polite yes-no questions

Yes-no questions are questions that typically expect a “yes” or “no” as an answer.  Examples of some yes-no questions are the following:

• Would you like some coffee?
• Do you have room for some dessert?

In North American English, in order to sound more polite, people often have rising pitch at the end of the question.  This means that your voice is higher at the end of the question.  North American English speakers do this in order to sound more polite.  Please watch the video below to hear examples of this style of speech.

This style of pronunciation is particularly common when employees speak to customers, such as when a waiter/waitress asks a customer in a restaurant yes-no questions (see above for the examples).  If a waiter/waitress didn’t use rising pitch for yes-no questions with a customer, the questions would probably sound a little abrupt for native speakers of North American English.

North American English speakers also use this pronunciation style in many other situations in order to “soften” a request.  For example, the following request

• Could I talk to you for a minute?

sounds more diplomatic when it is pronounced with rising pitch at the end.

Not all yes-no questions are pronounced like this, however.  In informal situations, people often don’t have rising pitch at the end of a yes-no question.  Moreover, in some situations, it would sound strange to do this.  For example, when asking a friend the following question

• Do you want some coffee?

it would be a little unusual for people to use rising pitch at the end of the question.  If you did this, you might sound like a waiter/waitress talking to a customer rather than a friend talking to another friend.

Also, I should add that not all dialects of English follow the social convention of rising pitch at the end of yes-no questions to sound more polite or diplomatic.  Based on my understanding and personal experience, speakers of English English typically do not do this.  But, as I have explained, North American English speakers do do this.  If you ignore this social convention in Canada or the US, Canadians and Americans may think you sound a little abrupt or possibly even a little rude.

To listen to rising pitch at the end of polite yes-no questions, please watch the video below.