While most of the research literature and most of the media reports on uptalk have focused on varieties of English, uptalk has featured in discussion of other languages. A frequent theme in much of this discussion is whether uptalk intonation patterns have arisen through the influence of English, either through contact in bi- or multilingual settings, or via the global impact of English-language media, especially through television and film.

Germanic languages

Peters (2007) discusses uptalk in German through the example of politician and industrialist Franz Müntefering, with further illustration using material from the satirical television show ‘Münte’, featuring imitations of Müntefering by broadcaster Harald Wehmeier. Peters presents analyses of speeches from Müntefering (125 intonation units) and from eight other leading German politicians (three female, five male, with a total of just over 1,000 intonation units), as well as from an interview with Müntefering (22 intonation units), together with extracts from the Münte television programme (48 intonation units). In the politician's speech the function of uptalk is claimed to be to secure the floor (which might seem odd in the context of a political speech), but the possibility is also entertained that it indicates insecurity. In the satire, uptalk contributes to the identification of the object of the satire by means of exaggerated stereotype. Peters’ detailed analysis of the uptalk instances shows that Müntefering typically steps up to a high accent and keeps his voice pitch high till the end of the intonation unit, as in Figure 9.1. The pitch accent in this example is on the third syllable of informelle and the high pitch is held to the end of the intonation unit, a feature that also seems to be quite strong in the speech of two of the three female politicians analysed. On the other hand, Wehmeier's caricature of Müntefering uses rises from a low accent, either L* H0% in Peters’ system for northern standard German (Peters, 2005), or an exaggerated ‘double rise’ contour with a rising pitch accent and a high boundary tone, transcribed as L* HH%.