Re: Question about Questions
| From: | Roger Mills <romilly@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, September 17, 2001, 4:47 |
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Jesse Bangs wrote:
>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.
From your reaction, it sounds like it might be similar to (proper) Spanish
intonation, level through the phrase with a drop at the end after the
stressed syllable. Basically, 2......2 1. As opposed to Engl. 2........3
1. To us, the Span. sounds bored, tired or dismissive. When we speak Span.
with Engl intonation, it sounds angry or over-excited to them. Intonation
is hell to learn.
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