This study investigates the phonetics of German nuclear rise-fall contours in relation to contexts that trigger either a contrastive or a non-contrastive interpretation in the answer. A rise-fall contour can be conceived of a tonal sequence of L-H-L. A production study elicited target sentences in contrastive and non-contrastive contexts. The majority of cases realized showed a nuclear rise-fal...

The communication policy of the European Central Bank attracts a lot of attention from financial markets. This paper analyses the informational content of the monthly introductory statements of the ECB president explaining interest rate decisions with regard to inflation expectations of financial market experts for the euro area from February 1999 to June 2007. Estimations are conducted for the...

As public visualization is receiving more attention in academic research as well as in everyday practice we need to consider the physical environment as an important intrinsic component of its design. We propose that one should not disconnect a public visualization from the context in which it is read, as its immediate environment carries various meanings that influence its perception and inter...

The medieval troubadours were no wandering musicians, casually improvising their songs as they strolled from town to town, but trained artists who lovingly crafted their songs to please and woo their listeners. The art of rhetoric deeply affected the art of the troubadour. First, the art of rhetoric divided composition of a speech into five well-defined parts. The troubadours consciously molded...

The effects of pitch accenting on memory were investigated in three experiments. Participants listened to short recorded discourses that contained contrast sets with two items (e.g. British scientists and French scientists); a continuation specified one item from the set. Pitch accenting on the critical word in the continuation was manipulated between non-contrastive (H* in the ToBI system) and...

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In this paper, I outline an account of the structure perceptual justification that develops Wittgenstein's thought possibility acquiring any degree for our beliefs depends on placing certain propositions outside route empirical inquiry, turning them into “hinges” rational evaluations. The proposal is akin to “moderate” accounts justification; however, it conjoins insight with explanationist and...