An Anatomy of Dutch Question Intonation

Abstract

In recent years, the formal elements of Dutch Intonation have been laid down in two comprehensive models ('t Hart, Collier and Cohen 1990, Gussenhoven andRietveld 1992). With these two formal models at our disposal, the stage seems set for further explorations, notably of the relationship between form and function. The present study focused on acoustic correlates of a major functional contrast', viz. the contrast between declarativity and interrogativity, two functions featuring prominently in everyday communication. Generally speaking, declarative utterances are used for making announcements, relating events, stating conclusions and so on. By contrast, interrogative utterances make a direct appeal to a listener for a reply. While declarative utterances usually have the most basic form of clause available in a language, interrogativity may be marked by special syntactic and/or lexical means, in particular by Inversion of subject and finite verb or by the presence of a question word. These, however, are by no means the sole indicators of the contrast between declarativity and interrogativity. It is assumed that Intonation, also, plays an important role, notably in interrogative utterances lacking the lexico/syntactic devices of interrogativity ('declarative questions'). Thus, if Dutch interrogativity has intonational characteristics of its own, it seems plausible for such characteristics to be stronger äs lexico/ syntactic marking for interrogativity is weaker.For the purpose of our research, declarativity and interrogativity are seen äs forming a continuum, with Statements (S) at one extreme end, and declarative questions (D) at the other; in between are the wh-questions (W, marked both by question word and Inversion) and yes/no questions (Y, marked by Inversion only). Our objectives were (i) to determine to what extent the acoustic properties of interrogativity· are different from those of declarativity, and (ii) to pinpoint possible acoustic differences among the question types themselves. Also, we wished to ascertain to what extent such acoustic characteristics still need to be incorporated into the two formal models of Dutch Intonation mentioned above. Question Intonation across languages.Crosslinguistically, question Intonation has always been strongly associated with a local terminal rise in pitch. In a medieval text from Münster, monks were instructed in Latin to raise their pitch at question marks when reciting the written texts of liturgical prayers (cf. Hadding-Koch 1961).

Intonation and Evidentiality in Spanish Polar Interrogatives

“…Similarly, we should also expect that the grammatical features encoded by intonation in a language can be encoded by different means in different languages (cf. Haan, 2002). These, and other related issues, will require further research.…”

Do Persian Native Speakers Prosodically Mark Wh-in-situ Questions?

“…The reported differences in the pitch height between wh-in-situ questions and declaratives agree with what has been reported earlier for yes-no questions without the question word "aya" in Persian as well as for interrogatives in different languages: (i) a higher F0 onset (Benkirane, 1998;Hermann, 1942;Haan, 2001;Iivonen, 1998); (ii) a higher F0 offset (Haan, 2001); (iii) a raised level of pitch register (Bolinger, 1982;Geluykens, 1986;Hermann, 1942;Haan, 2001;Haan et al, 1997;Inkelas & Leben, 1990;Lindsey, 1985;Sadat Tehrani, 2008; (iv) less declination (Haan, 2001;Haan et al, 1997;Thorsen, 1980;Vaissière, 1983); and (v) a greater excursion size of the pitch accents associated with the pre-wh words (Haan, 2001;Haan et al, 1997;Sadat Tehrani, 2008. These findings also support the general claim that a greater pitch height in questions can be regarded as a universal feature of languages (Hermann, 1942).…”

“…We further expect both the pre-and post-wh parts to be characterized by (i) a shorter duration (Jorrisen, 2014;Lindsey, 1985;Van Heuven & Van Zanten, 2005;Yang et al, 2016 September) and (ii) a raised level of pitch register. Based on the general trend of F0 in questions reported in Haan (2001), Haan et al (1997), Thorsen (1980) and Vaissière (1983), less declination is predicted for the pre-wh part. However, based on the de-accentuation that is reported for the post-wh part in different languages, including Persian (Mahjani, 2003;Sadat Tehrani, 2008, a steeper declination is expected for the post-wh part.…”

“…On the basis of the findings of previous studies on the prosody of interrogatives in different languages, we expect wh-questions to be prosodically marked by global prosodic features of (i) less declination (Haan, 2001;Haan et al, 1997;Sadat Tehrani, 2011;Thorsen, 1980;Vaissière, 1983), (ii) a raised level of pitch register (Bolinger, 1982;Gluykens, 1985;Haan, 2001;Haan et al, 1997;Hermann, 1942;Inkelas & Leben, 1990;Lindsey, 1985;Sadat Tehrani, 2011), and (iii) a shorter duration (Jorrisen, 2014;Lindsey, 1985;Van Heuven & Van Zanten, 2005), and local prosodic features of (i) a higher F0 onset (Benkirane, 1998;Haan, 2001;Hermann, 1942;Iivonen, 1998), and (ii) a higher F0 offset (Haan, 2001), in the absence of the interrogativity marker in sentence-initial position. A greater excursion size of the pitch accents is expected to be associated with the pre-wh words in wh-questions according to Haan's (2001) and Haan et al's (1997) study on Dutch declarative questions and Sadat Tehrani's (2008Tehrani's ( , 2011 qualitative report on Persian yes-no questions.…”

St’át'imcets intonation contours: a preliminary study

“…Under this hypothesis, a biological predisposition associating high pitch with uncertainty or submissiveness has been universally grammaticalized to associate interrogativity with raised pitch 20 . This is often taken to mean a final pitch rise, as found in languages like English and Dutch (Caspers 1998), but can also be interpreted more broadly as Q = H: Questions have higher pitch (than declaratives) (Haan 2002).…”