Double contrast is signalled by prenuclear and nuclear accent types alone, not by f0-plateaux
نویسندگان
چکیده
In two speeded acceptability experiments we tested which combination of prenuclear accent, nuclear accent and f0interpolation between them is best suited to signal a double contrast in German (i.e., a contrastive topic followed by a contrastive focus). The experimental utterances differed in the prenuclear accent (medialvs. late-peak, i.e., L+H* vs. L*+H), the nuclear accent (earlyvs. medial-peak, i.e., H+L* vs. H*) and the f0-interpolation between them (high or dipping). All utterances were judged for their acceptability in a contrastive (Experiment 1) and a non-contrastive context (control Experiment 2). Our results showed that the combination of a late-peak prenuclear accent (L*+H) and an early-peak nuclear accent (H+L*) is best suited to signal a double contrast, independent of the f0-interpolation. The reaction time data also support the view that the f0-interpolation is not necessary for the interpretation of a double contrast.
منابع مشابه
Eye-tracking data on the immediate contribution of prenuclear accents and f0-interpolations to utterance interpretation in German
Previous research has shown that Germans produce contrastive topics with prenuclear accents exhibiting larger f0-excursions, later peaks, and longer durations than non-contrastive topics (Braun, 2006). Contrastive topic accents hence resemble L*+H, non-contrastive topic accents L+H*, but expert labelers experience difficulties in consistently labeling this distinction (ibid). Offline acceptabil...
متن کاملThe nature and use of Icelandic prenuclear and nuclear pitch accents : evidence from F0 alignment and syllable/segment duration
Two production studies and one perception study were designed to systematically test F0 alignment and segment duration in Icelandic pitch accents with a view to investigating previous claims about the inventory of distinct intonational categories. Four different conditions were tested: (i) prenuclear pitch accents, (ii) nuclear accents in sentence-final position in sentences with either broad f...
متن کاملPerceptual Sensitivity to Prenuclear and Nuclear Intonational Patterns
We describe a perceptual experiment whose goal is to compare perceptual sensitivity to pitch accent contrasts in nuclear and prenuclear positions. The material consists of Czech sentences which have been resynthesized with controlled intonation. The results show that changes in nuclear pitch accents are perceived more sharply than changes in prenuclear pitch accents, and that the H* accent is p...
متن کاملDecoding Information Status by Type and Position of Accent in German
In two perception experiments on read German, we investigate how far different accent positions and accent types are related to degrees of perceived givenness both in sentences in isolation and in context. Results reveal a stepwise decrease in the degree of perceived givenness from deaccentuation and prenuclear accents through low and early peak nuclear accents to high and rising nuclear accent...
متن کاملStructural and dialectal effects on pitch peak alignment in two varieties of British English
We report three experiments, based on test sentences read aloud, on the influence of sentence position and phonological vowel length on the alignment of accent-related f0 peaks in Scottish Standard English (SSE) and Southern British English (RP). One experiment deals with prenuclear accent peaks and the other two with nuclear accent peaks. Three findings confirm reports in the recent literature...
متن کامل