Another Petty Pet

[brogine]

Perhaps you’ve heard this.
I find it quite annoying.

A number of young adults I hear on the radio often
end a sentence with a downward intonation and
elongation of the stressed syllable of the last word.
It adds an interrogative quality, as if they’re saying,
“This is a declarative sentence, but please don’t
think me too assertive.”

Ah, well, as the family crest says,
Quid Ego Scio.

[Slava]

I've heard of the upward, interrogative, tone at the end. This sounds new to me. I'm safe, though, as I don't listen to the radio.

[brogine]

Funny . . . I just came across a word for this (verb and noun) as an answer to a crossword clue. It’s uptalk.
The OED has citations going back to 1996.

Another pattern, although not annoying at all - sometimes I hear high school kids on the radio, obviously reading from a script.
Very often they will shorten the last stressed syllable in a sentence.
Perhaps an expression of modesty?

[bnjtokyo]

Uptalk is a rising intonation, not a falling intonations. In standard English, such a rising intuition can be used to change a statement into a question. For example, your friends Alice and Bob recently had a child and you have just met your mutual friend Charles. If you have information about the new baby that you want to share with Charles you would say
"Have you heard? It's a girl." with a rising intonation on "heard" and a flat intonation on "girl."
But if you don't know whether the baby is a boy or a girl but you believe Charles does know, you might ask
"Have you heard? It's a girl?" with a rising intonation on both "heard" and "girl."

It is this rising intonation on what are actually statements that is called uptalk.

Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit introduced uptalk to the American popular culture in her 1982 song "Valley Girl" which she performs in the video at the link. There is a lot of uptalk, but note in particular how she enunciates the name of the shopping mall The Galleria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb21lsCQ3EM

I fondly remember when I first heard this song. I mean, gag me with a spoon!

[brogine]

Thanks. Sometimes I’m not quite thinking,
and the first word or thought that comes
to mind just roosts.
“Your other right”. Yes, it’s been addressed
to me. Not long ago, I bought a passenger-
side windshield-wiper blade, when what I
needed was . . . .
But I think the down thing is also heard.
Well, thanks again.

[bbeeton]

There's at least one language that I've tried to learn that voices questions with a downward tone at the end of the sentence. Maybe Greek? (I still remember that in Greek, "yes" sounds like English "no". All I can say for sure about my retention of modern Greek is that if I'm presented with a menu at a restaurant, I will be able to decide what I want to order. First things first.)