Uptalk: it’s all about intonation?
I believe it began in Australia? From there it migrated to California, and is now clearly gaining popularity in the US?
A few decades ago we had a visitor from Australia — a vivacious young lady, who told us all about her native country. She spoke with a very British accent, with only a slight trace of Australian (“OZ English”). She said “frind” instead of “friend”, and her “cat” was closer to “kit”. Hardly noticeable. But she had one linguistic quirk that was outstanding, one that drew comment. Louise would often speak declarative sentences with a rising intonation. To us that sounded like a questions. Imagine this:
“When I was growing up in Sydney? We had a quite a large house, close to the sea — which had this very large garden?” etc. It was quite mystifying, and I soon confronted her: why do you do that? She had no idea — basically everyone does it, back home.
So I started investigating: English, like most European languages, has two types of questions, generally categorized as yes/no questions and wh-questions. The former can be answered with “yes” or “no”, the latter with some information.
The intonation of yes/no questions goes up at the end of the sentence. For example: Do you want some coffee? Are you comfortable? Is your sister married? Wh-questions ask for specific information, and the intonation usually goes down. For example: Where did you grow up? What did you expect him to say? When will you go back home?
So why did Louise use the yes/no question intonation in purely declarative sentences? We discussed it for a while and came to the conclusion that it was used to make sure that you were following. “I don’t like to shop in big malls?” was equivalent to “I don’t like to shop in big malls, you know?” We also considered that the intonation was a signal for: “say mm-mm now” — a way to show the speaker that you are listening. Plausible, but strange. I could see that other friends were equally startled and mystified. But we got used to it. That was just the way this one person in our acquaintance spoke.
And then, a number of years later, I went on multiple trips to California. And there I heard it again. “Our cat loves to be petted?” or “There is plenty more in the fridge?” Same way as Louise would say it.
I may be mistaken, but I think it was only young females who used the question intonation for declarative sentences in California. It happened in shops or fast food places. On a trip to Los Angeles I heard more of it than anywhere else: at Venice Beach. I remember buying Salsa from a beach-side shop. “It’s quite spicy? You should be careful,” the lady said. The intonation in LA was, as far as I remember, gender specific. I never heard it from a man.
Now, decades later, I suddenly hear the question intonation being used in American TV ads. Clearly a decision was taken to move away from the normal way of presenting things. Let the sunny Californian girl speak! Here’s an example in full glory — Christina Hall on bath remodelling:
Listen to her selling the service of a company: “Jacuzzi Bath Remodel can install a new bath or shower? that you can be proud of? in one year. And they’ll do it at a price? you can afford.” And later on: “…a bath right in your own home, where every detail is covered? for a solution? just for you.”
Okay, I guess we’re going to have to get used to it?
Incidentally Rory McGrath has referred to the habit of having a rising tone at the end of a sentence as the “moronic interrogative,” and ascribes it to Aussis, Kiwis and Californians, confirming that is usually “used by women and seldom by men.” Here are Stewie and Roger from Family Guy making fun of it:
Addendum: Julio, an old friend from California, tells me that high rising intonation (HRI) is known as “uptalk”. It can have different purposes:
- By using uptalk, speakers can subtly invite their listeners to agree with them or confirm what they have said. It’s a way of building rapport and creating a sense of shared understanding.
- Uptalk can also be used to express uncertainty or tentativeness about what one is saying. It’s a way of hedging one’s bets.
- Uptalk is generally intended to make the speaker sound more approachable or relatable.
