Comment on Why do all languages share the same intonation for questions?

• ABCDE@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  What’s your name? How old are you? Where are you from?

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  • otp@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    They seem to have a rise-drop, at least when I say them.

    “How old are you?” is interesting because the rise is on the third-last word (“old”). But “How old is your daughter?” has the rise in the first syllable of daughter.

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    • Deconceptualist@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      That’s just emphasis. You can tell because you can shift it to another word.

      • What’s your name? (more pointed)
      • How old are you? (as if it’s now suddenly important)
      • What are you from? (maybe the person has an unusual accent)
      • Where are you from? (more pointed)

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      • Nibodhika@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Switching the emphasis on one word can completely change the meaning of a phrase, there’s one example I love: "I never said she stole his money"

        • I never said she stole his money (someone else did)
        • I never said she stole his money (absolutely not true)
        • I never said she stole his money (I wrote it down)
        • I never said she stole his money (it was someone else)
        • I never said she stole his money (she might have just borrowed it)
        • I never said she stole his money (it was someone else’s)
        • I never said she stole his money (she stole something else)

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      • otp@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        But the default stress towards the end of the question is what makes it a question.

        You can move the stress to another word for emphasis on yes-no questions, too, similarly removing the “rising intonation” that makes a question.

        E.g., “Do you want any cheese^?” vs. “Do you WANT any cheese?” (Falling intonation after “want”)

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      • Botzo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        I wonder if it’s more because we frame the question by altering the structure to indicate the appropriate response.

        We could just as well ask “you are from where?” Or “your name is what?” That matches the expected sentence structure of a response, and the natural pitch rises.

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    • PrimeErective@startrek.website ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I’m totally with you. I think it is somewhat speaker dependent, but that is how I would say those questions.

      What’s your NAme

      How OLD (are you)?

      Where are you FROm?

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      • lvxferre@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Do you really pronounce those with a higher pitch? Or do you pronounce them louder?

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      • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        You would never say

        "What’s YOUR name?

        “How old are YOU?”

        “Where ARE you from?”

        ?

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• spankmonkey@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  This clip has Arnold asking questions without the rising tone while the kids mostly use the rising tone.

  “Who is my daddy and what does he do?” actually seems to drop a little bit.

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  • PrimeErective@startrek.website ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I guess in this example, “who is your daddy?” Is the main question, which has a somewhat flat intonation, but contrasted to the emphasis in the second half of the sentence, it feels like a rise

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