11. How are they vocally expressive? What kind of voice, accent, tones, inflections, volume, phrases and slang, and manner of speaking do they use?
mary has a moderately high voice, although itâs dropped somewhat and is lower/huskier in tone now that sheâs in her 50s. itâs got a bit of a nasal twang that is, hdsgshg, just because m*chelle g*mez is inexperienced with an american accent, but given the new england-y vibes of greendale and its comparisons to salem, mass., it actually works--the different varieties of the new england accent are known for being nasal (e.g. e.g.).
in conversational speaking, especially in people or situations where sheâs not terribly confident, she will periodically fumble over her words and use conversational fillers quite a bit--âyou know, um, ah--that is to say, what i think, well, i think that...â generally itâs a combo of having a lot of thoughts at once that sheâs trying to articulate clearly, plus social anxiety, but once she gets in her groove of speaking--and especially once she has developed a rapport with whoever sheâs speaking with--she becomes much more fluid. she generally needs to know that the other person is... âplugged inâ to what sheâs trying to say--that theyâre connecting--before sheâll start to feel confident about talking to them freely. if someone doesnât respond in the way sheâs hoping, sheâll stumble a lot more and might eventually just stop talking.
in lecturing and teaching, sheâs much more confident. in those scenarios sheâs in a position of authority from which she can speak on subjects she knows quite a lot about, so she doesnât fall back on âumâs and âahâs. sheâs really quite a good teacher and when sheâs in Teaching Mode sheâs very clear and expressive, and has quite a calm energy in the classroom--sheâs rarely frantic or excessively passionate about her material (especially bc as a high school teacher sheâs rarely teaching the material she cares about the most), and students probably think of her as soft-spoken but articulate.
âsoft-spokenâ is probably a byword of all impressions of mary. sheâs not actually like, very soft-spoken--sheâs not dramatically low in volume--but she rarely raises her voice and is unlikely to be loud unless sheâs in a specific situation (calling to someone or speaking in a large room) that requires her to project her voice. sheâs not the person you can hear having a conversation from across a room.
42 character development questions. â @highwiitch.