I attended a women-only technical conference in the spring and was extremely distracted by a speaker who used upspeak during her presentation. What is upspeak, and why might somebody want to minimize that tendency during a tech talk?
What is upspeak?
A rising inflection is when the pitch of one’s voice goes up. In English, a rising inflection is commonly used at the end of a sentence when we’re asking questions. Upspeak, also known as uptalk, is speech in which each clause, sentence, etc., ends like a question with a rising inflection.[note] “Uptalk.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed July 23, 2019. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uptalk. [/note] The result is that everything sounds like a question.
Who uses upspeak and why?
Yana Skorobogatov, Assistant Professor of History at Williams College, wrote a fascinating article about upspeak.[note]Skorobogatov, Yana. “What’s Up With Upspeak?” Berkeley Social Science. September 30, 2015. Accessed July 23, 2019. https://matrix.berkeley.edu/research/whats-upspeak.[/note] She delves into the gender politics of upspeak, since it’s a trait that’s largely associated with women.
She also writes of a noted female scholar, Dr. Robin T. Lakoff, who in the 1970s was the first linguist who examined language through the lens of gender. It was Dr. Lakoff’s assertion that “The marginality and powerlessness of women is reflected in both the ways women are expected to speak, and the ways in which women are spoken of. In appropriate women’s speech, strong expression of feeling is avoided, expression of uncertainty is favored….”[note]Lakoff, Robin. “Language and Woman’s Place.” Language in Society Vol. 2, No 1 (April 1973): 45–80.[/note]
More recently, actor, writer, and director Lake Bell addressed this topic in the 2013 movie In a World. She describes upspeak as a symptom of “sexy baby vocal virus.” This condition, she asserts, is one of the reasons that women don’t advance in their careers or aren’t taken seriously.
Using upspeak while presenting at a conference
When I heard the presenter at the conference this spring, I hadn’t yet read Ms. Skorobogatov’s article. But I’d seen In a World and was thinking of the scene referenced above while listening to her speech. She sounded like she was requesting validation from us for what she was telling us. It sounded something like this:
“Cybersecurity measures don’t work if companies are unwilling to install patches? Or upgrade legacy systems? It’s important that IT departments keep up with software upgrades? Otherwise, it makes organizations vulnerable to exploits? That could really cause damage to infrastructure, finances, and reputations?”
Are you asking me or telling me?
During her entire presentation, all I could think of was, “Is she asking me or telling me about cybersecurity?” Now, I’m all for vocal variety—speeding up or slowing down the pace of one’s speech, raising or lowering the volume, etc. But her constant upspeak was all I could focus on! Speaking at a women’s conference, she got a bye from the audience. But if she were in a boardroom trying to convince the C-suite to always maintain the latest versions of software, would she be able to do it using upspeak?
I’m not saying that in order to be a tech presenter that a woman has to speak in an artificially low voice. But I think it’s important to remove all barriers to understanding as a presenter, so a distracting speaking habit should be among the first barriers to go.
Breaking the habit
I’m sure a lot of people use upspeak out of habit. By appearing cute and vulnerable, maybe they think they’re less likely to make waves or seem antagonistic. But Dr. Lakoff wrote that this is a learned behavior that women adopt. And if it can be learned, then it can be unlearned.
Your turn
Have you ever been distracted by upspeak? Do you practice upspeak yourself? I’d love to hear about your experiences!