Intention of rising pitches
I have been wondering about the rising pitch used in almost every sentence, by especially young Americans.
- What is the purpose/intention of rising pitch except in questions?
- Is it friendly and polite, or condescending?
- Is it proper to be used in presentation and teaching and other professional occasions?
For example: In this video, starting around 0:40, when Amy Chua introduced herself.
What you're talking about is known to linguists as the High rising terminal (HRT), and referred to informally as uptalk. This is a relatively recent phenomenon in spoken American English, and its origins are unclear. What is clear is that it doesn't signal a question, and is perceived by many people to be sub-standard and irritating. For that reason you should avoid it if possible in formal settings.
For more information, here is a very long and informative Language Log post about HRT, including a variety of links to other sources. I quote a few paragraphs from near the end which elaborates somewhat on the possible intent and usage of HRT:
As I understand it, uptalk is often (intended and understood) as an invitation for the interlocutor at least to signal attention and perhaps also to assent.
The key thing is that "uptalk" is not a signaling a question, in the literal sense of a request for information about the truth of the proposition being presented; nor does it (usually) mean that someone with low self-confidence is making a plea for reassurance. Rather, the studies suggest that it's usually someone who feels in control of the interaction and is inviting a response, as evidence that the interlocutor is going along.
But there are quite a few reasons for final rises in (most forms of) English: the intitial if-clause of a conditional or the first option of an exclusive disjunction is often rising; lists may be presented with rises on their non-final members; and of course yes-no questions are stereotypically performed with final rises.
Some dialects apparently use final rises as the default option, or at least much more often than speakers of other dialects expect. This is apparently true of Belfast English, for example -- and something similar has apparently been happening with the world-wide spread of uptalk over the past couple of decades, at least in the sense that some people have come to use final rises much more often. It's possible that the thin edge of the uptalk wedge, so to speak, has been the "are you with me?" rise. Pretty much all English speakers use this sometimes, or at least can do so if they choose to. But if someone chooses to do this almost all the time, then its force fades with repetition, and perhaps in some cases becomes almost totally bleached out.
I suspect that what you're describing is a phenomenon my wife and I refer to as up-talking. I don't know what causes someone to be an up-talker, but I think it's borderline on being a speech impediment.
Some young people seem to use this when they are uncertain, but most grow out of it.
There are no circumstances where this is 'beneficial' or 'correct' to use.
It really depends on the context. It could be used to indicate the end of a thought in a long run-on sentence, especially if the speaker is excited.
I went down to the store^^ and on my way there^^ I found ten bucks on the ground!
In an argument, it can indicate frustration.
I keep on telling you^^ but you don't seem to hear me^^ so I've had enough.
It should definitely not be used in a formal or professional context where you want your words to be taken seriously. It can make you sound air-headed and it can make your words sound unplanned.
The way I see it, a rise in pitch is a informal verbal comma. A lot of informal writing is littered with unnecessary commas, just as informal speech is littered with such upward inflections.
According to Mark Liberman at Language Log, uptalk is not really a habit of youth or insecurity. On the contrary, it's used most often to “assert dominance and control” over a conversation.
For example, in four business meetings, two chaired by women and two by men, the chairs used rise tones almost three times more often than the other participants did (329 times vs. 112 times). In conversations between academic supervisors and their supervisees, the supervisors used rise tones almost seven times more often than the supervisees (765 times vs. 117 times).