More than 70 per cent of bosses claim that the rising trend among Britons - especially teenagers - of adding inflections to the ends of sentences is ‘particularly annoying.’
While almost 85 per cent said that when non-Australian people use this language trait it is a 'clear indicator of insecurity’ and could hinder their chances of a promotion or payrise。
The language trait is known as a high-rising terminal (HRT)， commonly referred to as ‘Australian Question Intonation’ (AQI)。
这种语言特征被称为“高声结尾(HRT)”，通常理解为“澳大利亚式语调(AQI)”。
It is the act of raising a voice at the end of a sentence that makes the statement sound like a question and is common in Australian and American accents。
According to UK publisher Pearson, the use of AQI has recently grown rapidly among teenagers and graduates in the UK。
根据英国出版商皮尔森统计，澳大利亚式语调的使用率近来在英国的青少年和大学毕业生之间急剧上升。
The firm surveyed 700 men and women in managerial, executive and ownership roles。
其采访调查了700名公司的管理层，执行层及公司所有者。
More than half said AQI would hinder the prospects of promotion and a better pay grade in their own organisation。
超过半数的人认为在他们自己的组织机构中的使用澳大利亚式语调会阻碍晋升加薪的前景。
While 57 per cent believed AQI has the potential to damage a person's professional credibility by revealing an inability or reluctance to speak their mind。
57%的人觉得澳大利亚式语调可能会让人感觉此人没有能力或勉强说自己的想法，进而影响其专业信赖度。
Of the respondents responsible for interviewing job applicants for senior roles, only 16 per cent said they would be willing to gloss over AQI and focus purely on an applicant's strengths and aptitude。
In some cases, 44 per cent of respondents admitted they would mark down an applicant by as much as a third based purely on the candidate's irritating speech。
However, this was only found to be the case when a British applicant used AQI, and didn’t apply when Australian or American people naturally spoke in that way。
但是，这种情况只发生在使用澳大利亚式语调的英国人身上，对正常说话的澳大利亚人和美国人则不会有影响。
Author Harry Key, a voice techniques expert, said: ‘HRT is becoming increasingly common in the UK - especially among teenagers - but the results of this research suggest that using it in a business or workplace setting is definitely to be avoided.’