Attitudinal Intonation of Arabic Interrogative Utterances among Sundanese Students at Islamic Boarding School
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32332/ijalt.v8i02.14171Keywords:
Acoustic Phonetics, Attitudinal Meaning, Intonation, Praat, Sundanese StudentsAbstract
This exploratory case study analyzes the Attitudinal Intonation of Arabic interrogative utterances produced by Sundanese students, using acoustic phonetic analysis to illustrate potential patterns of prosodic transfer. The aim is to describe the differences in pitch direction and duration in constructing Attitudinal Meaning across two types of interrogative utterances. Using a descriptive-evaluative design, speech data were extracted using Praat v.6.4.63 software and interpreted through Attitudinal Intonation Theory. The results show that in information-seeking utterances (WH-Questions), native Arabic speakers consistently use a falling tone to indicate assertiveness. Conversely, the students use a rising tone and exhibit final lengthening. This intonation shift may potentially alter the perceived attitudinal meaning from assertiveness toward hesitation or deference, according to Attitudinal Intonation Theory. However, in Yes/No Questions, a similarity in the rising tone pattern was found between the students and native speakers, allowing the politeness meaning to be conveyed accurately. This study highlights the potential importance of teaching intonation in communicative Arabic language learning, based on an exploratory case study of two students.
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