"UPSPEAK" AND "VOCAL FRY"(from varied sources, including scientific, linguistic studies)
What Is Upspeak?
"Upspeak, also known as uptalk or high rising terminal (HRT), is a linguistic occurrence in which a speaker uses a rising inflection at the end of a declarative sentence. This rising intonation at the end of the sentence makes a statement sound like a question. In 1993, journalist James Gorman established the term “upspeak” in a New York Times article. In pop culture, upspeak is known as “valley girl speak,” a social class stereotype popularized in the ‘80s as a riff on the dialect of upper-middle-class young women from the valleys of Southern California.
Overusing upspeak in your speech becomes monotonous for listeners and may indicate a lack of confidence, as every statement becomes a question. While linguists have derided the use of uptalk, some high-profile figures have embraced it. A 2012 article in the New York Times lauding uptalk noted how former US president George W. Bush sometimes used HRT when giving speeches during his time in office.
Sociolinguists, such as Robin T. Lakoff, have studied the impact of upspeak in the context of gender, noting how young women learn to incorporate subordinate speech patterns like uptalk to empower themselves in their work environments. Women may also use vocal fry—a vocal phenomenon characterized by a low, creaky register—as a means of empowerment."
What is vocal fry?
"Vocal fry involves dropping the voice to its lowest natural register, which changes the way a person’s vocal folds vibrate together. Those changes create inconsistencies in the vibrations and lend the speaker’s voice a subtly choppy or creaky quality—which is why vocal fry is sometimes referred to as “creaky voice,” says Casey Klofstad, an associate professor of political science at the University of Miami.
There’s some evidence that people respond negatively to vocal fry. In a 2014 study, Klofstad and colleagues found that recordings of speakers who used vocal fry were judged harshly by listeners, compared to recordings of people speaking normally. These negative judgments were strongest when both the speaker and listener were women. “Young adult female voices exhibiting vocal fry are perceived as less competent, less educated, less trustworthy, less attractive, and less hirable,” Klofstad and his colleagues writ
Other research has found that young women who use vocal fry are perceived as hesitant and nonaggressive—but also educated and upwardly mobile.
The research right now is confusing and sometimes conflicting. But it has fueled a debate about whether young women are being unfairly scrutinized for their speech patterns."