A Cross-linguistic Comparison Between Spanish and English Intonation of Interrogatives

Abstract

The following research paper is a preliminary study of the different intonational patterns of English and Spanish Yes or No Questions and WHQuestions. It examines the various elements that might influence the English intonation of interrogative sentences by Spanish native speakers (SNS). It intends to answer: what are differences in the patterns of English and Spanish Questions? Does the L1 (Spanish) influence the intonation of English YNQs? Does the L1 influence the intonation of English WHQs? The results of the analysis of the data are tantamount to that of the results in previous studies. It was demonstrated that there is indeed transfer from L1 – Spanish to L2 – English. To counter-argue the possibility of the results being just a representation of the unmarkedness of the rising pattern in interrogatives, the SNSs intonation was examined more closely. It was found that there is a distinctive pattern in the way the SNS intonates interrogatives according to where the focus or the emphatic word is located in the sentence. When the focus is at the end of the interrogative, there is a steady continuance with no change in pitch in the phrase boundary. This pattern seems characteristic in both types of interrogatives uttered by the SNS and there appears to be a transfer of this form of intonation in the English interrogatives.