Re: Question about Questions

Adam wrote:

>>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.
Maybe. "Ma" is traditionally said to be in the "neutral tone",
meaning it has no tone of its own, and where it is realized depends
on the syllable before it. But then , "ba" is also neutral tone, but
the intonation outcomes are different.

Qu4 ma? Are you going?
Qu4 ba. Let's go. Why don't you go.

"ma" is higher and affects the falling intonation of "qu4"; "ba" lets
"qu4" fall all the way and is pronounced low. Actually, now that I
think of it, there is another final particle "ma" which is more often
used by women. It is used to indicate that something is just the way
it and has a plaintive ring to it.

Wo3 bu4 qu4 ma. Bu4 hao3 wan2 ma. Nei4bian1 de fan4 ye3 bu4 hao3 chi1
ma....(ad infinitum, ad nauseum)

<whine> I'm not going. It's no fun. The food there isn't good
either....</whine>.

In this instance "qu4" also falls completely. So although
technically, both ma's are neutral tone, the question "ma" raises
sentence intonation while the latter does not. Does that make sense?

Kou

PS  I did not write my original post two years ago. My home PC still
likes to reset the clock after each use and I forgot to set it to
yesterday before posting. Apologies to the list. You  may want to go
back into early inbox for three posts from me dated Jan.1, 1999.
Sorry Kou

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