In April, I wrote a newsletter regarding the apparent fad of uptalk and vocal fry – two language patterns that seem to be dominating contemporary speech. Uptalk occurs when the voice increases in pitch at the end of a statement, almost as if asking a question, while vocal fry is when the voice gets groggy and raspy at the end of a statement.
Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, noted the potential of the increasing trend in 2001. He said, “But I wouldn't be surprised if it went global…the coolest kids decide to talk that way and it spreads like wildfire,” according to an article by The Guardian.
I would be remiss to say I haven’t noticed an increasing trend in these two vocal patterns – it is everywhere in mainstream television. I have always held the mindset that speaking with uptalk and vocal fry are detrimental to both men and women in the workplace and that the trend expresses a lack of confidence or uncertainty. However, I recently had an interesting thought presented to me.
On June 27 and 28, I spoke to a group of professional women at a conference in New York City and both uptalk and vocal fry came up and in conversation. While some of the women agreed with me about the negative impact the two habits bring, one woman thought that uptalk was the “wave of the future” and that women, being sophisticated, would eventually accept it. She felt that these speaking trends wouldn’t have a negative impact and would eventually become customary in conversation.
The majority of the women there – myself included – disagreed with her. She does offer an interesting perspective, though, which mirrors Pinker’s 2001 comments. While uptalk and vocal fry are now widely used, is this the beginning for the two habits? Will it eventually become part of the speaking norm, as the woman at the conference presented?
Over the course of 26 years as a speech pathologist, I have heard a variety of speaking patterns – some favorable, some not. In my opinion, uptalk and fry are never favorable and should not be used in the workplace. I have coached many women executives who expressed concern about sounding like little girls (these women used uptalk) or uninterested (these women used vocal fry) to change their inflection patterns. All have risen in their career ladders and attribute their success and increased confidence to learning to end their comments as a fact while maintaining volume and breath control.
I am interested in hearing your thoughts about this. Do you think uptalk and vocal fry will become an accepted speaking trend or do you think that these patterns will continue to elicit a negative perception?
Let’s get a conversation going.
