What is it called when someone extends the end of the last word at the end of a sentence?
I haven't posted here before, I'm sorry if the flair is wrong! Native English speaker. I've noticed this trend in podcasts and stories I listen to where people will extend the final sound at the end of the last word of a sentence. I don't want to name any youtubers/podcasters, but I've noticed it becoming very common in the true crime area of the space. I'll try to type what it sounds like:
Normal:
"They took a ship and sailed across the ocean."
Mystery Style:
"They took a ship and sailed across the oceannnnnnn."
It's more common with women, and particularly people who speak extremely slowly in their videos. They also have very sharp "-hi-" sounds, almost like a breath pushed through the teeth. It's always native English speakers as well.
Important to note is that they almost always speak monotonously (it's a human being speaking as well, not a machine; the person is on camera) and slowly and the volume and pitch of their voices don't change much at all, but particularly not at the end of sentences when they draw the last syllable out like that. So it's not the traditional trailing at the end of a sentence.
Is this a dialect or accent thing? Is there a name for this? I'm Appalachian and it sounds so foreign to me to listen to it, almost like the rusty cogs of my brain are rewinding when I listen to it to try and decode the word that was said.