American men have started to talk like WOMEN: Californian study finds that males are rising in pitch at the end of sentences

  • Scientists from the University of California, San Diego, recorded the voices of 24 young people and found that the 12 men they studied 'uptalked'
  • Uptalking or speaking like a 'valley girl' involves rising in pitch at the ends of sentences and is often associated with insecure and shallow girls
  • The researchers came across the finding as they tried to investigate the difference between uptalkers making a statement and asking a question
By Sarah Griffiths
PUBLISHED: 08:14 EST, 6 December 2013 | UPDATED: 08:52 EST, 6 December 2013

First men became enamoured with grooming regimes, but now it seems the metrosexual man has started talking in a more feminine way too.
A new study has revealed that modern men are starting to ‘uptalk’ by rising in pitch at the ends of sentences.
The speech pattern is associated with young women from southern California, notably Clueless lead character Cher Horowitz, but is now common amongst younger people.
Scientists came across the finding when they were trying to investigate the difference between uptalkers making a statement and asking a question.
Uptalkers are stereotypically parodied as insecure, shallow and not very clever females.
However, scientists from the University of California, San Diego, who recorded the voices of 24 young southern Californians, found that the 12 men they studied also uptalked and the speakers came from different backgrounds - not just mansions in Beverley Hills.

They were given several speech tasks, such as providing directions from a map, or recounting what happened after watching a clip from a popular sitcom.
‘We found use of uptalk in all of our speakers, despite their diverse backgrounds in socio-economic status, ethnicity, bilingualism and gender,’ study leader Dr Amanda Ritchart, a linguist at the university said.

The research, which was presented at the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in San Francisco, identified a crucial difference between uptalkers making a statement and asking a question. 
In a statement, the rise in pitch began significantly later than in a question.
Scientists discovered that Californian men have begun to 'uptalk'
Scientists discovered that Californian men have begun to 'uptalk' by rising in pitch at the ends of sentences when they set out to investigate the difference between uptalkers making a statement and asking a question
But the difference was so subtle that non-uptalkers often missed it, according to Professor Amalia Arvaniti, formerly at the University of California, San Diego, who is now at the University of Kent.
‘Our study busts the stereotype associated with uptalk that those who speak uptalk actually ask questions instead of make statements, a tendency that is supposed to be linked to insecurity,' she said.
‘But native southern California speakers know the difference based on the exact location of the rise start, and the extent to which pitch changes in the rise.’

COULD UPTALKING DAMAGE MEN'S CAREER POTENTIAL?

It would appear that the key to climbing the career ladder doesn't include what - or who - you know.
The essential ingredient for a man to become a successful boss lies in a deep voice.
Research by Duke University in North Carolina has discovered that men with lower voices make more money, run larger companies, and stay in their jobs longer - although they did not examine the way in which someone speaks beyond pitch.
Specialists studied 792 male chief executives of American companies and found a distinct correlation between wages and the pitch of voices.
Those with deeper voices had a distinct advantage over their high-pitched peers, as they were found to earn more.
The median CEO of the study was a 56-year-old with a 125.5 Hz vocal frequency and earned £2.4 million ($3.7 million) for leading a £1.5 billion ($2.4 billion) company, The Times reported.
Executives with voices on the deeper end of the scale earned, on average, £121,000 ($187,000) more in pay and ran operations with £286 million ($440 million) more in assets.
Researchers claim that lower pitched voices are linked to dominant behaviour, because deep voices are related to high testosterone levels, The Times reported.