Re: Question about Questions

>From: laokou <laokou@...>
>Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 00:53:21 -0500
>
>From: "H. S. Teoh"
>
> > Mandarin Chinese doesn't raise the pitch at the end of a question
> > (obviously, since it's tonal and the meaning of words would drastically
> > change if the pitch changed).
>
>I would obviously agree that the raising pitch thing doesn't kick in in
>Chinese. However, sticking final interrogative particles on the end of a
>sentence ("ma" in Mandarin or "bo" in Hokkien) does affect the overall
>pitch
>degree of a sentence. In other words, in the following sentences:
>
>Ni3 qu4. "You're going"
>Ni3 qu4 ma? "Are you going?"
>
>"qu4" remains 4th tone, but where they place in the speaker's vocal
>register
>change due to the "ma".
>
>Kou
True, but do you think it's because ma marks a question or because it is
commonly pronounced at such a high pitch causing a compensatory rise in the
pitch of qu4 (or any other word preceeding ma).  Or maybe the two thing are
one and the same.

Adam


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