| Based on the experiments and analysis, this study mainly examed the intonations of echo question influenced by the stressed position of focus in Chinese, by calculating the range of pitch and the duration of pronunciation.The results of this study partly support the findings of previous studies by others. Meanwhile, the author found that the positions of focus influenced the curves of intonation in echo questions. In Head-focusing echo interrogative sentences, the intonation curve turned into a sharp falling right after the stressed syllable; In Middle-focusing echo interrogative sentences, the intonation curve is in a shape like a peak, with the beginning part of the curve is a little higher than the ending part. By comparing the interrogative and assertive sentences with the same Head-focusing or Middle-focusing positions, the author argued that the sentence-ending intonation has the same tendency in both interrogative and assertive ones, by changing the position of information focus from sentence end to the stressed word(s).By the comparison of native Chinese speakers and Thai students, the author found that Thai students cannot allocate the position of stressed focus correctly. Without any exception, they stressed the tone of sentence-ending syllable to express the interrogative intonation, and their durations of the stressed focus are in a free pattern without any obvious regularity in length.The author also provided some useful suggestions for the instruction of Chinese phonetics, especially for the instruction of Chinese intonation. |
