Uptalk

Since about 1980 a new use of a rising tone on statements has started to be heard in English. It is used under circumstances in which a fall would been used by an earlier generation (and a fall is still felt to be more appropriate by most native speakers of English).

The traditional intonation pattern , with a definitive fall, is (i). The new pattern is (ii). It has been variously referred to as the high rising terminal (HRT), upspeak and uptalk.

To older people who do not use it, the uptalk pattern sounds like a pardon question rise (see

). It is as if the uptalker is asking a question, checking wether something is the case or not, rather than giving information. In the example (ii) it is as if the speaker were not sure of her identity, or felt she could not assert it. But the pragmatic context calls not for checking or querying, but for assertion of something the speaker certainly knows. Hence to non-uptalkers it feels like an inappropriate choice of tone.