I could be wrong here, but it seems to me that a common aspect amongst all languages is the tendency to raise the pitch of your voice slightly when asking a question. Especially at the end of a question sentence.

If I’m wrong about this raised pitch being common amongst all languages, at the very least do all languages change their tone slightly to indicate that a question is being asked?

I guess there needs to be some way to indicate what is and isn’t a question. Perhaps a higher pitched voice reflects uncertainty. Is this something deep rooted in humans, or just an arbitrary choice when language developed?

  • ABCDE@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    English doesn’t even go up at the end of sentences for all questions, just yes or no ones.

        • otp@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month 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.

          • Deconceptualist@lemm.ee
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            1 month 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 of concern)
            • Where are you from? (maybe the person has an unusual accent)
            • Where are you from? (more pointed)
            • How old is your daughter? (shifting from discussing someone else’s daughter)
            • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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              1 month 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)
            • Botzo@lemmy.world
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              1 month 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.

            • otp@sh.itjust.works
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              1 month 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”)

          • PrimeErective@startrek.website
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            1 month 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?

            • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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              1 month ago

              You would never say

              "What’s YOUR name?

              “How old are YOU?”

              “Where ARE you from?”

              ?

              • PrimeErective@startrek.website
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                1 month 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.

        • PrimeErective@startrek.website
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          1 month ago

          I guess in this example, “who is your daddy?” Is the main question, which has a somewhat flat intonation, but contrasted to the emphasis in the second half of the sentence, it feels like a rise

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Russian does, because the rising intonation is the only thing that differentiates a statement from a question in many cases. Eg “You a good driver.” Vs “You a good driver?” Both are grammatically correct, and only the intonation makes it a question.

      Vietnamese doesn’t really rise at the end of the question unless that’s the way the last word is anyway. Some questions end with a low sound. Some questions are evident by a small word cluster (sounds like “Fai La”) after the subject but before the object that basically mean “this is a question and not a statement.” Or “I’m asking not telling”

  • friend_of_satan@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Vietnamese doesn’t. The rising tone that you hear at the end of an English language question can change the literal meaning of a word in Vietnamese.

      • friend_of_satan@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        They append the word “no” to the statement.

        “How are you?” Is “you’re good, no?” But the word “no” does not have a rising tone.

        Tonal languages are hard for non-tonal language speakers to pick up because of this. On the flip side, it can be tough for tonal language speakers to grasp the tonal inflections in English, and sometimes speak like robots before they understand how to use them.

  • Object@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    Semi-related question since people have shown counterexample for OP’s question: Are there English sentences where the tone goes up at the end, but is not a question? It feels like that particular tone is exclusive for questions.

      • unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz
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        1 month ago

        That’s a sexist stereotype, but it’s true for anyone feeling really unsure about their statement. You don’t even have to change the note at the end of the sentence. Could just trail off… or add a whole new half sentence like "thoughts? "

  • orcrist@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    Your second question has a general answer. Most languages use tones, which means tones change in the course of a sentence. If the tone changes for all sentences, then it also changes for questions. I know that’s not what you were trying to ask, but that’s the answer to the question you did ask.

    If you need a way to indicate that something is a question, you could do what English does… You could use question words at the beginning of the sentence. You could change word order. You could add extra words… Which is to say, you’re not dependent on intonation, though you could use it if you want to.