/have been various aristocratic and teenage drawls in this country too.

You might speak very quickly and slur your words on purpose if you want to say "fancy going upstairs for a quick shag?" without small children understanding.

syd


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## Dale Texas

Slur:  La zbalabra no eta articu-la-o  correca me' eeee....  ( like after shots of novacaine to the mouth by a dentist)


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## Gamen

This post is getting very interesting. I've prompted all the texans to come out to defend themselves. Just kidding.
I'm learning a lot.

Thank you aloof for your clear and complete explanations as always.
Could you use "modulate", "articulate" and "enunciate" as synonyms meaning "pronouncing the sounds of the words slowly, carefully and clearly so the other can understand well. I see that here we are not merely speaking of "draw out", "make the sounds longer" or "elongate")

Thank you Dale Texas. You example was very clear and clarifying to illustate the "slur phenomenon".
In Argentina we say of someone sluring "gangoso" maybe. "ho-a. Co-o e-taan to-os"? Hola. ¿cómo están todos?
The "gangoso" cannot speak clearly, drags the sounds and finds it difficult to find the words. We use the word "ganogoso" to describe this phenomenon, at leat, in my setting where I live, even though I've just checked in dictionaries and found that the word is used to indicate a nasal way of speaking.


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## Cenzontle

> The Aussie drawl is also well known.


I don't doubt it.  But I'm skeptical about "New York and Ohio" (and North Dakota), with regard to the word "drawl".
There is indeed a New York accent that stretches some of the vowels and turns them into diphthongs.
For example the word "law"—well, I don't have phonetics on my keyboard, but its vowel, for me, is "open _o_", as when a Brazilian Portuguese-speaker says "ótimo!"
For some New Yorkers, the word is [lu@] (and I'm using "@" for schwa).  BUT, to my knowledge, this pronunciation is never called a drawl.
My favorite online resources for language (after Wordreference Forum, of course) are the G.B.N.V. and the C.O.C.A.
On the former you can see that "Aussie drawl" is frequent enough to be noticed, beginning in the 1940s, but that, for example "northern drawl" is a flat line, zilch.
In the C.O.C.A., the search for "[adjective]+drawl" gets an interesting list of adjectives.  In descending order of frequency:
southern (114 instances), slow (13), soft (7), pronounced (etc., smaller numbers), easy, heavy, nasal, elegant, slight, lazy, languid, ironic, high-pitched, distinctive, deep, thick, best, casual, amused, flat, friendly, gravelly, Georgian (not Tbilisi!), husky, light, little, low, long, weary, western (the numbers are now down to 2)...


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## Jus Allah

Gamen said:


> To sum up:
> So, the verb "to drawl" has a very restricted meaning related to the way of pronouncing in the southeastern in US. It would be a short reach word if cannot be applied to other situations. In the dictionaries that reach is not specified. One can read that the meaning is "hablar arrastrando las palabras". (to speak dragging one's words). For the rest, it is not a good definition and it's not enough to understand the real limited extension the meaning of the word has and, what's more, it leads to interpret another different thing.
> 
> As for the word "to enunciate", quoted by vidaverde, it is interesting to point out that it is about a false friend or cognado with regard to Spanish, since we have the verb "enunciar" but with a different meaning, that is, "to state", "to express".
> I really don't know if in English the verb "to enunciate" also takes the meaning in Spanish has, beyond the first meaning already mentioned, *to speak i i would say clearly*. In Spanish, we would say "articular" to express this meaning of "to enunciate".


i would say the word vocalizar rather than articular  to translate the word  enuciate into spanish,although articular is quite good for that regard as well,but from a spaniard (spanish from spain ) point of view the word vocalizar is more commonly used than articular to express that  meaning.thank you so much.


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## vidaverde

New Yorkers usually speak very fast (in my experience), so definitely no drawl there. People from the Midwest and Northwest (Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, etc.) have a special accent which is slower and more drawn out, but personally I still wouldn't call it a drawl - I can imagine that someone else might though, so I wouldn't necessarily say it's incorrect - however if I heard someone refer to a "Midwestern drawl" I would take it as a somewhat creative use of the word. Just my opinion.

I think Gamen has the right idea (very nice summary!)


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## EddieZumac

Gamen said:


> .....
> In Argentina we say of someone sluring "gangoso" maybe. "ho-a. Co-o e-taan to-os"? Hola. ¿cómo están todos?
> The "gangoso" cannot speak clearly, drags the sounds and finds it difficult to find the words. We use the word "ganogoso" to describe this phenomenon, at leat, in my setting where I live, even though I've just checked in dictionaries and found that the word is used to indicate a nasal way of speaking.


"Gangoso" is generally a term used for people who have a speech impediment.


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## Dale Texas

Drawl: Add extra vowels and/or repeat them, extend them :  "Co-o-staaa   Re-i-i-i-I-caaaaa"  "Mi-i-  paidreeee fueeeee uuun acto-u-r muuuuyyyyyyyyy fai-mo-u-sa!"


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## chileno

...and New Yorkers don't elongate that "o" in "Yorker"?


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