TAG QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH: LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND POSSIBLE PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
******************



BÙI THỊ NGỌC TUYỀN


TAG QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH:
LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND
POSSIBLE PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Câu hỏi tách biệt trong tiếng Anh:
Đặc điểm ngôn ngữ học và các ứng dụng sư phạm khả hữu

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 02 01

HANOI- 2014



VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
******************

BÙI THỊ NGỌC TUYỀN


TAG QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH:
LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND
POSSIBLE PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Câu hỏi tách biệt trong tiếng Anh:
Đặc điểm ngôn ngữ học và các ứng dụng sư phạm khả hữu

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 02 01
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Võ Đại Quang



HANOI- 2014
i

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
TAG QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH: LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND POSSIBLE
PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
( Câu hỏi tách biệt trong Tiếng Anh: Đặc điểm ngôn ngữ học và các ứng dụng sư
phạm khả hữu)
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA in English

Linguistics.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used
without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.

Hanoi, 2014


Bùi Thị Ngọc Tuyền










ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from
a number of people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Võ Đại Quang, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported
me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and
suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher.
I am grateful to the lecturers of M.A course for their valuable lectures from
which I have had such a great motivation and benefited a lot in writing this thesis.
My sincere thanks also go to all my colleagues and students at Tran Phu

High School for their assistance during the process of collecting data for my
research work.
Last but not least, special words of thanks are sent to my beloved family for
their encouragement and their sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfilment of this
academic work.








iii

ABSTRACT

Tag question is a special type of questions in English, which is frequently
used by native speakers in daily conversations. However, students at Tran Phu High
School, Quang Ninh Province usually make mistakes in using this grammatical
structure so they cannot communicate successfully. This thesis is an attempt to help
students master the nature of tag questions and become more confident in using
them. In this thesis, the following points have been raised: the most relevant factors
involving a tag question such as notions of tag questions, polarity, operators,
intonation. Syntactic and semantic features of tag questions are also clearly
presented. Besides, a study on students‟ mistakes in using tag questions is provided.
The data were collected among 90 eleventh grade students at Tran Phu high school
by means of questionnaires. The findings highlighted students‟ categories of
mistakes including structural mistakes and intonation-related mistakes. Through the
findings, the author has also tried to find out the causes of the mistakes and suggests

some possible solutions in order to help students avoid committing these types of
mistakes.












iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Certificate of originality i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of tables vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Aims of the study 1
3. Objectives of the study 2
4. Research questions 2
5. Scope of the study 2
6. Significance of the study 2

7. Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1 : LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. Review of previous works related to the theme of this research 4
1.2. Review of theoretical background 5
1.2.1. English questions 5
1.2.1.1. Definition of questions 5
1.2.1.2. Classification of English questions 6
1.2.1.3. Definitions of English tag questions 7
1.2.2. Operators 7
1.2.2.1. Operators for Negation 8
1.2.2.2. Operators for Interrogation 9
1.2.2.3. Operators for Emphasis 9
1.2.3. Polarity 10
1.2.3.1. Definition of polarity 10
1.2.3.2. Polarity in tag questions 11
1.2.3.2.1. Opposite Polarity Tag Questions 11
1.2.3.2.2. Same Polarity Tag Questions 13
v

1.2.4. Intonation 14
1.2.4.1. Definition of intonation 14
1.2.4.2. Types of English intonation 15
1.2.4.2.1. The falling tune ( The Glide- down) 15
1.2.4.2.2. The first rising tune ( The Glide-up) 16
1.2.4.2.3. The second rising tune ( The Take –off) 17
1.2.4.2.4. The falling- rising tune (The Dive) 17
1.2.4.3. Functions of intonation 18
1.2.4.3.1. Attitudinal function 18
1.2.4.3.2. Accentual function 18

1.2.4.3.3. Grammatical function 19
1.2.4.3.4. Discourse function 19
1.3. Summary 19
Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 20
2.1. Research-governing orientations 20
2.1.1 Research questions revisited 20
2.1.2. Research setting 20
2.2. Research methods 21
2.2.1. Participants of the research 21
2.2.2. Research Instrument – Questionnaire 21
2.2.2.1.Principles for questionnaire formulation 21
2.2.2.2. Structure and purposes of questionnaire 21
2.2.3. Data collection procedures 22
2.2.4. Data analysis techniques 23
2.3. Summary 23
Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 24
3.1. The linguistic features of tag questions 24
3.1.1. Syntactic features of tag questions. 24
3.1.2. Semantic features of tag questions 25
3.1.3. Other types of tags 26
3.1.3.1. Tags with imperatives 27
3.1.3.2. Tags with exclamative sentences 27
vi

3.1.3.3. Echo tags 28
3.1.3.4. Invariant tags 28
3.2. Common mistakes made by students when using tag questions. 29
3.2.1 Structural mistakes 30
3.2.1.1. Wrong use of operators 31
3.2.1.2. Wrong use of pronouns 31

3.2.1.3. Wrong use of polarity 31
3.2.2. Intonation-related mistakes 32
3.2.3. Other mistakes 33
3.3. The causes of students‟ mistakes in using tag questions 34
3.3.1. Teaching methods and learning materials 34
3.3.2. Students‟ poor competence and performance 34
3.4. Solutions to the problems 35
3.4.1. Solutions for teachers 35
3.4.2. Solutions for students 35
3.5. Pedagogical implications in teaching tag questions 36
3.6. Summary 38
PART C – CONCLUSION 39
1. Recapitulation 39
2. Conclusions 39
3. Limitations and suggestion for further study 41
REFERENCES 42
BIBLIOGRAPHY 44
APPENDIX I







vii


LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: The number and percentage of each category of mistakes

Table 2: Number and percentage of structural mistakes
Table 3: Number and percentage of intonation- related mistakes


1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Tag question in English is a special type of questions which frequently appear in
daily conversations by native speakers. Tag questions have a complex structure and
diversity of meaning. During the time of teaching English at Tran Phu High School,
I have had a hard time correcting students‟ errors and mistakes. Most of these
common errors and mistakes center round linguistic features of this question type.
Moreover, I find that most of the students get confused when answering a tag
question. They can answer the question, for instance, “Do you live near here?”
without any difficulties. Nevertheless, it is not easy for them to answer such
questions as “You live near here, don‟t you?” or “ You don‟t live near here, do
you?” Also, in many situations during English lessons, I receive the same answer
for one tag question which is said with different patterns of tunes (rising or falling).
Obviously, my students are unaware of the role of intonation in functions of tag
questions.
These students‟ errors and mistakes in using tag questions have, therefore, urged
me to choose this topic as the theme for my M.A. thesis in English language. I hope
that this research -Tag questions in English: linguistic features and possible
pedagogical implications- can serve as a contribution to teaching and learning
English. Suggestions and pedagogical implications of this study can be utilized to
aid teachers and students in the process of instruction as well as learning a second
language.
2. Aims of the study
This thesis is an attempt to help learners of English in general and students at Tran

Phu high school in particular gain an insight into tag questions in English, and on
this basis, improvement can be made in using English tag questions.

2

3. Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study are to :
i. examine the linguistic features of tag questions in English in detail
ii. expose some common mistakes made by the 11
th
grade students at Tran
Phu High School
iii. present some possible solutions to the problems encountered by teachers
and students in teaching and learning tag questions
4. Research questions
The objectives of the study can be elaborated into these research questions:
i. What are the linguistic features of English tag questions?
ii. What categories of mistakes do the students at Tran Phu high school
often make in using tag questions?
iii. What should be done to help improve the students' skill in using and
understanding English tag questions?
5. Scope of the study
The study is focused on English tag questions in terms of structural and
semantic features. Another focus of the thesis is categorization of the errors and
mistakes committed by students at Tran Phu high school, Quang Ninh Province.
6. Significance of the study
Theoretically, this thesis is an attempt to bring about a systematic account of
major linguistic features of tag questions in English, which might, to the possible
extent depending specified purposes, serve as theoretical basis for applications into
other researches for practical purposes.

Practically, to some certain extent, this thesis results would help English
teachers tackle problems related to errors and mistakes likely to be committed by
Vietnamese learners of English when using tag questions.
3

7. Design of the study
This study is divided into three main parts:
- Part 1 is the Introduction of the study. It includes the rationale for choosing
the topic, the aims, the objectives, the scope, the methods and design of the
study.
- Part 2 is the Development which contains three chapters, in which Chapter 1
provides readers with some theoretical background on English questions and tag
questions in general, the operators and their functions in English question in
brief, the polarity, the intonation and the basic tune shapes of intonation. Chapter
2 is mainly focused on the categorization of mistakes made by Vietnamese
students in using English tag questions. Chapter 3 provides some presentation of
the findings supported with possible discussions.
- Part 3 - the Conclusion offers an recapitulation of the main issues raised and
conclusions for all of the given objectives.








4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Review of previous works related to the theme of this research
English tag questions have long been the subject of the study of many
researchers and linguists in the world and in Vietnam as well. Each of them
investigates some aspects of this type of questions. Their studies on English tag
questions have provided a great help for Vietnamese learners of English. These
studies share a point that is the features and the usages of one certain or different
types of tag questions. Some researchers take into account the differences in
frequency of using this type of questions between men and women, or between
American and Bristish people. However, the result of these studies is not relevant to
Vietnamese context and cannot be applied in teaching and learning in our country.
In Vietnam, the study carried out by Nguyen Quang (1998) based on the
negative sentence in English and Vietnamese. In his study the author briefly
described different types of tag questions and made a comparison with Vietnamese
ones. Another study about tag questions was conducted by Pham Thu Ha (2006),
which took interested in the features of tag questions and the equivalent expressions
in Vietnamese. The author analyzed the similarities and differences between
English tag questions and the equivalent expressions in Vietnamese. Moreover,
suggestions given are so useful to translators. In her research, which is about Yes-
No questions, Bui Thi Dao (2007) provided syntactic, semantic and pragmatic
features of tag questions as a small part in the whole MA thesis. And Dao Thi Tam
(2007) paid her attention to various patterns of intonation used in English tag
questions and their equivalents in Vietnamese.
These works have brought about an overview of tag questions in English.
Generally, they presented linguistic features of tag questions – their structure and
their functions. However, these works left some gaps that need being paid much
5

attention to. Special cases of tag questions which are commonly used by English
speaking people were not taken into consideration. Also, „what are students‟ errors

and mistakes in using tag questions‟ and „what should be done to improve students‟
skills in using this type of questions‟ have not been mentioned in any previous
works. These gaps that need dealing with, therefore, will be presented in this field
of study. I would like to devote all my interest in the linguistic features of tag
questions in English (both canonical and invariant type). Then I would like to
investigate the kinds of mistakes in using tag questions the students at Tran Phu
High School often make. Basing on the findings, the author can suggest some
possible pedagogical implications in order to help the students to overcome these
difficulties and use them correctly in terms of both grammar and phonology.
1.2. Review of theoretical background
1.2.1. English questions
1.2.1.1. Definition of questions
There exist a lot of definitions of a question. The most common one is that
questions are sentences which seek information of some kind. They are followed by
a question mark (?).
According to the Longman Dictionary of English language a question is a
"command or an interrogative expression used to elicit information or a respond, or
to test knowledge". Lynch (1991) characterizes a question as an utterance with a
particular illocutionary forces. Quirk et al (1973 and 1985) define a question as a
semantic class used to seek information on a specific subject.
And another linguist, Givón (1990), observes that languages employ at least three,
non-exclusive, devices to signal a question:
(i) intonation;
(ii), the addition of morphology or independent lexical items ("Q-markers");
(iii), a different word-order.
6

Moreover, Quirk ( 1978) states that an utterance can be called a question if it fulfills
one of the following criteria; the operator is placed in front of the subject, an
interrogative or wh-element takes the initial position or intonation is raised at the

end of the utterance.
1.2.1.2. Classification of English questions
In daily conversations, lots of questions are used with different purposes. However,
to utter them in a natural way, speakers must be good at their forms. This part
centers on the form of some main types of questions which are often used in daily
conversation. Quirk (1973) classifies questions into the following categories:
 Yes- No questions: Putting operators before subjects and giving the sentence
a rising tone at the end of the question.
 Wh- questions: Using Wh-words such as What, Where, When, Why… with a
falling intonation.
 Alternative questions: Using the form of Yes- No questions with the addition
of the word “or”.
Tag questions belongs to Yes-No questions for two reasons. Firstly, the syntactic
feature of a question tag is similar to that of a Yes-No question, which is, Finite
precedes Subject. Secondly, the response that the speaker would expect to a tag
question is either “Yes” or “No” or the interlocutor can respond by means of an
utterance whose implicature communicate “yes” or “no”.
For example:
- There are forty two students in your class, aren‟t there?
- No, forty
Another example:
- You missed a lot, didn‟t you?
- Only the first lesson
( Implicature : No- rejection)

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1.2.1.3. Definitions of tag questions
Tag question is defined in many different ways:
“Tag questions consist of a tag, which is a short question form, attached to a stem,

which is a statement”. (Ron Cowan, 2008: 66)
Quirk (1973:194 ) states that “A word, phrase, or clause added to a sentence in
order to give emphasis or to form a question is called a tag question”
For example:
"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"
(Albert Einstein)
In this question, the first clause “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not
be called research” is the stem clause or the statement and the second clause
“would it” is called tag or question tag.
Question tags consist of operator plus pronoun, with or without a negative particle.
The operation in the tag agrees with the tense, aspect, and modality of the auxiliary
verb in the anchoring clause. The polarity value of the preceding anchoring clause
also affects that of the tag question: when the main clause is positive, the tag
question is negative, and vice versa. The pronoun in the tag also agrees with the
person, number, and gender value of the main clause‟s subject (Huddleston 1984,
Tottie and Hoffmann 2006).
For example:
The boat has left, hasn‟t it?
The boat left yesterday, didn‟t it?
He hasn‟t left, has he?
1.2.2. Operators
Operators are words that facilitate the expression of a negation,
interrogatives, and emphasis in the English language. Operators function within
verb phrases functioning as predicates. According to Quirk, “operators are the
8

auxiliaries which occur initially in the finite verb phrase”( 1973: 65)
For example:
Will he ask any questions?
They have finished their work.

Mary did not come to the party last night.
We should have brought an umbrella along.
Only one grammatical form can perform the function of operator in English. The
one grammatical form that can function as the operator is the verb.
Kilby (1984) offers an insight into operators for negation, interrogation and
emphasis
1.2.2.1. Operators for Negation
Negation is the grammatical operation whereby a proposition is replaced by one that
states the opposite. An affirmative form expresses the validity or truth of a basic
assertion. A negative form expresses the falsity of a basic assertion. The first
method of negation in the English language is verb phrase negation. Verb phrases in
English can be negated by inserting the negative adverb not after the first auxiliary
verb of the verb phrase. For verb phrases without an auxiliary verb, the
operator do also appears before the negative adverb not.
For example:
1. (a) She has finished her homework.
(b) She has not finished her work.
2. (a)The child ate some cookies.
(b) The child did not eat some cookies.
Note that the do-operator expresses the tense of the verb phrase in negated
constructions.


9

1.2.2.2. Operators for Interrogation
Interrogative constructions allow speakers to ask questions. To form an
interrogative sentence from a declarative sentence, invert the subject and the first
auxiliary verb of the verb phrase functioning as a predicate. For verb phrases
without an auxiliary verb, invert the operator do with the subject.

For example:
1. (a) The gardener is watering the pumpkins.
(b) Is the gardener watering the pumpkins?
2. (a) She likes reading Shakespeare.
(b) Does she like reading Shakespeare?
Note that the do-operator expresses the tense of the verb phrase in interrogative
constructions.
1.2.2.3. Operators for Emphasis
The do-operator also expresses emphasis within verb phrases in the simple present
and simple past. To emphasize an action or state, insert the operator do before the
verb.
For example:
1. (a) I love Doritos dipped in mashed potatoes.
(b) I do love Doritos dipped in mashed potatoes!
2. (a) My daughter claims that she washed the dishes.
(b) My daughter claims that she did wash the dishes.
3. (a) He works at the company.
(b) He does work at the company.
Note that the do-operator expresses the tense of the verb phrase in emphatic
constructions.
1.2.3. Polarity
1.2.3.1. Definition
In linguistics and grammar, affirmative and negative are terms of opposite
meaning which may be applied to statements, verb phrases, clauses, and some
10

other utterances. Essentially an affirmative (positive) form is used to express the
validity or truth of a basic assertion, while a negative form expresses its falsity.
Examples are the sentences "Jane is here" and "Jane is not here"; the first is
affirmative, while the second is negative.

The grammatical category associated with affirmative and negative is
called polarity. Polarity is defined the “choice between positive and negative”
(Halliday,1993). This means that a sentence, verb phrase, etc. may be said to have
either affirmative or negative polarity (its polarity may be either affirmative or
negative).
+ Affirmative is generally the unmarked polarity
1. (a) Clarissa didn‟t sleep a wink that night.
(b) Clarissa slept a wink that night.
2. (a) She wouldn‟t so much as give him the time of day
(b) She would so much as give him the time of day
+ Negative is marked by a negating word or particle such as not, never, hardly…
and so on, which reverses the meaning of the predicate.
1. (a) That guy Winthrop is some mathematician.
(b) That guy Winthrop isn‟t some mathematician.
2. (a) He can calculate an eigen vector in the blink of an eye.
(b) He can't calculate an eigen vector in the blink of an eye.
The process of converting affirmative to negative is called negation – the
grammatical rules for negation vary from language to language, and a given
language may have more than one way of producing negations.
Affirmative and negative responses (especially, though not exclusively,
to questions) are often expressed using particles such as yes and no, where yes is the
affirmative and no the negative particle.
1.2.3.2. Polarity in tag questions:
Tag questions consist of a tag, which is a short question form, attached to a stem,
11

which is a statement. According to Ron Cowan (2008: 66) there are two main types
of polarity in tag questions: opposite polarity and same polarity.
1.2.3.2.1. Opposite Polarity Tag Questions
Opposite polarity tag questions are shown in (1). Notice that the subject in the tag

corresponds to the subject in the stem. The tag has the opposite value from the stem:
if the stem is positive, then the tag is negative, as in (1a), (1b), and (1c); if the stem
is negative, the tag is positive, as in (1d).
Stem Tag Question
(1) a. You are going. You are going, aren‟t you?
b. They have done it. They have done it, haven‟t they?
c. Betty can come. Betty can come, can‟t she?
d. He isn‟t a vegetarian. He isn‟t a vegetarian, is he?
( Ron Cowan: 2008)
The stems in (1a) and (1b) contain the auxiliary verbs are and have, respectively. In
the corresponding tag questions, these same auxiliary verbs are located in the tags
but in their negative forms (aren‟t, haven‟t). The stem in (1c) has a modal (can),
which also appears in the tag but in its negative form (can‟t). In (1d), the stem is a
negative form of the copular be (isn‟t), while the corresponding positive form is
appears in the tag. If the stem in a tag question does not contain an auxiliary verb, a
modal, or copular be, then do appears in the tag.
Stem Tag Question
(2) He likes her. He likes her, doesn‟t he?
Four types of opposite polarity tag questions occur, depending upon whether the
stem is positive or negative and whether the intonation on the tag is falling or rising.
These four types are shown in (3).
(3) a. He likes to do that, doesn‟t he? positive stem, negative tag
b. He doesn‟t like to do that, does he? negative stem, positive tag
c. He likes to do that, doesn‟t he? positive stem, negative tag
12

d. He doesn‟t like to do that, does he? negative stem, positive tag
( Ron Cowan: 2008)
Tag questions such as (3a) and (3b), in which the tag starts out in the high pitch
range and rises at the end, signal that the asker is not completely sure of the answer

and is seeking information. In contrast, tag questions such as (3c) and (3d), in which
the pitch on the tag starts high and then falls, assume that the person being asked
will assess the situation the same way that the speaker would; that is, the asker
expects the interlocutor to agree with the proposition in the stem. These tag
questions often carry the force of a statement, as in (4), and speakers use them in
contexts such as (5), in which they have no reason to expect an answer that
disagrees with the proposition in their negative forms (aren‟t, haven‟t). The stem in
(1c) has a modal (can), which also appears in the tag but in its negative form (can‟t).
In (1d), the stem is a negative form of the copular be (isn‟t), while the
corresponding positive form is appears in the tag.
(4) Al: You know, I was sure that Manchester United was going to
beat Real Madrid last night.
Fred (looking downcast): Well, they didn‟t, did they? I watched the whole game.
(5) Amy: : My caterpillar is waving its legs at you.
Sally (looking at caterpillar) : Yes, it is, isn‟t it?
Questions with negative tags and falling intonation can be formed from sentences
with complement clauses if the main verb of the stem indicates that there is good
evidence that the complement is true. The complement clause in (6) is in brackets.
(6) Kim: It appears [that we are going to win,] doesn‟t it?
Su Jung: Yes. I can hardly believe it. We were behind 2 to 1.
Examples of verbs that the speaker uses to indicate the truth of the complements in
sentences such as (6) are: appear, believe, expect, guess, imagine, look like, see,
seem.

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1.2.3.2.2. Same Polarity Tag Questions
Both the stem and the tag are positive in same polarity tag questions. One common
type of same polarity tag question is shown in (7). It typically has a low pitch that
jumps up on the tag. It is often preceded by oh or so and indicates that the speaker

has inferred or reached a conclusion that is expressed in the stem. Same polarity tag
questions are often perceived as sarcastic statements.
(7) So, that‟s your little game, is it? Well, you won‟t get away with it.
It is also possible to use a tag to form an emphatic imperative statement that
conveys urgency, as in (8a). This same structure can serve as a polite request, as in
(8b) and (8c), or a suggestion, as in (8d).
(8) a. Hurry up, will you! emphatic imperative denoting urgency
b. Get me a glass of water, would you? polite request
c. Turn out the light, will you? polite request
d. Let‟s talk about that later, shall we? suggestion
(Ron Cowan: 2008)
All of the examples in (8) have the form of regular tag questions. The first element
of each tag question, a modal, has a lower pitch that rises to the second element, the
pronoun you or we.
Same polarity tag questions may have a verb in the tag that is different from the
verb in the stem, as in (9a), (9b), and (9c). Typically, a verb like know, remember,
see, or understand appears in the tag.
(9) a. We were supposed to meet outside of the theater, remember? reminder
b. You‟re supposed to be here at 8 o‟clock, you know? admonition/reminder
c. You hold it like this, see? instruction/request for feedback
d. You know what I‟m talking about, right? request for feedback
( Ron Cowan: 2008)
Notice that in (9a), (9b), and (9c), the tags themselves seem to be shortened forms
of the tag questions You remember that, don‟t you? You know that, don‟t you? and
You see that, don‟t you? respectively. Similarly, in (9d), in which the tag does not
14

have a verb, right can be considered a shortened form of That‟s right, isn‟t it?
Depending upon the tone the speaker uses and the context in which it is uttered, this
kind of same polarity tag question functions as an admonition, a reminder, an

instruction, or a request for feedback to ensure that the listener understands the
speaker.
1.2.4. Intonation
1.2.4.1. Definition of intonation
Intonation is one of the most prominent components of English
pronunciation as it appears in almost every utterance. Thus, a lot of linguistics have
been interested in exploring it. English intonation is, therefore defined in different
ways.
According to Paul Tench (1996: 1), “intonation refers to the rise and fall of
the pitch of the voice in spoken language”. This means that when you say
something, you cannot say it without some kind of intonation. So intonation is
present in all utterances. That is why he assumed that “intonation is the linguistic
use of pitch in utterances” and that “It is not what they said, but the way they said
it” (1996:2). O‟Connor (1973:1) explained intonation in a clearer way, „When we
talk about English intonation we mean the pitch patterns of spoken English, the
speech tunes or melodies, the musical features of English”. Clearly, intonation can
be realized by different factors which can convey different meanings. Paul Tench
also agreed on this idea when he pointed out that “intonation does in fact have both
a linguistic and paralinguistic dimension” (Paul Tench, 1996:2). The linguistic
dimension here concerns the message itself: How many pieces of information there
are; whether the speaker is telling you something or asking you, or whether the
speaker is turning to a new topic or finishing off an old one. Whereas, paralinguistic
dimension concern the messenger rather than the message: the speaker‟s state of
mind, their degree of politeness and their effort to associate or dissociate from you.
And more importantly, paralanguage involves not only pitch, but also volumn,
tempo and voice quality. So, to realize the intonation of an utterance, a lot of items
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must be taken into consideration, especially the pitch variations which help
differentiate between words and called tone.

1.2.4.2. Types of English intonation
According to O‟Connor (1980; 109), “the shape of a tune is decided partly
by the number of important words in the group and partly by the exact attitude you
wish to express”. „Important words‟ here means ones carrying most of the meaning
in a word group and these words are often accompanied with the changes of pitch
which creates intonation. Often an important word has a stressed syllable and a
change of pitch connected to it. In an utterance, any word may be important due to
the speaker‟s intention of giving information, so one sentence can represent
different meaning by various tunes. If we do not catch the intonation in the
communication, we cannot follow the cohesion of the message and surely, the
communication will be failed.
According to O‟Connor (1980), in English there are four basic tune shapes to
show speaker‟s feelings and intentions.
1.2.4.2.1. The falling tune ( The Glide- down)
The falling tune consists of a fall in the voice from a fairly high pitch to a very low
one. The fall is on the stressed syllable or from the stressed syllable to a following
one.
When working with the falling tune, it is very necessary to know that:
- On a single syllable the voice falls within the syllable
- On more than one syllable the voice either falls within the stressed
syllable or it jumps down from that syllable to the next
- Unstressed syllable at the end are very low
When there is more than one important word in the group, the last one has the fall
but the others are treated differently.
- The stressed syllable of the first important word is high and any
unstressed syllables following it are on the same pitch.
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- The stressed syllables of the second important word is little lower
and any unstressed syllables following it are on the same pitch.

- The fall starts at the same pitch as the syllable just before it.
In a group with more than three important words the stressed syllable of each one is
lower than the one before; that is why this tune shape is also called Glide-down.
If there are any unstressed syllables before the stressed syllable of the first
important word, these are all said on a rather low pitch. Also, any stressed syllable
near the beginning which belongs to a word which is not important is said on this
same rather low pitch.

  
 

He *seems * very * nice
(O' Connor, 1980:113)
1.2.4.2.2. The first rising tune ( The Glide-up)
This tune shape is just like the falling tune except that it ends with a rise in the voice
instead of a fall. Both important and unimportant words before the rise are treated
exactly as in the falling tune.
For example:

   
   

*Have you been at *work to *day, * John?
(O' Connor, 1980:115)
The last important word is “work” here, the voice from a low pitch to one just
above the middle of the voice. Apart from this the tune is the same as in the falling
tune: the unstressed syllable at the beginning is low, and there is a step at the
stressed syllable of each important word.