Intonation of Questions in Greek

As research conducted in Greek intonation has been limited, and even more so as regards question intonation, the purpose of this study is to serve as starting point for further research and contribute to the development of intonation theories for the Greek language. In order to examine intonation patterns, Greek questions are divided in Y/N and Wh- questions, which are in turn divided into sub-categories: Y/N questions are described with respect to whether they are stressed on the last, penultimate, or antepenultimate syllable, as well as whether they are positive or negative. Wh- questions are divided into the categories of simple curiosity or predisposition. The data analyzed consist of the recorded speech of a native Greek speaker, who was asked to read questions belonging to each category. The analysis includes the production of waveforms and pitch contours, the identification of pitch accents and boundary tones in the contours, and subsequently the identification of intonation patterns for each question category. Finally, the notion of intended meaning is discussed, and it is demonstrated that intended meaning and emotions may affect the intonation of questions.

Autorentext

Maria Karra is from Thessaloniki, Greece. She studied aerospace engineering, translation, and applied linguistics with a focus on language acquisition and phonetics. She combines her love for engineering and languages in her work as a technical translator (see http://www.fresneltranslations.com) and instructor of Greek. She lives in Florida, USA.