An Experimental Study On Chinese EFL Learners’ Intonation Pattern Of English Alternative Questions

Intonation is both a necessary suprasegmental information and a complex phonetic phenomenon co-existing in various languages.It can indicate prosodic units,deliver information content,express voice,reflect pragmatic effects,and convey emotions.The importance of intonation in language is self-evident,making the researches of intonation emerge endlessly.As one of the interrogative sentences,English alternative questions often appear in expressions.However,the researches on intonation acquisition of English alternative questions through acoustic experiment is still lacking.Based on the acoustic experiments and intonation pattern theory,this research analyzes the intonation phenomenons of Chinese EFL learners’ in acquiring English alternative questions.Specifically,Chinese EFL learners’ sentence range tables,undulating scales figures,lengthening rate figures and energy ratio figures are produced to show the experiment results.Then the results are compared with the corresponding data of native speakers’ so as to find out Chinese EFL learners’ intonation errors in acquiring English alternative questions.Furthermore,this research is expected to provide important empirical evidence for future studies of language types and language acquisition.This research tries to answer the following two questions:1.What are Chinese EFL learners’ intonation features in the acquisition of English alternative questions in terms of pitch,length and intensity.2.What are the factors that cause Chinese EFL learners’ intonation errors in their acquiring English alternative questions?The results show Chinese EFL learners’ characteristics in acquiring English alternative questions.First,in terms of pitch,Chinese EFL learners tend to put the interrogative tone at the end of a sentence.Within the element(“A or B”)that is stressed(“A” and “B” stand for two options in English alternative questions),the second option“B” takes more interrogative tone than the first option “A”.Second,in terms of length,Chinese EFL learners’ tone of content words and function words are both prolonged.Within the element that is stressed(“A or B”),the extension of the second option “B” is more prominent.Last,in the aspect of intensity,Chinese EFL learners have the awareness of reducing the volume of function words,but the effect is not as obvious as native speakers’.There are two main causes leading to Chinese EFL learners’ intonation errors in their acquiring English alternative questions.One reason is the effect of native language,and the other is the fixed teaching thoughts and methods.On the one hand,most of the Chinese interrogative tones focus on the end of sentences,leading learners to make the interrogative tone of English alternative questions at the end of sentence as well.Besides,Chinese is a language of syllables and rhythms.Two adjacent characters are pronounced at the same interval and rhythm,so Chinese EFL learners’ intonation is lack of cadence and rhythm.Moreover,Chinese EFL learners have no clear distinction between stressed and weak sounds in pronouncing.On the other hand,English teachers are used to having students read the text in unison in English classes.Thus,students have to prolong their tone to keep in line with other students,which result in the problem of excessive intonation extension.