English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
Tip 17
Category:
Intonation
Author: JAM
Wh-questions
Questions beginning with what, when, where, which, who, whom, whose, why and how often have a falling tone on an important word (often near the end of the question). Imagine that you have just told me that you are going on holiday next week. I might say:
However, if the speaker is checking that he or she has heard something correctly or is very surprised at some information that they have just heard, the question may start rising on the wh word and continue to rise throughout. Imagine that you have just told me that you are going to the North Pole next week. I might say:
In the diagrams the horizontal lines represent the upper and lower limits of the speaker's pitch range. The large circles represent stressed syllables and the small ones unstressed syllables.