question talking

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I know there is already a couple of threads on this subject, but they are all more than a year old. I refer to people as question talkers when they end every sentence, idea, etc. in the form of a question. I do not know if they are asking me a question or making a statement. Maybe they are just not sure? But even with statements like their name they do not sound sure. This phenomenon is well studied and is known as the high rising terminal (HRT), but is also known as upspeak, uptalk, rising inflection, or high rising intonation (HRI).

It was very popular in the fictional media in the 80's to portray girls from the valley areas of California to talk like this. It seemed to be confined to the area and was always used in a negative way, these valley girls were always portrayed as air heads, incompetent, etc. In the past few years, it seems to be used by all characters from all walks of life.

I mentioned earlier in the first paragraph that it happens in my life and I live in Upstate NY, about as far away from California as possible while still being in the USA. How widespread is it in reality? And why does nobody care? I am not trying to be mean here. I know some people can't help it. But I also know it is possible for entertainers and professionals with the proper training, motivation, resources, etc. to achieve results. What I mean is entertainers can learn many convincing accents, you just need to look at the walking dead. Most of the actors on that show sound completely different in real life. There are many more actors with this skill so is not an isolated incident, but I still hear the question talking more often than I should in the media. How are these media personalities getting jobs or keeping jobs? And how can anyone take a professional seriously when they do not sound sure of the things they are saying? I just think that if you are a professional and want to build up credibility and trust you should at least try to sound like you know what you are talking about.

This relates to autism to me because I seem to be the only one who is really bothered by it, or even notices it most of the time. I do not know any other people on the spectrum besides myself.

I think some people talk that way because it sounds less assertive/threatening and they don't want to offend people.

I agree, at least to a point.

I have also noticed this tendency in people's emails, including managers where I work. Having been advised that my own emails sometimes seem bossy, pushy, or rude, I started experimenting with throwing in a few question marks? (did you see what I did there?) I think it is terrible writing style, but it seems to float their boat so I do it, especially with those who have that tendency themselves? (did it again!)

Yeah, I have heard that explanation. It does make sense in some ways. I know that I scare people and offend them. I only scare ignorant people who think I am a killer or crazy or something because of the way mental illness and criminals are portrayed. I usually offend people because I refuse to 'sugar coat" the truth in most situations. If my truth offends people then they probably needed it. Don't get me wrong, I will only say the truth if it is a situation that the person has control over, like when they say they had a car "accident" when they really had a car "crash". I will usually just stay quiet if it is something that a person has no control over, like the victims of said car crash.

I think another similar reason is that the "question talking" will somehow engage the listener better. I guess the reasoning behind this is if the "question talker" sounds unsure then the listener will start thinking about feedback or advice. I think this reasoning is flawed, however, because this is inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is reasoning in which the premises seek to supply strong evidence for, not absolute proof of, the truth of the conclusion.

An example of induction would be "B, C, and D are observed to be true therefore A may be true". So the conclusion of why people "question talk" D, is only true if all of the premises (A, B, and C) are true. The first premise, A, assumes that all listeners think the same. And since all listeners do not think the same then the conclusion is false.