It probably wouldn't work with the natural intonation of a question due to it being so subtle, but it could work with instructions to the user to speak a certain way.

You'd speak your sentence in monotone as in "Are you going to the..." then when you say "party" you break it into two parts, one being a lower register, the second being higher. "Par-" (low) "-tee" (high) The software hears this two register input of a word and puts a question mark after it.

Yes, it might sound silly but it would save having to stop using your speech input device to add punctuation by hand which is sillier.
-- doctorremulac3, Aug 16 2014

uptalk origins discussion http://languagelog....nn.edu/nll/?p=13982
[calum, Aug 17 2014]

Australian English has a sub-set with a lot of rising intonation, not necessarily questions....
-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 16 2014


The trend in North American English has been to flatten the ends of questions, as a kind of constant bludgeon of obvious over indifferent.
-- 4and20, Aug 17 2014


Or you could stop asking questions altogether. It's a bad habit, and new inventions are required to accommodate them apparently.

Are you going to the party?
Tell me if you're going to the party.

Who is your friend?
Tell me who your friend is.

What is his name?
Tell me his name.

Where did you meet him?
Tell me where you met him.

Why do you like him?
Tell me why you like him.

Easy.
-- rcarty, Aug 17 2014


Wow that's... actually pretty clever and simple.

Sounds a bit rude though. You could add please to the beginning I suppose.
-- doctorremulac3, Aug 17 2014


[doctorremulac3] I would guess that the whole practice of using questions is to empower the answerer and to make the questioner sound small like a mouse or something, to not raise defense.

Interesting phenomena 'uptalk'. I postulate as society has developed into information and knowledge based economies, this new age has brought about a greater culture of inquisitiveness, but also of uncertainty that is reflected in the rising intonation. So even statements are delivered with a characteristic uncertainty, as questions are naturally, not to suggest simple stupidity, but to elicit more information.
-- rcarty, Aug 17 2014


Funnily enough the importance of being able to do the intonation on words in English is always..well...stressed... in EFL training...and I actually believed it until I remembered Prof. Hawking...

Alternatively make every sentence end in a tag question. We used to have "Tag Question Thursday" in Nishiari, didn't we? But that's obvious, isn't it?...and so on.

Agh, "low to a high register" erm, that might get confused with the other "register", the one where we tend to talk back using the same level of formality/informality..
-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 17 2014


//So even statements are delivered with a characteristic uncertainty, as questions are naturally, not to suggest simple stupidity, but to elicit more information.//

I find it odd that in some dialects in this country statements are made with an upswing of the last word as if to day "Do you understand what I just said?"

I know it's probably easiest to just say "question mark" but I'm still not used to that. Plus it takes a fraction of a second and time is money.
-- doctorremulac3, Aug 17 2014



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