Fall-rising tones in questions

The Fall-Rise tone can variously indicate: – Doubt / Uncertainty – Politeness (especially in requests, suggestions and contradicting statements) —–> Curiosity / Interest / Engagement (mainly in questions) —–> Intimacy / Gentleness / Friendliness —–> Encouragement / Motivation – A sub-clause which is about to be followed by a main clause. – That a statement or question is leading to a concluding statement or question. – That something hidden or secret or unknown is being revealed or discovered.

• The Fall-Rise tone can variously indicate: – Doubt / Uncertainty – Politeness (especially in requests, suggestions and contradicting statements) —–> Curiosity / Interest / Engagement (mainly in questions) —–> Intimacy / Gentleness / Friendliness —–> Encouragement / Motivation – A sub-clause which is about to be followed by a main clause. – That a statement or question is leading to a concluding statement or question. – That something hidden or secret or unknown is being revealed or discovered.

However, not all of these are used alone – that is to say, a number of the functions in the above list only happen when the Fall-Rise tone is leading into a subsequent tone unit.

• However, not all of these are used alone – that is to say, a number of the functions in the above list only happen when the Fall-Rise tone is leading into a subsequent tone unit.
• To begin with, we’ll stick to instances and examples of where the Fall-Rise tone occurs by itself, with nothing following it. We’ll come back to joined-up intonation later…
• The first aspect of the Fall-Rise tone to examine is its function in Yes / No Questions. In an earlier post, I wrote about the Rising tone and its function in such closed questions, and the Fall-Rise tone function stands in contrast to the Rising tone function. Where the Rising tone signifies a Yes / No Question to which you expect an answer, the Fall-Rise tone signifies a Yes / No Question where an answer is not expected, merely requested.