Exploration of question intonation in read American English

Abstract

Several generally accepted intonational features of questions in American English have not been the subject of much empirical study: namely that wh-questions end in L-L% phrasal accents, and that their intonational contours are identical to those of declarative sentences, while yes/no questions end in H-H% phrasal accents. The study addresses the following questions about question intonation: How frequently do yes/no questions end in H-H% phrasal tones, and how often do wh-questions end in L-L% phrasal tones? How similar are the intonational contours and features of declarative sentences and wh-questions with phrase-final falls (L-L%)? How do the sentence pitch ranges of yes/no questions, wh-questions, and declarative sentences compare? Does a speaker’s characteristic pitch range affect the character or frequency of occurrence of question phrasal-tones? Speaker and utterance pitch ranges and their relation to prosodic features of pitch accents and phrasal tones were observed in yes/no and in wh-questions, and compared to a sample of simple declarative sentences spoken by the same speakers: 5 female and 3 male American English professional voice talents. The same set of 12 sentences were read by each of the 8 speakers in the same contexts. Theoretical and practical implications of the results will be discussed.