Intonation when asking questions in English

Hey everyone, sorry I only posted once last week but I was a little busy at work. Actually, yesterday a student asked me an interesting question about the proper intonation when using echo questions in English. We had all heard different things from different teachers and books, so we found it hard to agree what was correct intonation: rising or falling. I felt that there was no real rule and it depended on the speaker.

So, when I came home I decided to do some research. What I discovered was I was right! ^^
In English, intonation when asking questions is different for EVERY dialect!!!

That means there is NO 100% correct way to use intonation. It will be a little different depending on if the speaker is American, British, Scottish, Irish, Australian, etc. It will also change depending on the MEANING of the question.

OK, so here are some general rules for North American English:

There are two kinds of questions:

1- Yes/No questions (Do you like beer?)

These usually have rising intonation.

2- Wh questions (Who What Where When Why or How)

These usually have a falling intonation.

Alternative questions like "Are you going to go, OR are you staying here?"

The part before the OR rises but after OR it falls.

TAG questions(ex: ~,did you?)

These use a falling intonation when you want to strengthen a statement and don't really need an answer.

This restaurant is terrible, isn't it?

When you want an answer, are asking for information or want someone to do something you use rising intonation.

You're coming to the party, aren't you?

Here is a bit more info from wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question)

Sometimes the rising tag goes with the positive to positive pattern to create a confrontational effect:

He was the best in the class, was he?
(rising: the speaker doesn't believe this, or perhaps is surprised by it)

He was the best in the class, wasn't he?
(falling: the speaker believes this)

Be careful, will you?
(rising: expresses irritation)

Take care, won't you?
(falling: expresses concern)

Sometimes the same words may have different patterns depending on the situation or meaning:

You don't remember my name, do you? (rising: surprised)

You don't remember my name, do you? (falling: thinks it is funny)

Your name's Mary, isn't it? (rising: isn't sure)

Your name's Mary, isn't it? (falling: is sure)

The all-purpose tag question from London, innit (for "isn't it") is ONLY used with falling patterns:

He doesn't know what he's doing, innit?

BUT, the adverbial tag questions (alright? OK? etc.) are ALWAYS found with rising patterns!

By changing the intonation you can change the meaning!

I hope this helps!

Phil

P.S. Check out this link for more information: http://www.orlapubs.com/AL/L78.html

And this one for a printable worksheet: http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/elt/products/file8-2.pdf

To read a 27 page paper about intonation in the UK:
http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/~esther/Grabe_et_al.pdf