# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/41 "2012-05-03T04:52:23Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > 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! I thought languages were supposed to change and evolve over time? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/42 "2012-05-03T05:09:24Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > 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! Well, “rising intonation = question” is a well established convention in spoken English. It seems to me that NOT recognizing it is something relatively new. And, yes, written dialog may indicate it by placing a question mark on the grammatically declarative sentence to convey the speaker’s intent. ---
**Author:** ![spqrobert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@spqrobert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spqrobert)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/43 "2012-08-16T19:54:19Z")
> [@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”. I’ve noticed this phenomenon, too. I think it has to do with the emphasis on written tests in the US school system. I remember in my elementary school the teachers absolutely forbade the students from speaking to each other and ran their classrooms more like military barracks than the training ground for citizens in a free society. I remember very well taking fill-in-the-blank tests on SMALL TALK, like, “How are you?” or “Is it raining outside?” without any opportunity to actually practice it. I also remember notes from my teachers like, “Do this in your free time, not on the school’s time” when I would eschew filling in the blanks and write something freely. And I went to school just before it was common to have a personal computer, AND before No Child Left Behind, which, from what I’ve read, has only increased the use of written tests. I always remember elementary school accusingly when I meet these tone-deaf people, who are the majority of people in the US in my experience. I am so sure the main reason is the school system that whenever I hear a politician criticizing the teachers’ unions I vote for them. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/44 "2012-08-18T08:15:01Z")
> [@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. Greek is similar. At the end of a question, the pitch goes up, then down. ---
**Author:** ![Freakenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b782af/32.png) [@Freakenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freakenstein)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/45 "2012-08-19T16:34:42Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > Most of the time it’s not used in Finnish, but I could imagine it being used when offering something and asking if you want some, as in “Bread?” or “Water?”. In My experience it’s been used seldom and only in one word sentences making the whole word higher than in normal speech ( and You gotta raise Your eyebrows ). If the tone slides up, it’s only in questions like ‘Whaaaaattt?!?!?!?!?’ ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/46 "2012-08-19T17:25:58Z")
Ever notice how a dog or cat will tilt their head just like a human when they are wondering about something? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/47 "2012-08-19T17:57:42Z")
> [@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_ Or the English _huh_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-tone-of-voice-used-in-english-to-ask-a-question-present-in-all-languages/620362/48 "2012-08-21T14:32:42Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > 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. I’ve always thought that using ha’im was a more forceful thing, absolutely declaring the whole sentence is a question. Sort of like a lawyer asking a witness “is it the case that…?” [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=2)