The Question Intonation in Assertions

Abstract

A DIALECT CAN BE distinguished not only by differences in vocabulary, inflectional endings, syntax, and pronunciation of consonants and vowels, but also by suprasegmental features-often the most neglected, but often perhaps one of the most crucial and telling differences. Although the question intonational contour in declarative replies seems to be a salient feature of many speakers in the southern United Statesboth male AND female-this speech trait has been identified and analyzed by such a linguist as Robin Lakoff (1975) as a general tendency mostly in women of our country to show deference or politeness to male addressees, in particular, so that blunt assertions can be made to seem tentative, thus giving male listeners an opportunity to deny the request being made, the opinion posited, or the validity of the statement that is expressed. Lakoff, moreover, considers tag questions (He can work, can't he? and He is honest, isn't he?) as declaratives-assertions-explaining in detail how they indicate the powerlessness of women and their consequent need to mitigate their assertions by being indirect and less forthright than men, their supposed superiors (pp. 14-18, 52-58, 63-66). The subject of my study, the intonational contour in declarative phrases or statements without tag questions, is touched upon by Lakoff-though briefly (p. 16)-as a device used by females for the same purpose: the avoidance of explicit assertions to avoid a strong commitment to an idea or opinion and to prevent conflict with men by showing deference to their male addressees. Similarly, Mary Ritchie Key in Male/ Female Language speaks about investigators who say that women use non-final intonational patterns of uncertainty and indefinitenessraised, weak syllables (pp. 72-3). However, the examples quoted as non-final are either really true questions expressed in declarative word order (He's coming when?) or not of the question intonational pattern. An in-depth analysis of question intonations in assertions of both sexes is warranted because even nonlinguists recognize that Southerners often use a rising intonation at the end of phrases or clauses when making replies. The popular writer Terry Southern in his 1963 Esquire article Twirling at Ole cites how parts of a reply from a female baton twirler at Ole Miss sounded more like questions-a typical Southern speech idiosyncrasy, he says-when he asked her whether her costume was an advantage in her work. She said: