ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2024
ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2024

Prosodic realization of rhetorical and information-seeking questions in Persian

Mortaza Taheri-Ardali, Tina Ghaemi, Tina Bögel, Bettina Braun

This paper investigates the prosodic realization of rhetorical questions (RQs) in comparison to information-seeking questions (ISQs) in Persian, an Iranian language. In a lab setting, we recorded polar questions (word order: S-O-V) and wh-questions (word order: wh-O-V) in information‑seeking and rhetorical contexts. We then analyzed constituent durations, voice quality (breathy, modal, glottalized), and the intonational realization. The results showed that all constituents, except the verb in wh‑questions, were significantly lengthened in RQs compared to ISQs. Furthermore, RQs were more often realized with breathy voice quality than ISQs. Intonationally, RQs had lower f0-values than ISQs, in particular towards the end of the questions. This was caused by phonological differences: Polar questions, which were primarily realized with high or downstepped high boundary tones (H%, !H%), differed significantly in whether there was an accent on the verb (ISQ) or not (RQ). In wh-questions, in which the object and the verb were typically deaccented, differed in boundary tone: wh-RQs most often had L% boundary tones and wh-ISQs !H%. The results for Persian align with findings for other, typologically different, languages. Furthermore, they provide data that have not been discussed for Persian yet (e.g., !H% in wh-questions).