Experiments on the meaning of two pitch accent types: the 'pointed hat' versus the accent-lending fall in dutch

The aim of the present investigation is to find out more about the meaning of two Dutch melodic shapes: the default pitch accent or ‘pointed hat’ and the accent-lending fall. Can the meaning difference between these pitch configurations be better described as a difference in information status or as a difference in attitude? Subjects were presented with the two contours on short sentences in specific contexts; the stimulus formed either the answer to a question (the focused information is new) or the completion of an enumeration (the focused information was already projected). In a pairwise comparison test subjects had to choose the contour best fitting the presented context. In a rating experiment subjects judged each combination of contour type and context on a number of semantic scales. Information status as well as attitude explain part of the results, indicating that both notions should be incorporated in the semantics of intonation.