# Is the tone of voice used in English to ask a question present in all languages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362 "2012-04-29T22:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/21 "2012-04-30T11:13:13Z")
In Norwegian you have to change the word order. Tone is insufficient. “Det regner ute!” “Regner det ute?” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/22 "2012-04-30T11:23:38Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Thanks . . . and thanks for the link (which links to some other interesting ones). > > Part of the motivation for my question (assuming it was answered in the affirmative, plus/minus a few exceptions) was to then ask: where does the phenomenon come from? Are our human language centres ‘hard-wired’ to understand the changed intonation (and to use it in the first place)? In fact, I think dogs may possess something similar (‘You want to go the park’ ==\> no response vs ‘You want to go the park?’ ==\> hysterical jumping and running on the spot scratching the hell out of the floor) Good question. But might dogs be smart enough to learn the proper response to a rising intonation, just as humans (in an appropriate linguistic community) do? That is, the dog test might not be enough to settle the “nature” vs. “nurture” aspect. But if you can show me that an overwhelming percentage of more-or-less independent languages (let’s say, separated at least by Indo-Euro-level clades) do use rising tone for interrogatives, then we might have some basis to suspect “nature”. But, lots of evidence among responses in this thread to imply that this is NOT the case. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/23 "2012-04-30T11:46:32Z")
I have heard that in Russian, when asking a question, the rising intonation is in the middle of the sentence, and the latter part is lower. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/24 "2012-04-30T12:14:02Z")
(In traditional English, “Why are you going?” doesn’t rise in tone, while “Are you going?” does. The former already contains a question word.) In Thai, statements are turned into yes/no questions by appending a word or phrase like the equivalants of “or not”, “or”, or, most commonly, ไหม . The words “or” and “not” have respectively rising and falling tone. But the most common questioning word, ไหม, has rising tone. That word transliterates as _mai_, just as does the word for “not”, ไม่. The only difference is the tone. I’ve wondered if the word ไหม, (meaning “or not?”) evolved by tone-shift from ไม่ (“not”). Women append the polite word ค่ะ (_kha_, falling tone) to answers, and the word ค๊ะ (_kha_, rising tone) to questions. Lacking any expertise I can only guess that this may conform to OP’s hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/25 "2012-04-30T14:20:22Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > …and British _wot_ I thought the British used “innit” for questions. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/26 "2012-04-30T14:22:02Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > i do that too. it would be interesting to know if monolingual Chinese do not do that. They don’t. Chinese use tones as part of the pronunciation. If you said “ma” with a rising tone, you probably wouldn’t be understood. With the wrong tones, it’s impossible to order pijiu (beer) in a bar – I’ve tried. ☹ Many times I don’t know something is a question unless I hear “ma” at the end, or there’s another question word. For what it’s worth, not all questions in Mandarin (maybe most questions?) don’t end with “ma”; instead there’s another interrogatory word in the sentence that makes it a question. “Ni shi na ge ren?” Basically, “what’s your nationality?” shows (a) my bad understanding of tones because I _do_ know how to type them, and (b) that “na” is the question word, not “ma” at the end. As for rising tones in English denoting questions, one of the characteristics that will mark you as being from southern Ontario (Canada) is your tendency to finish declaratory sentences with a rising, question-like tone. It’s not the “aboot” or the “hoose” or the “Chesterfield” that gives it away; it’s sounding like you’re asking questions all the time! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/27 "2012-04-30T14:43:15Z")
> [@naita](#): > > “Det regner ute!” > “Regner det ute?” Yeah, well so’s yer mom. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/28 "2012-04-30T19:36:58Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > To me at least, “uptalk” does not sound the same as asking a question. I find it odd that some people describe it as such. Agreed. Also, without any context, “It’s raining outside?” doesn’t make any sense as a question. It would only make sense if it was, say, confirming implied rain. In which case there would be much less ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/29 "2012-04-30T20:30:56Z")
Fulfulde, a west African language, does not. Fulfulde uses “na” as a question word (along with the equivalents of who, what, where, when, how and why). The “na” is usually fairly flat. In fact, it sounds a lot like the mandarin “ma”. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/30 "2012-04-30T21:55:11Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Many languages use enclitic particles to signal a question, instead of intonation. > > Classical Arabic uses the prefixes _a_- or _hal_ in front of a declarative phrase to make it a question. > > The other interrogative particles I know of come after the phrase: > Japanese _ka_ > Malay _ka_ > Mandarin Chinese _ma_ > Turkish _mi_ Persian uses the auxiliary word “_aayaa_” at the beginning of yes-no type questions (_aayaa fardaa miravi_ / Are you going tomorrow?). ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/31 "2012-05-02T03:02:52Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > They don’t. Chinese use tones as part of the pronunciation. If you said “ma” with a rising tone, you probably wouldn’t be understood. With the wrong tones, it’s impossible to order pijiu (beer) in a bar – I’ve tried. ☹ > > Many times I don’t know something is a question unless I hear “ma” at the end, or there’s another question word. For what it’s worth, not all questions in Mandarin (maybe most questions?) don’t end with “ma”; instead there’s another interrogatory word in the sentence that makes it a question. “Ni shi na ge ren?” Basically, “what’s your nationality?” shows (a) my bad understanding of tones because I _do_ know how to type them, and (b) that “na” is the question word, not “ma” at the end. > > … i don’t use ‘ma’ with a rising tone. i could use the rising tone with ‘pijiu?’ while proffering a beer to a friend. while i would not phrase it this way (or even use the interrogative), i _could_ ask, “ni zhe li you mei you mai pijiu?” with a rising tone. i think you meant to type, “ni shi na guo ren?”. otherwise you’ll be asking, “Are you that man?” as for other interrogative words, here are a few: who - shui when - ji shi why - wei shen me what - shen me how - zen me where - na li ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/32 "2012-05-02T12:10:32Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > i think you meant to type, “ni shi na guo ren?”. otherwise you’ll be asking, “Are you that man?” Oops, yup! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/33 "2012-05-02T12:28:08Z")
In Hebrew, it’s possible and normal to ask a question by inflection - _yored geshem_ in a flat tone: “it’s raining”; _yored geshem?_ with a rising tone at the end: “Is it raining?” It’s also possible to build a question using an initial _ha’im_ - _ha’im yored geshem_, where the end of the last word may or may not rise, is clearly a question. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/34 "2012-05-02T12:37:51Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Persian uses the auxiliary word “_aayaa_” at the beginning of yes-no type questions (_aayaa fardaa miravi_ / Are you going tomorrow?). We do that in English too: _aayaa going tomorrow?_ ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/35 "2012-05-02T12:41:55Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > (In traditional English, “Why are you going?” doesn’t rise in tone, while “Are you going?” does. Right–only a yes-no question follows the pattern which the OP is taking about, but the OP seem to imply that that is the only intonation pattern for asking a question in English. Also, consider the following: _Do you want coffee or tea?_ This can be asked with two different intonation patterns, which have two completely different meanings. If you ask this question without any fall in intonation, it simply asks the interlocutor whether s/he wants something to drink, providing two possibilities. If you ask the question with a sharp falling intonation on the word _tea_, then the question implies that the interlocutor must chose between coffee or tea, (and cannot, for example, have both). There actually are three very different general intonation patterns in English for asking a question. Also, there are a variety of ways to stress and intone non-yes-no questions to illicit specific information. The very fact that a dialect of English such as Yiddish-influenced English employs specific question intonation patterns (non-syntactic questions, related to what **Noone Special** mentions above.) more than other dialects should answer the OPs questions pretty clearly. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/36 "2012-05-02T14:47:22Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > . . . but the OP seem to imply that that is the only intonation pattern for asking a question in English. I hope that’s not how people have been taking it, because I didn’t mean in that way. My point (and statement) was merely that “in English, we can make virtually any statement into a question by changing the way we say and emphasize the words.” ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/37 "2012-05-02T17:28:10Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > I have heard that in Russian, when asking a question, the rising intonation is in the middle of the sentence, and the latter part is lower. Where you put the intonation depends on what you’re emphasizing in the question. So if you ask (and damn me for not having Cyrillic here) “Gdye moi slon?”, with the tone on the “gdye”, you’re asking “Where is my elephant?” But if you put the tone on “moi,” it becomes “Where is my elephant (as opposed to all of these other elephants that aren’t mine)?” Also, the tone itself is different–it’s more of a rising-falling thing. Sounds sort of indignant. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/38 "2012-05-02T18:10:28Z")
Had also meant to say that there’s a particle (li) that can be used to indicate a yes-no question, in which case I don’t believe the intonation needs to change. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/39 "2012-05-02T21:34:31Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > I hope that’s not how people have been taking it, because I didn’t mean in that way. My point (and statement) was merely that “in English, we can make virtually any statement into a question by changing the way we say and emphasize the words.” Okay, I see. It was the follow-up (“Are our human language centres ‘hard-wired’ to understand the changed intonation”), because the implication is that intonation is “hard-wired” specifically to indicate interrogation. But we can see from the many tonal languages, where it’s a semantic marker, that there’s nothing specifically interrogative about it for the human brain. Obviously tone is something that all (developmentally normal) humans perceive. It’s just one of the many contours human uitilize to shape the sounds they produce. I think, from everything I’ve seen, that universalities in language are more about what language does, rather than how language does it. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/40 "2012-05-03T04:32:40Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Hell, it doesn’t work in ENGLISH as well as it used to. > > It seems to me that I used to be able to ask questions this way reliably. These days, “It’s raining outside?” turned into a question by intonation is likely to get you a response like “Well that’s OK. I have an umbrella”, to which you have to amplify with “No, I’m asking. Is it raining outside?” > > See a phenomenon called “uptalk” or “high rising terminal”: > > [High rising terminal - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_rising_terminal) > > I don’t know if that bears any of the responsibility, or if something else is making people “intonation deaf”. This phenomenon annoys the Hell out of me. “I thought you were going to bring it” is a declarative statement and should end in a period. “I thought you were going to bring it?” Is still a declarative statement, with improper punctuation. Even when the voice goes up at the end to signify a question, the words still make a declarative statement. Declarative statements should not yield answers! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362.md?page=3)