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Question intonation patterns in Nigerian English

  • Folajimi Oyebola and Warsa Melles
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New Englishes, New Methods
This chapter is in the book New Englishes, New Methods

Abstract

This study investigates the intonation patterns in wh-questions and yes/no-questions used by educated Nigerian speakers of English. It examines the possible influence of gender, ethnicity, and question type on the prosodic marking of questions. Audio recordings taken from the Nigerian component of the International Corpus of English were annotated in Praat using the tones and breaks indices transcription convention. The results show that there are similar intonation patterns among Nigerian speakers. Both wh-questions and yes/no-questions tend to start with a level tone; while wh-questions end mostly with a falling tone, yes/no-questions end either with a falling or a rising tone. The results demonstrate that whereas gender has no significant effect, both ethnicity and question type significantly influence intonation patterns.

Abstract

This study investigates the intonation patterns in wh-questions and yes/no-questions used by educated Nigerian speakers of English. It examines the possible influence of gender, ethnicity, and question type on the prosodic marking of questions. Audio recordings taken from the Nigerian component of the International Corpus of English were annotated in Praat using the tones and breaks indices transcription convention. The results show that there are similar intonation patterns among Nigerian speakers. Both wh-questions and yes/no-questions tend to start with a level tone; while wh-questions end mostly with a falling tone, yes/no-questions end either with a falling or a rising tone. The results demonstrate that whereas gender has no significant effect, both ethnicity and question type significantly influence intonation patterns.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. New Englishes new methods 1
  5. Part I. Corpora
  6. Verbal past inflection in Nigerian English 16
  7. Functions of code-switching in online registers of Pakistani English 42
  8. New Englishes and Conversation Analysis 65
  9. Creole and power 84
  10. Part II. Phonetics and phonology
  11. Question intonation patterns in Nigerian English 108
  12. Analysing the speech rhythm of New Englishes 132
  13. Part III. Language attitudes
  14. Acceptability Judgement Tasks in New Englishes research 158
  15. Mixed methods in the mapping of accent perceptions in Indian varieties of English 178
  16. Mapping perceptions in New Englishes 201
  17. Part IV. Ethnography
  18. Understanding, collecting, and presenting data in New Englishes research 222
  19. Complicating the field 243
  20. Conclusion 263
  21. Index 275
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g68.06oye

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. New Englishes new methods 1
  5. Part I. Corpora
  6. Verbal past inflection in Nigerian English 16
  7. Functions of code-switching in online registers of Pakistani English 42
  8. New Englishes and Conversation Analysis 65
  9. Creole and power 84
  10. Part II. Phonetics and phonology
  11. Question intonation patterns in Nigerian English 108
  12. Analysing the speech rhythm of New Englishes 132
  13. Part III. Language attitudes
  14. Acceptability Judgement Tasks in New Englishes research 158
  15. Mixed methods in the mapping of accent perceptions in Indian varieties of English 178
  16. Mapping perceptions in New Englishes 201
  17. Part IV. Ethnography
  18. Understanding, collecting, and presenting data in New Englishes research 222
  19. Complicating the field 243
  20. Conclusion 263
  21. Index 275
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