# Is a \*rising inflection\* when asking a question universal among languages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471 "2024-09-19T14:22:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/1 "2024-09-19T14:22:21Z")
Just that. Would everyone recognize when a question was asked with _rising inflection_ at the end? How widespread is this understood among different languages? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/2 "2024-09-19T14:46:31Z")
There are many counterexamples, e.g. (I’m pretty sure) Basque, so it is not universal by any means. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/3 "2024-09-19T16:19:10Z")
It varies widely among languages. The [Wikipedia article on Intonation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intonation_(linguistics)) has some examples. ---
**Author:** ![Humbagger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Humbagger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humbagger)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/4 "2024-09-19T18:06:33Z")
This question is especially interesting in the context of tonal languages - where the pitch and change in pitch (contour) with which sounds are spoken is an integral part of the way a word is pronounced. The most well know example is Chinese, which knows four tones - flat, rising, falling-rising and falling. However, there are many other languages and tonal systems. According to the answer to [this question on the linguistics stackexchange](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/7151/are-there-tonal-languages-which-use-a-rising-intonation-for-questions) even for many of these languages, a rising inflection can be observed. There are also noted counter-examples. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/5 "2024-09-19T18:16:28Z")
Like once, at bandcamp? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/6 "2024-09-20T00:31:51Z")
How about is it universal in all Indo-European languages? Could it date back to PIE? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/7 "2024-09-20T05:04:55Z")
I can’t help but note one extremely annoying trait of some Australian accents of the last few of decades, where the rising inflection is placed on _every_ sentence. It is particularly present in what we class as [Bogan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan) accents. (He says, with nose firmly held high.) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/8 "2024-09-20T14:12:02Z")
I’ve heard it, but - and this is just an observation - only from women. Apparently it’s also called [UpTalk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_WM-Af5svs). Undoubtedly a learned characteristic. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/9 "2024-09-20T14:50:02Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > It varies widely among languages. The [Wikipedia article on Intonation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intonation_(linguistics)) has some examples. Thanks. Great place to start looking further into this. > [@DPRK](#): > > There are many counterexamples, e.g. (I’m pretty sure) Basque, so it is not universal by any means. I assumed there would be exceptions. So what intonation would a Basque speaker use when asking a question, if any? > [@Humbagger](#): > > According to the answer to [this question on the linguistics stackexchange](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/7151/are-there-tonal-languages-which-use-a-rising-intonation-for-questions) > even for many of these languages, a rising inflection can be observed. There are also noted counter-example More information that is useful. Thank you. I got to pondering this question because I’ve been watching a lot of undubbed Godzilla movies and the new Shogun mini-series. They have subtitles but I noticed without looking at the subtitles I can get a fairly good sense of a conversation sometimes. Barely an individual word that I recognize, yet something useful about the conversation comes across. And questions are detectable. Not quite as easily as in English, but there’s clearly something about the way they are spoken that I can pick up on. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/10 "2024-09-20T15:19:47Z")
Thai is a tonal language. So altering a word to have “rising inflection” normally just yields a different word. _However_ the rising==question seems built in to some words! /mai/ with a falling tone means “not” but /mai/ with a rising tone is added to a sentence to make it a question. [And despite very different spelling and pronunciation, wiktionary implies that the latter word is derived eymologically from the former.](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A1) Women append the particle /kha/ to sentences to show politeness. But that particle has at least two forms: a falling tone is used to show agreement; common tone to show doubt or ask a question. The word for “near” is the same as the word for “far” except that it has a falling tone. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/11 "2024-09-20T20:58:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I assumed there would be exceptions. So what intonation would a Basque speaker use when asking a question, if any? [This source](https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/languages/languages-05-00070/article_deploy/languages-05-00070-v2.pdf?version=1608281094) states that information-seeking yes/no questions in Basque end in a falling or rising-falling circumflex contour. [This link](https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article/154/4_supplement/A40/2923652/The-intonation-of-Wh-questions-in-two-Basque) concerning question sentences appears to say the intonation is usually falling but can vary in specific varieties of Basque, sometimes changing to rising or mid-rising, but the presentation itself is not visible in my browser for some reason. It would be better to seek clarification from posters on this board who are actually fluent in Basque 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/12 "2024-09-20T21:13:50Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Like once, at bandcamp? > **[High rising terminal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_rising_terminal)** > > The high rising terminal (HRT), also known as rising inflection, upspeak, uptalk, or high rising intonation (HRI), is a feature of some variants of English where declarative sentences can end with a rising pitch similar to that typically found in yes–no questions. HRT has been claimed to be especially common among younger speakers and women, though its exact sociolinguistic implications are an ongoing subject of research. > Empirically, one report proposes that HRT in American English and Australi... Unclear how it arose. But insecurity resulting in every sentence sounding like a question is a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/13 "2024-09-21T00:56:46Z")
Be aware, by the way, that only certain types of questions end with a rising intonation in English, for instance yes/no questions. Questions about a choice often have a rising then falling intonation. For example, “Do you want the beef or the chicken for dinner?” ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/14 "2024-09-21T02:18:56Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I’ve heard it, but - and this is just an observation - only from women. Apparently it’s also called [UpTalk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_WM-Af5svs). Undoubtedly a learned characteristic. On the show _On Patrol Live_, whenever they are in CA it sounds like every single Hispanic male speaks this way. The cops included. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rising-inflection-when-asking-a-question-universal-among-languages/1007471/15 "2024-09-21T02:41:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Would everyone recognize when a question was asked with _rising inflection_ at the end? What’s kind of amazing is that some of our basic assumptions about universals in human communications aren’t. Even something as ingrained to most of us as nodding the head for yes and shaking for no isn’t universal.