25th Annual Student Research Conference
Uptalk and the Linguistic Interpretation of Politeness When Making Requests
Kat A. Toomey
Dr. Mary Shapiro, Faculty Mentor
This study will examine the interpretation of uptalk as it relates to politeness. Uptalk, "rising declarative pitch" or "high rising terminal contour," is an intonation increase in pitch at the end of a declarative phrase or sentence (Tomlinson & Fox Tree, 2009; Guy, Horvath, Vonwiller, Daisley, & Rogers, 1986). Uptalk has been proven to function in several ways, and the research topic of this study is to determine if increased politeness is one such function. The study involves the rating of utterances by 42 participants based on politeness. The results of this study show that uptalk does indeed affect how politeness is interpreted.
Keywords: Politeness, Uptalk, Intonation
Topic(s):Linguistics
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 412-3
Location: VH 1324
Time: 3:00