Question Intonation as Affected by Word Stress and Focus in English

The intonational realizations of statements and declarative questions in American English are studied by examining their interaction with focus and word stress. Results of F0 analyses indicate that 1) statements and declarative questions start to diverge from the stressed syllable of the first content word, 2) the pitch range of post-focus syllables is compressed and lowered in statements, but compressed and raised in questions, and 3) the pitch target of the stressed syllable in a content word is high or falling in statements but rising in questions, depending on the focus condition and the stress pattern of the word.