The High Rising Terminal (HRT), also known as uptalk, upspeak or High Rising Intonation (HRI), is a feature of some accents of English where statements have a rising intonation pattern in the final syllable or syllables of the utterance. Empirically, Ladd (1996, pg 123) proposes that HRT in American English and Australian English is marked by a high tone (high pitch or high fundamental frequency) beginning on the final accented syllable near the end of the statement (the terminal), and continuing to increase in frequency (up to 40%) to the end of the intonational phrase. New research such as that conducted by Warren (2005) suggests that the actual rise can occur one or more syllables after the last accented syllable of the phrase, and its range is much more variable than previously thought. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Intonation, in linguistics, is the variation of pitch when speaking. ... Vibration and standing waves in a string, The fundamental and the first 6 overtones The fundamental tone, often referred to simply as the fundamental and abbreviated fo, is the lowest frequency in a harmonic series. ...

[edit] Origins

The origins of HRT remain uncertain. Geographically, anecdotal evidence places the conception of the American English variety on the West Coast – anywhere from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest.^[1]

With respect to the southern hemisphere, Allan (1990) suggested that the feature may have originated in New Zealand.

It is unclear whether the American English varieties and the Oceanic varieties had any influence on each other regarding the spread of HRT.

[edit] Usage

In the United States, the phenomenon of HRT may be fairly recent but is an increasingly common characteristic of speech especially among younger speakers (see Ching, 1982 for one of the few accounts of HRT in American English). However, serious scientific/linguistic inquiry on this topic has a much more extensive history in linguistic journals from Australia, New Zealand, and Britain where HRT seems to have been noted as early as World War II.

In Sydney, it is used over twice as often by young generations as by older ones, and particularly by women (Guy et al, 1986). It has been suggested that the HRT has a facilitative function in conversation (i.e., it encourages the addressee to participate in the conversation), and such functions are more often used by women. It also subtly indicates that the speaker is "not finished yet", thus perhaps discouraging interruption (Allen, 1990; Guy et al, 1986; Warren, 2005). This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. ...

It has also been noted in speech patterns heard in areas of Canada and in Cape Town, the Falkland Islands, and the United States, where it is often associated with a particular sociolect that originated among affluent teenage girls in Southern California (see Valspeak and Valley girl). Elsewhere in the United States, this intonation is characteristic of the speech heard in those parts of rural North Dakota and Minnesota that through migration have come under the influence of the Norwegian language. Nickname: Motto: Spes Bona (Latin for Good Hope) Location of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape Province Coordinates: , Country Province Municipality City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality Founded 1652 Government [1]  - Type City council  - Mayor Helen Zille  - City manager Achmat Ebrahim Area  - City 2,499 km²  (964. ... In linguistics, a sociolect is the language spoken by a social group, social class or subculture. ... This article is about the region of Southern California. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Official language(s) English Capital Bismarck Largest city Fargo Area  Ranked 19th  - Total 70,762 sq mi (183,272 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 340 miles (545 km)  - % water 2. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ... Net migration rates for 2006: positive (blue), negative (orange) and stable (green). ... Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. ...

Although it is ridiculed in Britain as 'Australian Questioning Intonation' and blamed on the popularity of Australian soap operas among teenagers, HRT is also a feature of several UK regional dialects, particularly those of Bristol, East Anglia and Northern Ireland. It is frequently heard in some Irish accents. It forms a significant part of what is known as the "DORT" accent. This is a satirising phonetic pronunciation of the train line (DART) which runs through the better off suburbs of Dublin where the accent is most prevalent as an accent bearer would say it. This and many other trends in middle class Ireland have been satirised in depth for years in the fictional "Ross O'Carroll-Kelly" diaries written by journalist Paul Howard and published in book form. The diarist uses such terms as , "Roysh", right pronounced in a male DORT accent, "Mare", short for nightmare. The female characters also tend to use the Valspeak listed above with the frequent addition of "O.M.G.", Oh my God. The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television... This article is about the English city. ... Norfolk and Suffolk, the core area of East Anglia. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: , Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a constituent country of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ... Ross OCarroll-Kelly is a fictional character created by Irish journalist Paul Howard. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

[edit] Misconceptions

HRT has often been called 'questioning intonation', but this term is not generally used by linguists as not all utterances that are questions have rising intonation. In fact, most sentences using a Wh-interrogative rise and then fall at the end. An interrogative word (also known simply as an interrogative) is a function word used for the item questioned in a question. ...

Although several personalities in the popular media in Australia, Britain, and the United States have negatively portrayed the usage of HRT, claiming that its use is exhibiting a speaker's insecurities about the statement, more recent evidence (McLemore, 1991; Cheng et al, 2005; Warren, 2005) shows that assertive speakers, leaders of the peer group are more likely to use HRT in their declaratives than the junior members of the particular peer group. According to University of Pennsylvania phonologist Mark Liberman, in George W. Bush's more recent speeches, he has begun to use HRT extensively.^[2] This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... Mark Liberman is a linguist. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America, originally inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ...

[edit] References in Popular Culture

• In the Family Guy episode Whistle While Your Wife Works, Stewie refers to Brian's idiotic girlfriend as talking "like this. You know, where everything has a question mark at the end of it. With an upward inflection.

• Stephen Fry successfully banished this manner of speech to Room 101 in the BBC TV series. Note that Fry referred to HRT as Australian Question Intonation (AQI).

Family Guy is an Emmy Award-winning American animated television series about a dysfunctional family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. ... “Whistle While Your Wife Works” is a season five episode of the FOX animated television series Family Guy. ... Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English comedian, writer, actor, novelist, filmmaker, journalist and television personality. ... Room 101 is a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...

[edit] References

1. ^ Do you speak American? American Varieties: Pacific Northwest
2. ^ Mark Liberman, "Uptalk uptick?". Language Log, 15 December 2005.

• Allan, S., "The rise of New Zealand intonation" in A. Bell & J. Holmes (eds.) New Zealand ways of Speaking English, pp. 115–128 (Clevendon: Multilingual Matters, 1990). ISBN 1-85359-083-5
• Ching, M. (1982). "The question intonation in assertions", American Speech, 57 (1982), pp. 95–107 ISSN 0003-1283
• Cheng, W. and M. Warren (2005) "//CAN i help you //: The use of rise and rise-fall tones in the Hong Kong Corpus of Spoken English", International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 10 (1), pp. 85–107 ISSN 1384-6655
• Guy, G., Horvath, B., Vonwiller, J., Daisley, E. and Rogers, I., "An intonation change in progress in Australian English", Language in Society 15 (1986), pp. 23–52 ISSN 0047-4045
• Ladd, David R., Intonational phonology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). ISBN 0-521-47498-1
• McLemore, C. A., "The Pragmatic Interpretation of English Intonation: Sorority Speech", Dissertation Abstracts International A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 52 (4), 1991, pp. 1311–A.
• Warren, P., "Patterns of late rising in New Zealand English: Intonational variation or intonation change?", Language Variation and Change, 17 (2005), pp. 209–230 ISSN 0954-3945
• Howard, Paul., "The miseducation years" ISBN 0-86278-852-8, "P.S. I scored the bridesmaids ISBN 0-86278-890-0, The teenage dirtbag years ISBN 0-86278-849-8, Ross O'Carroll Kelly

Mark Liberman is a linguist. ... Language Log is a popular collaborative language blog maintained by University of Pennsylvania phonetician Mark Liberman. ... is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

[edit] See also

• Valspeak
• Intonation (linguistics)

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Intonation, in linguistics, is the variation of pitch when speaking. ...

[edit] External links

• Guardian article on uptalk
• Language Log's discussion on "up-talk"