# rising tone (at the end of a question)



## citraperdana

All languages that I'm familiar with or have a passing recognition of invariably use a raising tone at the end of the sentence to indicate a question. Is there any language or culture which does not follow this pattern? Just curious.


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## GEmatt

The first example that springs to mind is Mandarin Chinese.  Tone changes the meaning of words, so instead there are other methods of indicating a question, without resorting to tone.


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## ColdomadeusX

Actually,even if you speak in tones in Mandarin,there is a slight upward lift at the end of a question (just less noticeable since the tonation of words is more pronounced than alot of other languages).


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## jonquiliser

In languages where word order indicates questions, any changes in intonation are much less marked. Swedish among them.


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## GEmatt

Hi ColdomadeusX





ColdomadeusX said:


> Actually,even if you speak in tones in Mandarin,


How do you mean, "even if"? Have tones become optional, all of a sudden?


> there is a slight upward lift at the end of a question (just less noticeable since the tonation of words is more pronounced than alot of other languages).


I've never noticed that; it would be nice to have a native speaker's input, there. But let's say that the last word in your question is of the 'falling tone' variety: how do you combine that with a 'slight upward lift'?


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## nichec

Oh well, guys, I am not going to stand by anyone here 

Yes, indeed the tone raises to indicate a question even in Chinese.

And yes, it's less noticeable than other languages I know, like English and French.

Okay, please don't argue, I am off


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## palomnik

Russian frequently does not have a rising tone at the end of a question.

The difference is that statements generally have a sharply falling intonation, which questions don't have.

And while I'm not a native speaker, I'll vouch for the fact that Mandarin has a slightly higher overall level of intonation at the end of a question than in a statement.  Since in Mandarin unstressed syllables tend to lose their tone, it can allow for this.  Other dialects of Chinese (Cantonese, for example) can't allow for this, since tone is more phonemic than in Mandarin.


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## nichec

citraperdana said:


> All languages that I'm familiar with or have a passing recognition of invariably use a raising tone at the end of the sentence to indicate a question. Is there any language or culture which does not follow this pattern? Just curious.


 
I am actually thinking about Korean.

I tried to learn Japanese and Korean when I was quite young, thinking that it should be easier for me since I speak Chinese (oh, silly me  ) Of course, I didn't manage to learn anything, but I do remember that comparing to Japanese, Korean sounds a lot flatter (or maybe I should say that they sound like they are angry all the time, questioning or not )

But I am no expert on Korean, maybe a native can come along and tell me I am totally, completely, insanely wrong


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## astlanda

Mandarin:
I remember, that the sentence intonation rises even before the end of the sentence.
E.G. ni chifanle ma? = Have you eaten? = the common greeting in China
The sentence intonation starts to rise on 'fan' already. It was obligatory in my Chinese classes in Jinan.

Korean:
The rising intonation is the only question marker of daily speech:
E.G. Hangugmar(eul) jal haseyo. - You (I, they etc.) speak Korean well.
rising: Hangugmar(eul) jal haseyo? - Do you (I, they etc.) speak Korean well?

In Finnic languages the sentence intonation should be descending even in questions.
However it tends to rise in modern Estonian due the German, Russian and English influence.

I think the rise of sentence intonation should be normal in Russian questions as well.

Yet I know, that there are examples (? some Amerind languages of ? Mesoamerica), where the falling tone is the question marker.
I suppose I've read it from the four-volume "Universals of human language" (Greenberg, Ferguson & Moravcsik 1978).


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## astlanda

astlanda said:


> Korean:
> The rising intonation is the only question marker of daily speech:
> E.G. Hangugmar(eul) jal haseyo. - You (I, they etc.) speak Korean well.
> rising: Hangugmar(eul) jal haseyo? - Do you (I, they etc.) speak Korean well?



Sorry, I've made a mistake:
"haseyo" is honorific. so it can't refer to the first person (I or we).

"I speak Korean well." would be "Hangugmar(eul) jal haeyo." or "Hangugmar(eul) jal arayo."

Yet it won't affect the intonation.


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## Dr. Quizá

Indirect questions have no tone change nor graphic signs (¿?) in Spanish. This is probably true for most Indoeuropean languages (at least when spoken).


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## Nanon

astlanda said:


> I think the rise of sentence intonation should be normal in Russian questions as well.



Ahem... any native speakers of Russian here?
I concur with Palomnik: to make a long story short, the standard stress pattern for questions with an interrogative word is a falling tone in Russian, and questions without an interrogative word have a rise on that word (i.e. on what you want to ask about), then a fall if there are any other elements in the sentence. I am summarising this very roughly, I'm afraid.
A few examples:

Fall – questions with interrogative words (IK-2)
_Что__ это?_ What's this?
_Как дела? _How are you doing?  


Rise on the word about which the question is asked (IK-3), then fall if other elements follow

_Вы приехали __*сегодня*__ из Москвы?- Нет, вчера. _Did you arrive *today* from Moscow? No, I arrived yesterday._
Вы приехали сегодня из __*Москвы*__? - Нет, из Киева. _Did you arrive today from *Moscow*? No, I arrived from Kiev.


A full description of the 7 intonation patterns of Russian. In Russian, sorry!


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## jaxlarus

The same thing goes for Greek:

The interrogatives carry the stress:
*Πώς τα κατάφερες; *(How did you manage?)
*Γιατί δεν της το είπες;* (Why didn't you tell her?)

In yes/no questions two things can happen. We either rise on the word the question is about or (b) put that word / phrase at the beginning of a sentence (Greek syntax allows that):
*Το αγόρασε με δικά του χρήματα;* (Did he buy it with his own money?)
*Με δικά του χρήματα το αγόρασε;*


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## Nanon

French has a rise in questions with no interrogative words, when the order of the declarative sentence is maintained. Changing the intonation is a standard way to formulate a question in spoken French. In writing, inversions or "est-ce que" forms are preferred to maintaining the declarative order and just adding a question mark.

Questions with interrogative words begin with a rise on these words, then a fall, except maybe "Qu'est-ce que c'est ?" that is often pronounced with a rise.

A short description of intonation patterns in French (in English and with sound files )

About Russian again, I came across this article on American English contaminating Russian speech (and intonation patterns _inter alia_) in bilingual speakers living in the US.



> The second major instance of interference occurred in yes-no questions. Standard Russian uses IC-3, a sharp rise on the tonic syllable followed by an equally abrupt fall on any posttonic material. The young adult émigrés often substituted a posttonic gradual rise, characteristic of American English.


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## sound shift

In English, questions with a *falling *tone are not at all uncommon. English has grammatical means of differentiating statements from questions.


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## kusurija

Lithuanian usualy raises tone at the end of the sentence to indicate a question, however, if in yes/no type question You forgot a question word "ar", raising tone doesn't help to understand, that it is a question...


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## J.F. de TROYES

astlanda said:


> Mandarin:
> I remember, that the sentence intonation rises even before the end of the sentence.
> E.G. ni chifanle ma? = Have you eaten? = the common greeting in China
> The sentence intonation starts to rise on 'fan' already. It was obligatory in my Chinese classes in Jinan.


 
What about the other way of asking yes/no questions ending in a word with a falling tone as : 
*贵**不**贵 *guì bú guì ? = Is it expensive ? (literally : (expensive not expensive ? )


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## nichec

Oh, this is nice 

I was trying to raise my tone when I said this sentence out loud just now, and it's making me laugh, I sound like some alien coming to invade the earth 

I think you have a very good point here, in some sentences, it's barely noticeable...........................

Hmmmmmm.....I apologize if my post #6 had caused some confusion, especially to* GEmatt*


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## J.F. de TROYES

*South-east Asian languages*

Indonesian *A rising tone* is enough to turn a statement into a question, though it's also possible to use an interrogative word ( as in French ) or suffix : 

Anda bisa bicara bahasa Indonesia ? ( literally :You can speak the Indonesian language ).


All of the other languages, either tonal or not, add a particle or a suffix at the end of the sentence without changing the order of the words :

Khmer (Cambodian ) (not tonal) The final particle *dtay* sounds stressed :

loa(k) cheh niyeeay peesa kmai *dtay *(transliteration) (You can speak the Khmer language + int.suff. )


Burmese (tonal) The suffix *'la* which involves *a falling tone* is added.

bäma zäga 'pyaw-da? thä-'la (transliteration) ( Burmese language- speak-can-int.suff. )

( but Sgaw Karen that belongs to the same family of languages uses a suffix *leh' *or *lo'* with a long rising tone )


Thai (tonal) The particle *m**ái* has a *high tone*, namely pronounced near the top of the vocal range *as level as possible*:

khûn phûut phaasaã ungkrìt daî *mái *(transliteration) ( you-speak-language-English- can-int.suff. )


Lao (tonal) The particle *baw* is *atonal* in itself, but pronounced *long and level* at the middle of the vocal range

*jâo páak pháasaa ankit daî   *(transliteration) ( same meaning )

 
*Vietnamese (tonal)  The atonal particle không ,  sounds  stressed.*

*Ông có nói tiê'**ng ank không *  (same meaning)

Thibetan (tonal) *The not tonal particles  pä ,ngä, kä, sound  stressed.*

*inji-ke shing-gi-yö-pä   *(transliteration)   (same meaning) 

To summarize the interrogative mark either has a pitch differing from a tonal language to another or is stressed or marked when the inter.mark has no tone in itself ( maybe like "*ma*" in Chinese ) or because the language is atonal.


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## mal67

J.F. de TROYES said:


> *South-east Asian languages*
> 
> All of the other languages, either tonal or not, add a particle or a suffix at the end of the sentence without changing the order of the words :
> 
> Khmer (Cambodian ) (not tonal) The final particle *dtay* sounds stressed :
> 
> loa(k) cheh niyeeay peesa kmai *dtay *(transliteration) (You can speak the Khmer language + int.suff. )



Except in spoken / colloquial Khmer the suffix *dtay* can often be omitted and can be replaced by....a rising intonation.

E.g.:

Q: Sok sabai? ([you're] doing well / happy?) (with rising tone) 
A: Sok sabai ([I'm] doing well / happy.) (flat or falling tone for the reply)


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## J.F. de TROYES

Right. I had forgotten this usual phrase !


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## Encolpius

citraperdana said:


> All languages that I'm familiar with or have a passing recognition of invariably use a raising tone at the end of the sentence to indicate a question. Is there any language or culture which does not follow this pattern? Just curious.



*Hungarian *- we use raising-falling tone, so at the end it is *falling*.


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## ilocas2

In Serbian, questions made with particles *li* (behind verb) or *da li* (in front of verb) usually don't have raising tone at the end. These particles are a must (in standard language) in questions on which you can respond yes or no.


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## themadprogramer

Turkish is a bit unique. You can end questions on a rising tone as well as on a super-flat tone (you could think of it like an doubly unstressed syllable. )
(Newer TDK publications say the standart is this super-flat tone but I think both are really common)

Now what I personally find interesting is that our question particle (there are several but I'll just explain the most common one for now) which is mi (equivalent to li or dtay from above) can also take a rising or super-flat tone. 

Oh and it doesn't stop there! "İyisin mi?" (common in speech; deemed - falsely mind you - grammatically incorect in writing) 

İyisin means "You are good/well"
mi as mentioned earlier is what you folks like calling the (a more so then THE) question marker.


This iyisin before the mi can be:
a) Pronounced as if it were a regular sentence with proper stress.
b) Pronounced with a rising tone on the final syllable.
c) Pronounced with a super-flat tone on the finak syllable.


Note: Rising tone vs. super-flat indicates increased doubt. (That is unless you speak a Cypriot dialect or something, never been there but as far as I know there is no super-flat tone. There is only a rising one  [citation needed, no really I want someone who's actually been to Cyprus to confirm this, because most foreigners seem to have difficulty noticing the super-flat tone even exists.] 
That is unless you want to be sarcastic in which case you use the super-flat tone.
"Yağmur yağıyor?" (Is it raining? If you use the super-flat tone even if you and the questionee are partially aware [have some evidence or have outright witnessed it] whether or not it is raining you'll be sarcastic. If however you do this with the rising tone you'll be interpreted as saying "are you sure about that?" you have implied doubt, but not in the rain. You have implied doubt in the questionee presumably after he said it was raining on a day with no clouds in the sky. )
I digress. This deserves its own seperate thread.

Now let's get to why "İyisin mi?" is considered incorrect. Because instead it's preferred to say "İyi misin?" (Shift the -sin to after the mi, they call this a personal suffix and it indicates the person who is being qustioned)

In this case "iyi" and "-sin" can be pronounced according to a,b or c.

mi however can now be pronounced as follows:
a) with the super-flat tone
b) with the rising tone (generally used interchangebaly with d)
c) an MM sound with the i shortened (possible side-effect of emphasising the subject of the sentence)
d) an emphasised tone (adds an element of "are you so sure")
I think there may be a few more outcomes but I think going any further would be too detatailed.
The point is even question particles can receive tone among other things.

But yeah I hope if I've been of any help


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## themadprogramer

GEmatt said:


> The first example that springs to mind is Mandarin Chinese.  Tone changes the meaning of words, so instead there are other methods of indicating a question, without resorting to tone.



For the record 吗 is pronounced with a tone close to the Turkish super-flat tone.

Some people recognise it as a falling tone by the way, though I wouldn't exactly call it that.


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## Testing1234567

GEmatt said:


> it would be nice to have a native speaker's input, there. But let's say that the last word in your question is of the 'falling tone' variety: how do you combine that with a 'slight upward lift'?



In Cantonese we just lift everything upward at the end of a question. For the falling tone case, we let it fall to the bottom, and then raise it to the top.


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## Messquito

In Chinese, raising the overall pitch of the last few syllables also makes it a question.
For example, the tone of 去 in 他沒去。 might be 5>2, but the tone of 去 in 他沒去？ might be 7>4.


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