The up speak cadence always reminds me of the "Valley Girl" accent from the west coast. One of the most well known American accents alongside the New York accent. Up speak is annoying to most of us, not everyone does it.
OK, so I haven’t listened to the examples. I think I know what you mean, though. I’m hearing this : “So I went to the store, and I picked up some BREAD, and some BUTter, and some JAM, and a carton of CHESTERFIELDS…”
As you will have noticed from the example, I am too old for either upspeak or vocal fry. I recognize this pattern, though. I might do this if I wanted to emphasize the number of things in the list: “So then my boss made me do the COPying, and the FILing, he made me clean the BREAK room…” (back of the hand pressed to the forehead in a tragic pose).
Or,I might be talking to my wife: “Hey, darlin’, I was busy while you were out. I cleaned the BATHroom, swept the FLOORS, cleaned the WINdows, fixed the CABinet latch…”
It’s a whimsical tone; not something I’d pull in a formal meeting or anything.
23:50
[Life Jolt] Episode 5: Inside and Indigenous #lifeJolt
https://podcastaddict.com/life-jolt/episode/157620274 via @PodcastAddict
It's only a short list, but it's a perfect example
Please check out this video starting at 10:45.
https://youtu.be/IsE_8j5RL3k
Growing up in the Midwest next to a reservation this is where my thoughts went immediately. The podcast you shared is an indigenous woman speaking and sounds very similar to the Native American accents in the Dakotas. Very rhythmic. It's a short piece of a very interesting 2 part accent trip through the US!
The CBC is garbage. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Broadcasters on the this of the pond are trained to talk nasally like that so everyone can understand them. In this specific example that's a pretty a-typical English Canadian accent with the tone of a broadcaster.
Bro that’s so weird. I didn’t notice anything the first time I listened to it, and had to look through the comments to get a feel for what you were talking about. I know I’ve definitely talked like that before, but I’ve never really conscientiously thought about it! Now I’m curious too.
They do it all the time in the US podcast I listen to. I was actually surprised that the Canadians do it too. As soon as I find an example, I'll post it
It's called many things: uptalk, vocal fry, millennial fry etc.. It is a feature most common in young, white middle-class females.
According to Dr. Geoff Lindsey, it does exist in Britain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0yL2GezneU
Part of it could be that people who do public speaking for a living (like appear on podcasts etc) make an effort to modulate their pitch etc in order not to seem monotone and boring.
This style of speech is spreading over to British English in my experience. I definitely do it sometimes.
I think it probably just comes from being a verbal indicator that it's in a list. French has something similar in terms of verbally marking a list but the intonation is [a bit different](https://youtu.be/b8h67HW0ED4?feature=shared) (not a great example but the first I could find).
I first noticed it when I had a lecturer in uni ten years ago who used to do it, but it definitely seems to be becoming more common nowadays (largely among young women in my experience).
I have never heard/given attention to that. If I had to guess, I would say it's to break up the monotony of a list, but that's a total shot in the dark.
Hello OP, you appear to be asking a question relating to current events or the midterm elections. Please post your question in the [Current Events Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/ygrezy/current_events_and_midterm_elections_megathread/) instead. Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskAnAmerican) if you have any questions or concerns.*
34 Comments
Educational_Crow8465@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
Puukkot@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
DOMSdeluise@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
Educational-Bad2594@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
heatrealist@reddit
worrymon@reddit
PurchaseSignal6154@reddit
StopSignsAreRed@reddit
TheLastRulerofMerv@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
TheLastRulerofMerv@reddit
FivebyFive@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
AmericanMinotaur@reddit
WulfTheSaxon@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
xworfx@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
Technical_Plum2239@reddit
nemo_sum@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
Salty_Dog2917@reddit
webbess1@reddit
QuarterMaestro@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
palishkoto@reddit
PullUpAPew@reddit (OP)
palishkoto@reddit
thatsad_guy@reddit
AutoModerator@reddit