Questions beginning with what, when, where, which, who, whom, whose, why and how often have a falling tone on an important word (often near the end of the question). Imagine that you have just told me that you are going on holiday next week. I might ask:
HWhere are you HgoingL?
This sounds like a simple request for information.
However, if the speaker is checking that he or she has heard something correctly or is very surprised at some information that they have just heard, the question may start rising on the wh word and continue to rise throughout. Imagine that you have just told me that you are going to the North Pole next week. I might say:
LWhere are you ˈgoingH?
See the Symbols page for an explanation of the superscript H and L symbols in the above utterances.
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