pupoture

Rising intonation is a feature of phonology that has been discussed for a couple of decades now, often inciting strong feelings, most of them negative. Also referred to as HRT (High Rising Terminals) and AQI (Australian Question Intonation), but sometimes just labelled uptalk , rising intonation occurs when the normal descending cadence of a statement (dropping off towards the end) is replaced with a rising tone (like when you lift your voice to ask a question). We looked at it in this post back in December. Recent research reported in the Mail Online suggests that HRT doesn't just rub people up the wrong way but can actually affect career prospects. According to Pearson who surveyed 700 men and women in managerial and ownership roles, a striking picture emerges: The majority (71 per cent) agreed that AQI is a 'particularly annoying trait', with 85 per cent adding the use of the trait is a ‘clear indicator of a person's insecurity or emotional weakness.’ More tha...

As you might have noticed, I haven't posted much since last year but I'm hoping to add some more articles in the next few weeks. In the meantime, the EngLangBlog twitter feed is worth following. Here are a few things that have appeared in the last week or two: A new study on how young people manage to text and write formally . It's almost like young people aren't completely stoopid.  - useful for ENGA3/ENGB3 Language Change and Language Discourses (and ENGB1 Technology for B spec people) Why because isn't (always) a conjunction - useful for ENGA3/ENGB3 Language Change Lynne Truss loses the plot and maybe going insane over compound words. - useful for ENGA3/ENGB3 Language Change and Language Discourses Dialect words from around the north of England - useful for ENGA3 Language Variation