I study types of question intonation in Kazakh. Intonation (speech melody) refers to changes in the fundamental frequency in the course of an utterance. Intonation is present in any language, but its forms and functions are language specific.
The aim of my research is an experimental -phonetic analysis of question intonation in Kazakh. I also study the theory of intonation and I get training in how to use the computer programme "Praat , doing phonetics by computer " developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink (www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat).

At IIAS I work under the supervision of Cecilia Odé (home.medewerker.uva.nl/c.ode) who is specilaized in intonation. I also work in the library where I have access to numerous theoretical and experimental works on the topic of my research which are not available in Kazakhstan.

The final aim of my PhD dissertation is an experimental -phonetic analysis and a description of forms and functions of intonation in Kazakh. The research so far has the following objectives:

  1. to study the literature on theoretical and methodical approaches in intonation research.
  2. to make recordings for a sound database of spontaneous and quasi-spontaneous speech for the analysis of question intonation in Kazakh by means of PRAAT.
  3. to define forms and functions of types of question intonation in Kazakh.