Geluykens1988
| Geluykens1988 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Geluykens1988 |
| Author(s) | Ronald Geluykens |
| Title | On the myth of rising intonation in polar questions |
| Editor(s) | |
| Tag(s) | IL, Prosody, Polar Questions |
| Publisher | |
| Year | 1988 |
| Language | |
| City | |
| Month | |
| Journal | Journal of Pragmatics |
| Volume | 12 |
| Number | 4 |
| Pages | 467-485 |
| URL | |
| DOI | |
| ISBN | |
| Organization | |
| Institution | |
| School | |
| Type | |
| Edition | |
| Series | |
| Howpublished | |
| Book title | |
| Chapter | |
Abstract
Using an extensive corpus of conversational data, it is shown that the role of Rising intonation (i.e. Rises, Fall-Rises, and Fall + Rises) in polar questions is overrated. Two types of polar - or 'yes/no' - questions are investigated: Inversion-questions (e.g. Is this a question ?), and Queclara- tires (e.g. This is a question?). In Inversion-questions, though Rising intonation is relatively frequent, the most frequent tone, in absolute terms, is a Fall; moreover, intonation is not used to distingni.qh gemfine !nversion-questions f-,,m inte~ogatives Rhetorical Questions and Requests. In Queclaratives, a Falling intonation contour is by far the most frequent pattern, mostly accompanied by a step-up in pitch in the Head of the Tone Unit. Attention is also paid to the Pitch Range of polar questions, and to Pausal aspects of Question - Answer pairs. In all, the claim that Rising intonation (and, more particul,aly, final Rises) is the 'normal' pattern for polar questions lacks empirical justification.
Notes
