Ethnography of Speaking: A Comparative Analysis of Exclamatory Sentence Stress Patterns Between English and Farsi

This two-phase study aimed to investigate the intonations of what + noun exclamations and their structures in Persian and English to find possible similarities and/or differences in the way they are realized in the two languages. Drawing on the literature on word stress and intonation, a Persian and English exclamatory measure was developed. 60 English language learners assigned to two groups took the measure. Applying a read aloud protocol, the researchers then voice-recorded the elicited corpora for intra and inter later analysis. The results of the study showed little if any intra Persian and English differences in exclamatory intonation patterns. The contrastive analysis of the structures, however, showed significant differences in their patterns observed. The study has some implications for language teaching and learning practitioners

Keywords:

Comparative Analysis , Ethnography of Speaking , Exclamatory , Intonation