Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[juliete]

Q1: Are the following sentences, S1 and S2, ever read with the falling intonation?
If the answer is yes, what nuance or meaning does the falling intonation give to the sentences?

S1: Is this an apple?
S2: Do you have some money?

Q2: Are the following sentences, S3 and S4, ever read with the rising intonation?
If the answer is yes, what nuance or meaning does the rising intonation give to the sentences?

S3: Who's he?
S4: How does she know that?

Best wishes.

[CP]

All four sentences would ordinarily be spoken with rising intonation.

I can think of situations where a falling intonation might be used, but they would not be the normal way to ask these questions.

S1: The police interrogator has asked the suspect 12 times whether the knife is his knife, and the suspect keeps saying, "I don't know what that is." So the interrogator says, "Is this a knife or is this an apple?" Rising intonation on knife, falling on apple.

S4: Fred tells Joe that Sally said that Joe wears women's underwear. Joe exclaims, "How does SHE know that?" Rising intonation on she, falling intonatino on that.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Jintii]

Actually, I disagree that all 4 are ordinarily spoken with rising intonation.

I do agree that the first two generally use rising intonation. The only instances I can think of in which I'd use falling intonation would be after asking the question with rising intonation several times first. Another example, to add to CP's, could be:

I ask you several times if you have any money. Each time, you make a joke instead of answering me. Finally, I get annoyed and demand, "DO YOU have some money?" The last syllable of money falls.


But the last two sentences generally use falling intonation, to my ear. If I see someone chatting with a friend of mine, and I ask, "Who's he?", my intonation falls at the end.

When would I use rising intonation? Well, maybe to express incredulity and emphasis. For example:

A and B see a third person walking towards them. A says, "Who's he?" (normal falling intonation). B says, "Who's HE? (rising intonation expressing surprise and emphasis on he) That's not a man; that's a woman!"

[Lorikeet]

I use a falling intonation with question-word questions, so "How does she know that?" would fit into that category.

Suppose we are talking about Mary, whose parents own a magnificent mansion. You don't know about Mary's parents. As we pass by the mansion, tell you that Mary said the mansion is worth 8 million dollars. You say, "How does she know that?" with regular falling intonation. I repeat the question, rather increduously, because I thought you knew it was her parents' place. I say, "How does she know that?" with rising intonation to indicate surprise, "Why, her parents own it!"

[juliete]

Hi CP

Thanks for you kind and deatailed reply.
I undestand well and agree with you.

Could I ask a little more?
I'd like to know the intonation at the end of the single sentence, not that in the middle of the sentence and not that of a complex sentence.

For example, in case of 'How does SHE know that?,' I'd like to know if you use rising intonation at 'that.' I'd also like to know what nuance or meaning the falling intonation give to the sentence.

In case of 'Is this a knife or is this an apple?' I'd like to change the sentence into 'Is this an apple?' and know if you use falling intonation at
the end of the sentence. I'd also like to know what nuance or meaning the falling intonation give to the sentence.

Thanks!

[juliete]

Hi JIntii

Thanks for your kind and detailed reply.
I undestand well.

The opposite intonation, falling intonation in S1 and S2 and rising intonation in S3 and S4, shows strong anger, surprise, incredulity, denial, and so on, right?

Thanks!

[juliete]

Hi Lorikeet

Thanks for your kind and detailed reply.
I understand well.

The opposite intonation, rising intonation in S3 and S4, shows strong incredulousness, surprise, and so on, right?

Thanks!

[CP]

Consider every sentence as a little song with its own melody. We make up the melody as we speak the sentence, but we can change the melody to change the meaning. Every syllable has its pitch, which we could write out in musical notation or something like musical notation.

Let's use numbers for the different pitches. Call the lowest pitch of the sentence 1, the next highest 2, and so on. Okay? [1-2] Okay. [2-1]

S1: Is this an apple? [1-1-1-2-3] would be the way I would usually ask the question, with rising intonation. British people might say it [1-1-1-3-2], hence falling intonation, but most Americans would say [1-1-1-2-3].

If I saw a strange fruit and someone called it an apple, I might say, "Is THIS an apple?" [1-2-2-2-2], with "this" loudest word. If I were really incredulous, I might ask it, "Is this an APPLE?" [1-2-1-3-4]

S2: Do you have some money? [1-1-1-1-2-3] would be the usual way to say it. Again, in British English, I think you would hear [1-1-1-1-3-2], because they seem to like to put the highest pitch on the next-to-last syllable. Think of Austin Powers's famous line, "Do I make you h o r n y?"
[1-1-1-1-3-2]

S3: Who's he? [1-2]. I think most people would say "he" in a higher pitch, although not always at higher volume, than "Who's". However, the "he" is not a single note, but slides lower as the word is spoken. The pitch remains higher than for "Who's," but it does slur down. Let's indicate that with >: Who's he? [1-2>]

S4: How does she know that? [1-1-1-3-2] emphasizes my curiosity about how she gained the knowledge.

How does she know that? [1-1-1-2-3>] emphasizes my curiosity about how she gained that particular piece of information.

How does she know that? [1-1-3-2-2] emphasizes my curiosity about how she in particular learned the information -- I didn't expect her to know that.

How does she know that? [2-1-1-1-1] might be the way I say it after I received an answer but didn't find out the way she learned the information.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[juliete]

Hello CP

Thanks for your very, very detailed reply.
And thaks for your numeral-> musical notes. They sound so clear, light, and comfortable. They sound as if you're talking to me in my room and as if they are 'a little song with its own melody.'

"Is THIS an apple?" [1-2-2-2-2] is so easy to catch for me and helped me a lot to understand the meaning and nuance. The other examples are also the same.

I think I understand very well.
Thanks a lot again!

[CP]

You're very welcome. [2-3-4-3-1]
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb