Meaning of uptalk | Babel Free

Definitions

Speech that has a rising intonation at the end of a sentence, as if it were a question; upspeak.

uncountable

Examples

“The sorority members' own interpretation of uptalk was that it was a way of being inclusive.”

“Once used exclusively by teenagers, uptalk is increasingly found in the workplace with negative results. When statements sound like questions, speakers seem weak and tentative. […] On the job, managers afflicted by uptalk may have difficulty convincing staff members to follow directions because their voice inflection implies that other valid options are possible.”

“As a working definition, uptalk is taken in this book to be a marked rising intonation pattern found at the ends of intonation units realised on declarative utterances, and which serves primarily to check comprehension or to seek feedback. This definition provides a lot of leeway, but at the same time constrains the possible scope of uptalk. The leeway is necessary because, as we will see in later discussion, the shape of uptalk is variable and quite possibly differs from one variety of English to another.”

CEFR level