Conversation started Mar 5, 2012 at 11:33.
RegDwight Ѭſ道
RegDwight Ѭſ道
Mar 5, 2012 11:33
2
Q: Rules for rising and falling intonation in similar questions - what are they?

Edd TurnerConsider these two questions: Would you mind saying a little bit more about that? and What do you mean by that? When they perform the same function, and I expect an answer to both, why does the first have a falling intonation and the second one which rises? My group of learners are a...

expressions questions
How does the first have a falling intonation?
It doesn't for me.
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
@RegDwightѬſ道 for me it is flat
RegDwight Ѭſ道
RegDwight Ѭſ道
I can rise the voice at the end as well.
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
Yes, I can fit that in too
RegDwight Ѭſ道
RegDwight Ѭſ道
So a) that and b) what's the question here anyway?
Why should a language not allow to ask questions in a whole number of ways?
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
the question is "why is the intonation different between these semantically similar questions?"
RegDwight Ѭſ道
RegDwight Ѭſ道
Mar 5, 2012 11:38
Because they are not similar at all syntactically.
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
maybe Edd's mother tongue asks all semantically similar questions with the same intonation?
RegDwight Ѭſ道
RegDwight Ѭſ道
I highly doubt that.
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
yeah, me too
RegDwight Ѭſ道
RegDwight Ѭſ道
Besides, the title seems to be asking for "rules".
That's not really useful at all.
You don't learn rules before you start asking questions as a child.
You first start asking questions, and then, perhaps, you learn some rules. A decade later.
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
or you raise your intonation when making statements shakes fist at Australia
RegDwight Ѭſ道
RegDwight Ѭſ道
Mar 5, 2012 11:40
Yeah.
Matt Эллен
Matt Эллен
so the question seems unanswerable, in so far as intonation is not based on the meaning of the question so there is no reason based on that
RegDwight Ѭſ道
RegDwight Ѭſ道
It's a bit like asking, why are "car" and "automobile" pronounced differently though they are semantically similar, and what are the general rules for pronouncing synonyms.
 
Conversation ended Mar 5, 2012 at 11:42.