https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3o0jz2ocCw
During today's PM on Radio 4 I heard the rising inflection used as a form of emphasis (during a discussion about Universal Credit, as it happens).
I'd ban it if I had my way
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
RC
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DiamondEcho wrote:The woman up-speaks like a metronome, I could only last a minute before it was 'totally doing my head in'.
kiloran wrote:Ye gods! I could only last 15s. What an abomination. --kiloran
DiamondEcho wrote:kiloran wrote:Ye gods! I could only last 15s. What an abomination. --kiloran
Not easy is it... A master-class that a casual observer might struggle to handle!
ReformedCharacter wrote:Of course it's just my own personal prejudice but upspeak drives me nuts and usually makes me think that the speaker is a few pips short of the full lemon.
Lootman wrote:There is nothing intrinsically strange about using intonation to place emphasis or shift meaning in a subtle way. At the other extreme Cantonese is predicated on such emphasis - the same word can mean many different things depending on exactly how it is spoken.
Lootman wrote:I tend to upspeak a bit myself but for what I believe to be noble reasons.
Lootman wrote:Overall I find vocal fry to be more annoying.
DiamondEcho wrote:Lootman wrote:I tend to upspeak a bit myself but for what I believe to be noble reasons.
I find it deeply interesting how people travel and can adopt aspects of the local linguistic style. I believe it's called 'code switching' and that it is due to a desire to communicate at a deeper level with the locals. 'I'm not just a tourist, I speak quite like you too'. I can understand why it happens, which makes me curious about people who travel widely and NEVER adapt their accent at all [the late Brian Sewell/Art Historian who always spoke 100% straight Received Pronounciation IME, despite very wide travels]. For code-switchers a foreign accent takes time to subconsciously acquire, and a time to shed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching I expect we've all teased someone who has just come back from Aus/US/NZ/SA/etc and has picked up 'speaking just like a native' whilst away.
DiamondEcho wrote:which makes me curious about people who travel widely and NEVER adapt their accent at all [the late Brian Sewell/Art Historian who always spoke 100% straight Received Pronounciation IME, despite very wide travels].
Lootman wrote:See, this is the thing. I have spent a lot of my life with people from other cultures. My wife and her family are from a (somewhat) different culture. and what that has taught me is that the very English way of expressing oneself does not do so well past Dover.
So for instance the British tendency to be self-deprecating can be seen as weakness elsewhere. Our sense of subtlety and irony is seem as distractive. Our sarcasm is seen as just plain rude. Our modesty is an indicator of (at best) a lack of confidence and, (at worst) an indicator of incompetence. And our total lack of intonation and emotion is deemed to be disinterest. [etc]
bungeejumper wrote:IIRC, Brian Sewell grew up on a council estate where the local accent was distinctly gorblimey. His adoption of the received pronunciation code was an exercise in social distancing from his own background - as well as a professional meal ticket in a world where he might need to hobnob with Prince Charles at any moment. No wonder he never let the mask drop.
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