You might not know uptalk by its definition, but you likely know what it is: the rising intonation that you would put at the end of a sentence as if you were answering a question. You probably also wouldn’t be surprised to find that men and women use uptalk very differently.
Thomas J. Linneman performed a study analyzing the use of uptalk in the game show Jeopardy! and the results are quite interesting. You can read a summary of the study here or the full research article here.
I think the most interesting conclusion of the study is that women use uptalk more frequently as they were more successful on the show, causing them “to appear uncertain of their knowledge and apologetic for their success.” I wonder how this relates to imposter syndrome, and if we graduate students do this more than the average person.
What do you guys think? How do you use uptalk?
