Mandarin wh-words can have question or non-question (e.g., existential, universal quantificational) interpretations. Their interpretations in a sentence are usually not ambiguous, as the distinct interpretations need to be licensed by particular items/contexts. The starting point of our study concerns a case which allows the wh-words to remain ambiguous in a sentence: wh-words such as shénme appearing with diǎnr. After empirically confirming that such sentences are indeed ambiguous (Study 1), we turn to the question of whether and how prosody helps disambiguate such sentences. Our production experiment (Study 2) shows that wh-declaratives differ from wh-questions in terms of prosodic properties already from the clause onset. Wh-declaratives are longer than wh-questions starting from the subject and the pattern reverses at the wh-word; wh-declaratives are lower in F0 and smaller in F0 range than wh-questions at the wh-word and there is a F0 range compression in the post-wh-word region in wh-questions; wh-declaratives show larger intensity range than wh-questions at the verb and the pattern reverses at the wh-word. An implication of this study concerns the focal status of wh-words in wh-questions and wh-declaratives: wh-words are foci in wh-questions but cannot be foci in wh-declaratives.

文华WH -words可以有问题或非问题（如存在，万能定量）的解释。它们在句子中的解释通常不是模棱两可的，因为不同的解释需要特定项目/上下文的许可。我们研究的出发点是关于一个允许wh词在句子中保持歧义的情况：wh词（例如shénme）与diǎnr一起出现。在凭经验确认此类句子确实模棱两可之后（研究1），我们转向韵律是否以及如何帮助消除此类句子歧义的问题。我们的生产实验（研究2）表明，wh-陈述式与wh-从子句开始就韵律特性提出的问题。WH -declaratives是长于WH来自受试者开始-questions并且在所述图案反转WH -word; WH -declaratives在F0以下，在F0范围小于WH在-questions WH -word和有在后一个F0范围压缩WH在-word区域WH -questions; WH -declaratives显示大强度范围比WH在动词-questions并在图案反转的wh -word。这项研究的意义涉及白内障的侧重点-words在WH -questions和WH -declaratives：WH -words是灶WH -questions但不能灶WH -declaratives。