Separation of Functional Components of Tone and Intonation from Observed F0 Patterns

To understand tone and intonation in speech, we need to identify their functional components. To identify these components from the acoustic signal of speech, it is critical to recognize that they are not equivalent to any directly observable surface patterns. This is because, as will be argued in this paper, there are multiple degrees of separation between functional components of tone and intonation and the surface acoustic patterns. Three degrees of separation will be identified: articulatory implementation, target assignment and parallel encoding. As the multiple degrees of separation are being recognized, the link between the surface F0 patterns and the functional components of tone and intonation should become more transparent.