Abstract
This paper examines the intonation systems of content and yes-no questions in Cinyambwa, a dialect of Cigogo Bantu language (G.11 in Guthrie’s classification). The study investigates the intonation patterns of different questions to show how content questions are differentiated from yes-no questions prosodically. The study was conducted in Makutopora village, Manyoni district, Singida region, Tanzania. Data were obtained from a sample of four (4) Cinyambwa speakers who were purposely selected. Elicitation was used as a data collection method with the aid of a sentence list, interviews, and picture-based tasks as data collection instruments. The study was guided by the autosegmental-metrical theory. The findings reveal that in Cinyambwa, yes-no and content questions are differentiated prosodically using intonation. It was also revealed that Cinyambwa yes-no questions have pitch register expansion, while content questions have pitch register compression. This study concludes that intonation in Cinyambwa plays a crucial role in communicating information, and understanding the intention of the speaker
Recommended Citation
Kiruya, Maulid and Goodness, Devet
(2025)
"The Intonation of Questions in the Cinyambwa Dialect of Cigogo Language,"
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences: Vol. 14
:
No.
1
, Article 2.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.56279/z80zkb51
Publication Date
6-11-2025
DOI
10.56279/z80zkb51