Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A manner of speaking in which declarative sentences are uttered with a rising intonation as though they were questions.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb rare, intransitive To
speak with arising intonation as though a the sentence were aquestion
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Fountain, president of the National Association for Self Esteem, points to "uptalk" as a particular culprit.
Forbes.com: News 2010
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Whether or not Daniel's hypothesis is correct, the recent world-wide rise in "uptalk" can't be blamed on the Vikings, at least not directly.
Language Log 2008
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They uptalk as if sentences had no end or conclusion.
John Brown: Like It or Not: America's Dirty Little Secret 2010
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Sharon Fountain, president of the National Association for Self Esteem, points to uptalk as a particular culprit.
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Sharon Fountain, president of the National Association for Self Esteem, points to uptalk as a particular culprit.
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They uptalk as if sentences had no end or conclusion.
John Brown: Like it or not: America's Dirty Little Secret 2010
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Sharon Fountain, president of the National Association for Self Esteem, points to "uptalk" as a particular culprit.
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Mostly I think it's funny to hear all of the uptalk on these snapvine recordings.
I want to play too! StyleyGeek 2006
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Ha, I went to a talk at a linguistics conference last year where the speaker was presenting uptalk as a feature characteristic of Australian English.
I want to play too! StyleyGeek 2006
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He raised his voice to a savage, lisping Valley Girlish uptalk.
Goodnight Nobody Jennifer Weiner 2005
hernesheir commented on the word uptalk
Think Valley Girl talk, the dialect linguists call Southern California English.
December 6, 2013