The Rise Of The Upward Inflection When Speaking

[dave50]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28708526
I know this link is old news but someone mentioned it to me the other day and I dont know if its been discussed on here before.
Has anyone else noticed, especially among the young? I have and I must say i do find it rather irritating and it's becoming more prevalent.

[Denton]

Better stay away from Australia then.

[kvalidir]

It's weird because all of that sounded perfectly normal to me, I struggle to even hear it as a definite upward inflection, it's just accent and dialect of those particular communities, but then my Dad is from Belfast, I'm going out with someone from New York and I have family dotted all over the place, so it's quite normalised for me. I however don't do it I've noticed and neither does my mother and we're both RP, so I'm not sure it's an age thing, more just cultural.

[Bazile]

It's like the recent tendency of starting the answer to a question , with the word 'so'

[Mamyalynne]

Doesn't bother me in the slightest, I love variety.

[douglas9401]

Or worse, Bazile, starting an answer.

[Jackdaw33]

In French there are three ways of asking a question:

1. Inversion of subject and verb (rarely used except in literature and by foreigners)

2. The use of the phrase, 'Est-ce que (Fairly common)

3 Simple upward intonation (the most common and what I always use).

[gingejbee]

Upward inflection when asking a question....yes.
When simply making a statement...no! I hate it!

[ichkeria]

Surely this is something NOT heard in NI.
It suggests to me a lack of confidence in the speaker

[jno]

jackdaw, this isn't about actual questions but implied ones. "It's wet out theere today" with a rising intonation inplies "isn't it?" without saying it. I think it came in with Home and Away and Neighbours, it's an Australian thing. (Not to say other regions don't do it too.)

[-SharonA-]

Funny you should say that about the upward inflection. My young niece talks in such away like this and drives me mad.

[Buenchico]

The upward inflection is an essential part of the Suffolk accent (and particularly the Ipswich one) so everyone around here uses it. However it's far more noticeable among older people than younger ones.

Yes, it's definitely similar to many Australian accents. When I visited Oz I got asked which part of the country I was from several times. Nobody would believe that I was a pommie!

[hellywelly4]

It annoys me intensely. It does seem to be the younger age group that do it, more often young women; the same ones who start replies to questions with 'so' as has been previously said. Perhaps it's a fashion thing with youngsters?

[dave50]

Also people who ask a question and then add 'yes?' or 'no?' at the end, as if prompting you to gave the correct answer. I have started not answering, the reason being they have answered the question for me.

[woofgang]

dave I think that is a different way of asking "do you agree that xxxx?"

[zebo]

The antipodean rise, ugly when heard from antipodeans but utterly pretentious on everyone else. Oddly, they get yery angry when it's done back at them, as I do with my daughter!