Only Type A sentences are statements, or declaratives. Types D and E sentences are disjunctive questions. Shen recorded these six types of utterances using sentences in which every syllable bears Mandarin Tone 1, a high level tone. Declarative sentences distinguish themselves in having a mid starting point, a mid-high value for the highest peak, and a low ending point. In other words, yes-no questions exhibit an overall higher pitch register than declaratives.
Disjunctive questions share certain characteristics with both yes-no questions and declaratives.
Differing only slightly from disjunctive questions are the last category, namely, WH-questions. Compared to disjunctive questions, WH-questions have a slightly higher starting point and a somewhat lower value for their highest peak. WH-questions are like disjunctive questions and declaratives in having a low ending point. The two types of yes-no questions under Tune II also differ slightly from each other. For four of the subjects, at least, echo questions consistently have a higher mean Fo value than ma -particle questions at the ending point.