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

• 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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      • PrimeErective@startrek.website ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        The first two have emphasis that imply something different than a simple question. Like you are asking a bunch of people individually, and you are directing each question at a specific person.

        The last one would maybe be like, if the person did something weird, and you were sarcastically asking where the are from, to imply that they were raised by wolves, or something like that.

        Point being, yes, you can ask like that, but it has different connotations than a simple question, which I think is where you would use the rising intonation.

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