Conlang: Re: Conpunct (lucasso, Dec 9 '98, 13:41)

>lucasso wrote: > >>i like spanish use of exclamation and question mark, at the >>beginning and at >>the end of sentence... >>you know how to intone the sentence when you start reading it, >>not like in >>the rest european scripts, when reading long sentence you >>suddenly realize >>that all that you've read... > >Actually, in defense of other European languages, this isn't really >a problem in English (and many of the Germanic languages - I'm not >sure about other IE languages). The unmarked intonation in English >is that of a level head and a falling nucleus ('h`n). This is >normally used in statements, in imperatives, and in wh- questions >(i.e., questions beginning with the words why, where, when, what, >which etc.). You can verify this by reading the sentences below in a >neutral way and observing the intonation contour which you use: > > statements: 'h`n > 'The shops are `open. > WH questions: 'h`n > 'What is your `name? > Imperatives: 'h`n > Just 'go wash your `face! > `Sit! -> (the head is not necessary in this example) > >In these types of sentences, intonation is the unmarked 'h`n type. >The English reader would generally already know beforehand what the >intonation of these sentence types would be. Even in WH- sentences, >the English reader would know that s/he is reading a WH- question >just by seeing the first word. Yet, WH- questions generally still >have the same 'h`n intonation of normal statements and imperatives. >

From:	lucasso <lucasso@...>
Date:	Wednesday, December 9, 1998, 13:41