Does speaking like an Aussie make you sound insecure?
|
Version 0 of 1. Alex McClintock: Perhaps the English just haven't mastered it yet Australians have long known the value of adding an upward inflection to the ends of our sentences. It makes everything sound a bit like a question, doesn't it? The "high-rising terminal" (or the Australian Question Intonation, if you want to get all racial about it) is getting a bad rap in Britain, though: 85% of managers surveyed by UK firm Pearson found the trait "a clear indicator of a person's insecurity or emotional weakness". But far from indicating insecurity, some studies suggest that the AQI is often used by powerful people when speaking to their subordinates (thereby explaining why Australians use it when talking to Britons). The theory is that it's much more acceptable for a boss to ask an employee whether they understand something than vice versa. Linguists also believe the high-rising can serve other purposes. A rising intonation at the end of a statement (giving directions, for example) implicitly asks the listener to confirm that they understand what they've been told. Alternatively, it can be used to stop an anticipated interruption. Besides, it's obvious why Britons would want to talk like Australians. The upward inflection lends us an air of mystery, while we continue to sound sophisticated enough for Americans to mistake us for English people. And it's a proven fact that all eleven members of our Ashes-winning cricket team use the AQI. The good news (at least for the legion of Aussie expats in London) is that only English people are judged harshly for using the AQI. Perhaps the problem, then, is that you guys haven't quite mastered it yet. If teenagers are going to "uptalk" anyway, then it's probably about time to teach it in schools. Perhaps Shane Warne could put out an instructional video. It's also worth remembering that the people polled about high-rising terminals were managers, not psychologists (or anyone at all useful to society). If someone is going to write-off your career prospects merely on the basis of a (sexy) little inflection, then would you really want to work for them anyway? Rae Earl: It turns everything into either combat or inadequacy Australian intonation is contagious. It's not just the humans either. I have a friend who to this day is convinced that Bouncer the dog in Neighbours had an Antipodean bark. When I questioned her as to the nature of this nationalistic ruff, she said it was friendlier but "uppy". She herself is slightly barking but she has a point. It's very difficult to live in Australia and not find yourself leaping off at the end of sentences. The problem is this – the Aussie accent <em>does</em> work on the subconscious at lots of levels. It's sounds friendlier, but it also causes fights. To recreate this effect in your own home, question everything that your partner does – from the way they dress to the way they put the washing out. The Australian accent makes statements into questions and questions into inquisitions. It also makes tiny admissions of doubt sound like Pacific-sized adolescent insecurities. "I don't know" when you ask the price of grapes sounds equally like the answer to something like "Do you really love me?" When everything is a question, everything turns into combat or inadequacy. In Australian men over 60 it's particularly prominent and damaging: this monosyllabic generation of male OAPs can even make death into a confusing area. Read this conversation I overheard and go up" at the end of every sentence. Aussie man: "You OK?" (Question) Older Aussie man: "Yeah." (Sounds unsure) Aussie man: "Wife OK?" (Question) Older Aussie man: "No mate. She's dead." (Sounds like a mixture of question and doubt) Aussie man: "Shit! Sorry." (Doubt – and questioning, "are you actually glad?") Older Aussie man: "It's OK." (Is it though? What the hell does the other bloke say now?) See – sophisticated, complicated speech intonation helps us express our feelings to the maximum. Endless questioning leads to a social manners crisis. We've got to stop this spreading. It works here in Australia. They make allowances. They've got used to it. But if it spreads to Britain it will be like verbal rabies. Besides, do you really want to call a yoghurt a YO-ghurt? Of course you don't. You want a dessert that sounds like a pudding not a greeting. Keep it British. Go down at the end of sentences. And if you find yourself living in Australia, watch lots of home-grown TV and exaggerate what you already have. Also keep your pets away from the locals. Nothing living is immune. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |