earticle

영어

The particle est-ce que is the most recently introduced in the French language among the three interrogative modality markers. First appearing in use in the 16th century, est-ce que today conveys formality and politeness, contrary of its original purpose to adhere to the word order of declarative sentences. Our examination of the prosodic features of French interrogative forms suggests that the expression of formality and politeness in est-ce que questions is related to the intonational patterns by which they are spoken. This article first outlines the historical development of French interrogative forms, and then introduces the main controversial issues surrounding the etymology and functions of est-ce que. Subsequently, it examines the intonational characteristics of declarative word-order questions, inverted questions, and est-ce que questions. Finally, the article describes how est-ce que questions convey formality and politeness with regard to their intonational properties.