Seeking an Anchorage. Stability and Variability in Tonal Alignment of Rising Prenuclear Pitch Accents in Cypriot Greek

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charalambos Themistocleous
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Invariance Hypothesis ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Pitch Accents

Although tonal alignment constitutes a quintessential property of pitch accents, its exact characteristics remain unclear. This study, by exploring the timing of the Cypriot Greek L*+H prenuclear pitch accent, examines the predictions of three hypotheses about tonal alignment: the invariance hypothesis, the segmental anchoring hypothesis, and the segmental anchorage hypothesis. The study reports on two experiments: the first of which manipulates the syllable patterns of the stressed syllable, and the second of which modifies the distance of the L*+H from the following pitch accent. The findings on the alignment of the low tone (L) are illustrative of the segmental anchoring hypothesis predictions: the L persistently aligns inside the onset consonant, a few milliseconds before the stressed vowel. However, the findings on the alignment of the high tone (H) are both intriguing and unexpected: the alignment of the H depends on the number of unstressed syllables that follow the prenuclear pitch accent. The ‘wandering’ of the H over multiple syllables is extremely rare among languages, and casts doubt on the invariance hypothesis and the segmental anchoring hypothesis, as well as indicating the need for a modified version of the segmental anchorage hypothesis. To address the alignment of the H, we suggest that it aligns within a segmental anchorage–the area that follows the prenuclear pitch accent–in such a way as to protect the paradigmatic contrast between the L*+H prenuclear pitch accent and the L+H* nuclear pitch accent.

scholarly journals Pitch Accent in Korean

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiyuki Ito ◽  
Michael J. Kenstowicz
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Initial Syllable ◽  
Pitch Pattern ◽  
Pitch Patterns ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Phonetic Realization ◽  
Pitch Accents ◽  
Middle Korean

Typologically, pitch-accent languages stand between stress languages like Spanish and tone languages like Shona, and share properties of both. In a stress language, typically just one syllable per word is accented and bears the major stress (cf. Spanish sábana ‘sheet,’ sabána ‘plain,’ panamá ‘Panama’). In a tone language, the number of distinctions grows geometrically with the size of the word. So in Shona, which contrasts high versus low tone, trisyllabic words have eight possible pitch patterns. In a canonical pitch-accent language such as Japanese, just one syllable (or mora) per word is singled out as distinctive, as in Spanish. Each syllable in the word is assigned a high or low tone (as in Shona); however, this assignment is predictable based on the location of the accented syllable. The Korean dialects spoken in the southeast Kyengsang and northeast Hamkyeng regions retain the pitch-accent distinctions that developed by the period of Middle Korean (15th–16th centuries). For example, in Hamkyeng a three-syllable word can have one of four possible pitch patterns, which are assigned by rules that refer to the accented syllable. The accented syllable has a high tone, and following syllables have low tones. Then the high tone of the accented syllable spreads up to the initial syllable, which is low. Thus, /MUcike/ ‘rainbow’ is realized as high-low-low, /aCImi/ ‘aunt’ is realized as low-high-low, and /menaRI/ ‘parsley’ is realized as low-high-high. An atonic word such as /cintallɛ/ ‘azalea’ has the same low-high-high pitch pattern as ‘parsley’ when realized alone. But the two types are distinguished when combined with a particle such as /MAN/ ‘only’ that bears an underlying accent: /menaRI+MAN/ ‘only parsely’ is realized as low-high-high-low while /cintallɛ+MAN/ ‘only azelea’ is realized as low-high-high-high. This difference can be explained by saying that the underlying accent on the particle is deleted if the stem bears an accent. The result is that only one syllable per word may bear an accent (similar to Spanish). On the other hand, since the accent is realized with pitch distinctions, tonal assimilation rules are prevalent in pitch-accent languages. This article begins with a description of the Middle Korean pitch-accent system and its evolution into the modern dialects, with a focus on Kyengsang. Alternative synchronic analyses of the accentual alternations that arise when a stem is combined with inflectional particles are then considered. The discussion proceeds to the phonetic realization of the contrasting accents, their realizations in compounds and phrases, and the adaptation of loanwords. The final sections treat the lexical restructuring and variable distribution of the pitch accents and their emergence from predictable word-final accent in an earlier stage of Proto-Korean.

scholarly journals Using the ToBI transcription to record the intonation of Slovene

Linguistica ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Volk
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
American English ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Tone Sequence ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Audio Recording ◽  
The Core ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Mainstream American English

The paper presents ToBI, a transcription method for prosodic annotation. ToBI is an acronym for Tones and Breaks Indices which first denoted an intonation system developed in the 1990s for annotating intonation and prosody in the database of spoken Mainstream American English. The MAE_ToBI transcription originally consists of six parts – the audio recording of the utterance, the fundamental frequency contour and four parallel tiers for the transcription of tone sequence, ortographic transcription, indication of break indices between words and for additional observations. The core of the transcription, i. e. of the phonological analyses of the intonation pattern, is represented by the tone tier where tonal variation is transcribed by using labels for high tone and low tone where a tone can appear as a pitch accent, phrase accent and boundary tone. Due to its simplicity and flexibility, the system soon began to be used for the prosodic annotation of other variants of English and many other languages, as well as in different non-linguistic fields, leading to the creation of many new ToBI systems adapted to individual languages and dialects. The author is the first to use this method for Slovene, more precisely, for the intonational transcription and analysis of the corpus of spontaneous speech of Slovene Istria, in order to investigate if the ToBi system is useful for the annotation of Slovene and its regional variants.  

scholarly journals Melodic constructions in Spanish: Metrical structure determines the association properties of intonational tones

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Torreira ◽  
Martine Grice
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Metrical Structure ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Completion Task ◽  
Focus Structure ◽  
The Common ◽  
Pitch Accents

This paper explores phrase-length-related alternations in the association of tones to positions in metrical structure in two melodic constructions of Spanish. An imitation-and-completion task eliciting (a) the low–falling–rising contour and (b) the circumflex contour on intonation phrases (IPs) of one, two, and three prosodic words revealed that, although the focus structure and pragmatic context is constant across conditions, phrases containing one prosodic word differ in their nuclear (i.e. final) pitch accents and edge tones from phrases containing more than one prosodic word. For contour (a), short intonation phrases (e.g. [Manolo]IP) were produced with a low accent followed by a high edge tone (L* H% in ToBI notation), whereas longer phrases (e.g. [El hermano de la amiga de Manolo]IP‘Manolo's friend's brother’) had a low accent on the first stressed syllable, a rising accent on the last stressed syllable, and a low edge tone (L* L+H* L%). For contour (b), short phrases were produced with a high–rise (L+H* ¡H%), whereas longer phrases were produced with an initial accentual rise followed by an upstepped rise–fall (L+H* ¡H* L%). These findings imply that the common practice of describing the structure of intonation contours as consisting of a constant nuclear pitch accent and following edge tone is not adequate for modeling Spanish intonation. To capture the observed melodic alternations, we argue for clearer separation between tones and metrical structure, whereby intonational tones do not necessarily have an intrinsic culminative or delimitative function (i.e. as pitch accents or as edge tones). Instead, this function results from melody-specific principles of tonal–metrical association.

scholarly journals The Role of Prosodic Breaks and Pitch Accents in Grouping Words during On-line Sentence Processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 2447-2467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Bögels ◽  
Herbert Schriefers ◽  
Wietske Vonk ◽  
Dorothee J. Chwilla
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
On Line ◽  
Group Words ◽  
Pitch Accents

The present study addresses the question whether accentuation and prosodic phrasing can have a similar function, namely, to group words in a sentence together. Participants listened to locally ambiguous sentences containing object- and subject-control verbs while ERPs were measured. In Experiment 1, these sentences contained a prosodic break, which can create a certain syntactic grouping of words, or no prosodic break. At the disambiguation, an N400 effect occurred when the disambiguation was in conflict with the syntactic grouping created by the break. We found a similar N400 effect without the break, indicating that the break did not strengthen an already existing preference. This pattern held for both object- and subject-control items. In Experiment 2, the same sentences contained a break and a pitch accent on the noun following the break. We argue that the pitch accent indicates a broad focus covering two words [see Gussenhoven, C. On the limits of focus projection in English. In P. Bosch & R. van der Sandt (Eds.), Focus: Linguistic, cognitive, and computational perspectives. Cambridge: University Press, 1999], thus grouping these words together. For object-control items, this was semantically possible, which led to a “good-enough” interpretation of the sentence. Therefore, both sentences were interpreted equally well and the N400 effect found in Experiment 1 was absent. In contrast, for subject-control items, a corresponding grouping of the words was impossible, both semantically and syntactically, leading to processing difficulty in the form of an N400 effect and a late positivity. In conclusion, accentuation can group words together on the level of information structure, leading to either a semantically “good-enough” interpretation or a processing problem when such a semantic interpretation is not possible.

scholarly journals Analysis of Angklung Sound Intensity as a Acoustic Instrument

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rizka Silviana Hartanti ◽  
Budi Astuti
Keyword(s):  
Research Method ◽  
Sound Intensity ◽  
Sound Level ◽  
Tube Length ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Sound Level Meter ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
Constant Distance ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Level Meter

<p style="text-align: justify;">The purpose of this study was to analysis of angklung sound intensity. The research method is using angklung musician 2 octaves. Each consists of two tube tone that sounded from the tone of G to G ', length and diameter of the tube every tone becomes independent variable, while intensity of the sound produced becomes dependent variable. Sound intensity is measured using a Sound Level Meter is placed with a constant distance. The result showed that G tone was a low tone which had a frequency of 49.5 Hz, first tube had 21.6 cm length and 4.1 cm diameter, second tube had 10.1 cm length and 3.4 cm diameter produced the sound intensity of 90.7 dB. G’ tone was a high tone which had a frequency of 99 Hz, first tube had 10 cm length and 3 cm diameter, second tube had 5.5 cm length and 2.1 cm diameter produced the sound intensity of 99.1 dB. It can be concluded that the higher the frequency, the greater the intensity of the sound produced. The shorter tube length and the smaller tube diameter, the greater the intensity of the sound. ©2016 JNSMR UIN Walisongo. All rights reserved.</p>

Bitonal pitch accent and phonological alignment in Sardinian

Probus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miran Kim ◽  
Lori Repetti
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Romance Language ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Landing Sites ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
As Stress

Abstract This study presents new data on pitch accent alignment in Sardinian, a Romance language spoken in Italy. We propose that what has been described as “stress shift” in encliticization processes is not a change in the word level stress, but variation in the association of the pitch accent. Our claim is that word level stress remains in situ, and the falling tune which our data exhibit can be interpreted as a bitonal pitch accent (HL*) associated with the entire verb + enclitic unit: the starred tone is associated with the rightmost metrically prominent syllable, and the leading tone is associated with the word-level stressed syllable. The research questions we address are twofold: (i) how are the landing sites of the two tonal targets phonetically identified; (ii) how are the phonetic facts reconciled with prosodic structure.

scholarly journals The intonation of the Q-marking construction: A comparison of Hungarian and Slovenian

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-397
Author(s):  
LOUISE MYCOCK
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Pitch Accents

This paper examines the Q-marking construction: an interrogative construction in which a question phrase takes scope over a higher clause even though it appears in a lower clause. In this construction, the scope of a question phrase is extended by the presence of another word, the Q-marker, in a higher clause. While the syntax of this construction has been described and analysed in a number of works, its intonation is yet to receive commensurate attention. This paper presents data from two unrelated languages in which the Q-marking construction can be used to form questions: Hungarian and Slovenian. Data show that while the Q-marker shares properties with question words in Hungarian (they bear the same pitch accent), in Slovenian the Q-marker and question words bear distinct pitch accents. Furthermore, in Hungarian a direct intonational link exists between the Q-marker and a question phrase whose scope is extended, rather than an indirect one between the Q-marker and the entire lower clause in which the question phrase appears. The Slovenian data are compatible with the existence of either an indirect or a direct intonational link. These findings reveal hitherto unidentified dimensions of cross-linguistic variation, for which any analysis of the Q-marking construction must account.

scholarly journals Focus Prosody Varies by Phrase-Initial Tones in Seoul Korean: Production, Perception, and Automatic Classification

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Yong-cheol Lee ◽  
Sunghye Cho
Keyword(s):  
Automatic Classification ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Identification Rate ◽  
General Performance ◽  
Focus Effect ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Prosodic Focus

Production and perception experiments were conducted to examine whether focus prosody varies by phrase-initial tones in Seoul Korean. We also trained an automatic classifier to locate prosodic focus within a sentence. Overall, focus prosody in Seoul Korean was weak and confusing in production, and poorly identified in perception. However, Seoul Korean’s focus prosody differed between phrase-initial low and high tones. The low tone group induced a smaller pitch increase by focus than the high tone group. The low tone group was also subject to a greater degree of confusion, although both tone groups showed some degree of confusion spanning the entire phrase as a focus effect. The identification rate was, therefore, approximately half in the low tone group (23.5%) compared to the high tone group (40%). In machine classification, the high tone group was also more accurately identified (high: 86% vs. low: 68%) when trained separately, and the machine’s general performance when the two tone groups were trained together was much superior to the human’s (machine: 65% vs. human: 32%). Although the focus prosody in Seoul Korean was weak and confusing, the identification rate of focus was higher under certain circumstances, which avers that focus prosody can vary within a single language.

Prosodic strengthening in reference to the lexical pitch accent system in South Kyungsang Korean

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-115
Author(s):  
Taehong Cho ◽  
Dong Jin Kim ◽  
Sahyang Kim
Keyword(s):  
Initial Position ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Strengthening Effect ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Phonological Contrast ◽  
Structural Modulation ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Phonetic Realization

Abstract Theories of the phonetics-prosody interface suggest that prosodic strengthening that arises with prosodic structuring is not simply a low-level phonetic phenomenon, but it serves as a phonetic hallmark of a higher-order prosodic structure in reference to linguistic (phonological) contrast. The present study builds on this theoretical premise by examining acoustic realization of the phonological tonal contrast in the lexical pitch accent system of South Kyungsang (SK) Korean. Results showed that phonetic realization of F0 and the degree of glottalization (as reflected in spectral tilt measures such as H1-A1c and H1-A3c) of vowels in vowel-initial words were systematically modulated by the higher-order prosodic structure, and that the prosodic-structural modulation gave rise to distinct prosodic strengthening effects as a function of the source of prosodic strengthening. In particular, the prominence-induced strengthening (due to focus) entailed a phonetic polarizing effect on the F0 contrast in a way that enhances the phonological High vs. Low tone contrast. The boundary-induced strengthening effect, on the other hand, could be better understood as enhancing the phonetic clarity of prosodic junctures. The distinct prosodic strengthening effects were further evident in the way that glottalization was fine-tuned according to prosodic structure and phonological (tonal) contrast. Prosodic strengthening effects were also found to interact with intrinsic vowel height, implying that the low-level phonetic effect may be under speaker control in reference to higher-order prosodic and phonological contrast systems of the language. Finally, the results informed a theoretical debate regarding whether the Low tone that contrasts with the High tone in word-initial position should be considered lexically specified vs. post-lexical assigned.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document