Focus Prosody in Tokyo Japanese Wh-Questions with Lexically Unaccented Wh-Phrases
نویسنده
چکیده
This study presents new data on prosodic effects of focus in wh-questions in Tokyo Japanese, by examining prosodic effects of focus on and after lexically unaccented compound wh-words (e.g., nani.iro ‘what.color’). The results show that the realization of post-focal reduction differs considerably depending on the accentedness of the wh-word as well as of post-wh-words. When there is an accent on and/or after the whword, both an f0-rise on the wh-word and an f0lowering in the post-wh-area are observed, as already shown in previous studies. When there is no accent on and after the wh-word, there is no significant f0-lowering in the post-focal area. There is nevertheless a reduction of the amount of initial lowering in the post-focus area.
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