2.2.3. Intonational phrase
The Intonational Phrase is the prosodic constituent which interacts with the meaning of a sentence. Yes-no questions and wh-questions form an Intonational Phrase. There is a common non-manual marker responsible for the question type. This common non-manual marker is the Head (Tilt) Position which is used as a head forward (ht-f) in yes-no questions and head backward (ht-b) in wh-questions [Syntax 1.2.]
ht-f
hn-s
remember
(Int. Phra.)
'Do you remember?'
(adapted from Göksel and Kelepir 2013a: 12)
ht-b
hs
law law what there_ıs what
(Intonational Phrase )
What kind of legislation is there?
(adapter from Göksel and Kelepir 2013a: 12)
A chin-down (or head nod) is used in a polar question to indicate a focused [Pragmatics - 4.1.] constituent. The combination of a yes/no question marker and focus marker provides, in a combinatorial manner, the narrow focus, what the question is about, in a polar question as below. The position of eyebrows is a domain marker, while the chin-down is an edge marker occurring at the end of the intonational phrase.
cd
re
score as take/consıder
(Intonational Phrase )
'Do you consider it a score?'
(Gökgöz and Arık 2011: 70)
The right edge of a declarative sentence [Syntax - 1.1.] is prosodically marked, too. In the following example, a combination of the edge markers eye-blink and single head nod occur at the right edge of the declarative sentence which here corresponds to an Intonational Phrase in prosody.
eb eb
hn-s
palm-up ugly duck baby for palm-up
(Intonational Phrase............................................................................................................................................)
'(It is) about the ugly duckling.'
Above, the right edge of the Intonational Phrase is more heavily marked with a blink and a single head nod than the left edge which only includes a blink as an edge marker.
The type of an embedded sentence, which forms a distinct Intonational Phrase, is marked by non-manual markers depending on the type of the embedding verb. For example, the ASK-type verbs require the question intonation in the embedded clause [Syntax - 3.3.]. There are three Intonational Phrases below. The edges of the first and the third intonational phrases are marked with head nod and the entire domain of the Intonational Phrase in-between is marked by head-backward (ht-b) which accompanies ASK-type verbs.
re
ht-b
hn hs hn
xxxa ıx3a yyyb aaskb [ıx1 where work] aaskb
(Intonational Phrase ) (Intonational Phrase ) (Int. Ph.)
'X asks Y where I work.'
(adapted from Hakgüder 2015a: 94)