From vocal fry to uptalk, women’s voices have come under greater scrutiny in the media, with some calling these trends an epidemic. But sociolinguists view these innovations much differently.
You may have heard people complain about women’s use of uptalk—a rising intonation at the end of a phrase that sort of sounds like asking a question. While some say uptalk has the effect of making women sound uncertain, Caroline Myrick, a sociolinguistics instructor at North Carolina State University, says all genders use it to indicate something else entirely:
“One thing that almost everyone does when they’re talking is when they want to show that they’re not done talking, they might keep bringing their pitch up a little bit to show that they’re still talking and they don't want you to interrupt them, but then when they’re done, they might bring their pitch down and get creaky to show that they’re done.”
That dropped pitch is called vocal fry, and it’s also attributed mainly to women, even though everyone uses it—and not just in the way Myrick did above. She says vocal fry can also sound disengaged or cool.
The main point? Far from being a pandemic, these evolving trends are just new instruments in the toolbox of language.