Re: Question about Questions

> That got me wondering what such an interrogative intonation would sound
> like...  all languages I've come in contact with so far raise the pitch
> of the voice towards the end of the sentence.  Is that some sort of
> global constant of human communication or just another IEism?  What
> other ways are there in the langs of the world?
It's not even an IEism.  In Romanian, a yes/no question is indicated by
rising tone at the end of the sentence, as you said, but a different type
of question has *falling* tone.

Actually, there are other more subtle things about Romanian intonation
that were really difficult for me to cope with when I went there.  For
some reason, their intonation patterns often resemble those used in
English for perjorative sentences, so I thought I was being insulted when
I was really being asked a perfectly polite question.

The Yivríndi, though, don't use intonation for questions.  They use a
prefix ko- on the verb, just as Obrenje did.

Jesse S. Bangs     Pelíran
jaspax@ juno.com
"There is enough light for those that desire only to see, and enough
darkness for those of a contrary disposition."  --Blaise Pascal