introduction to intonation jennifer j. venditti venditti cognitive science 201 29 march 2001
Post on 19-Dec-2015
238 views
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction to Intonation
Jennifer J. Venditti
www.cs.rutgers.edu/~venditti
Cognitive Science 201
29 March 2001
Intonation makes the difference
A: What types of foods are a good source of vitamins?
B1: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
B2: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
A: I’d like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
B: TWA doesn’t fly there ...
B1: They fly to Des Moines.
B2: They fly to Des Moines.
A1: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
A2: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
Speech production
oral & nasalcavities
larynx
lungs
air
Speech production
oral & nasalcavities
larynx
lungs
The vocal folds may be held wide open, or may vibrate.
Speech production
oral & nasalcavities
larynx
lungs
Positioning of the tongue, lips, etc. acoustically ‘shapes’ the air.
Vocal fold vibration
Physical: Fundamental frequency (F0) rate of vibration of the vocal folds
Perceptual: Pitch
perceived pitch
fun
da
me
nta
l fre
q.[UCLA Phonetics Lab demo]
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Graphic representation of F0
time
F0
(in H
ertz
)
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS[ t ][ s ] [ s ]
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
The ‘ripples’
F0 is not defined for consonants without vocalfold vibration.
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS[ v ][ g ] [ g ][ z ]
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
The ‘ripples’
... and F0 can be perturbed by consonants withan extreme constriction in the vocal tract.
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Abstraction of the F0 contour
Our perception of the intonation contour abstracts away from these perturbations.
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
The ‘waves’ and the ‘swells’
‘wave’ = accent
‘swell’ = phrase
TOPIC #1TOPIC #1
Accent Placement and Intonational Tunes
Stress vs. accent Stress is a structural property of a word — it marks a
potential (arbitrary) location for an accent to occur, if there is one.
Accent is a property of a word in context — it is a way to mark intonational prominence in order to ‘highlight’ important words in the discourse.
(x) (x) (accented syll)
x x stressed syll
x x x full vowels
x x x x x x x syllables
vi ta mins Ca li for nia
Which word receives an accent?
It depends on the context. For example, the ‘new’ information in the answer to a question is often accented, while the ‘old’ information usually is not.
Q1: What types of foods are a good source of vitamins? A1: LEGUMES are a good source of vitamins.
Q2: Are legumes a source of vitamins? A2: Legumes are a GOOD source of vitamins.
Q3: I’ve heard that legumes are healthy, but what are they a good source of ?
A3: Legumes are a good source of VITAMINS.
Intonation makes the difference
A: What types of foods are a good source of vitamins?
B1: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
B2: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
A: I’d like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
B: TWA doesn’t fly there ...
B1: They fly into Des Moines.
B2: They fly into Des Moines.
A1: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
A2: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Same ‘tune’, different alignment
LEGUMES are a good source of vitamins
The main rise-fall accent (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Same ‘tune’, different alignment
Legumes are a GOOD source of vitamins
The main rise-fall accent (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.
Same ‘tune’, different alignment
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
The main rise-fall accent (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.
Broad focus
legumes are a good source of vitamins
“Tell me something about the world.”
In the absence of narrow focus, English tends to mark the firstand last ‘content’ words with perceptually prominent accents.
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Yes-No question tune
are LEGUMES a good source of vitamins
Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
Yes-No question tune
are legumes a GOOD source of vitamins
Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
Yes-No question tune
are legumes a good source of VITAMINS
Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
WH-questions
WHAT are a good source of vitamins
WH-questions typically have falling contours, like statements.
[I know that many natural foods are healthy, but ...]
Broad focus
legumes are a good source of vitamins
“Tell me something about the world.”
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
legumes are a good source of vitamins
Rising statements
High-rising statements can signal that the speaker is seeking approval.
“Tell me something I didn’t already know.”
[... does this statement qualify?]
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
are legumes a good source of VITAMINS
Yes-No question
Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.
‘Surprise-redundancy’ tune
legumes are a good source of vitamins
Low beginning followed by a gradual rise to a high at the end.
[How many times do I have to tell you ...]
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
‘Contradiction’ tune
linguini isn’t a good source of vitamins
Sharp fall at the beginning, flat and low, then rising at the end.
“I’ve heard that linguini is a good source of vitamins.”
[... how could you think that?]
TOPIC #2TOPIC #2
Alignment of Accentwith Stressed Syllable
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Alignment with syllable matters
Rise right at start of stressed syllable cues statement of fact.
they fly to Des Moines
[TWA doesn’t fly there ...]
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Alignment with syllable matters
Rise which is delayed somewhat cues suggestion, or uncertainty about whether the statement qualifies as relevant.
they fly to Des Moines
[TWA doesn’t fly there ...]
Two distinct alignment categories Pierrehumbert & Steele (1989) synthesized many
intonation contours with varying degrees of peak delay, and asked speakers to imitate what they heard.
Peak delay of speakers’ responses patterned in two categories: early (‘assertion’) and late (‘suggestion’).
Intonation makes the difference
A: What types of foods are a good source of vitamins?
B1: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
B2: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
A: I’d like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
B: TWA doesn’t fly there ...
B1: They fly to Des Moines.
B2: They fly to Des Moines.
A1: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
A2: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
TOPIC #3TOPIC #3
Intonational phrasingand disambiguation
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
A single intonation phrase
legumes are a good source of vitamins
Broad focus statement consisting of one intonation phrase(that is, one intonation tune spans the whole unit).
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Multiple phrases
legumes are a good source of vitamins
Utterances can be ‘chunked’ up into smaller phrases in order to signal the importance of information in each unit.
Phrasing can disambiguate Global ambiguity:
The old men and women stayed home.
Sally saw the man with the binoculars.
John doesn’t drink because he’s unhappy.
Phrasing can disambiguate Global ambiguity:
The old men and women stayed home.
The old men % and women % stayed home.
Sally saw % the man with the binoculars.
Sally saw the man % with the binoculars.
John doesn’t drink because he’s unhappy.
John doesn’t drink % because he’s unhappy.
Phrasing can disambiguate Temporary ambiguity:
When Madonna sings the song ...
Phrasing can disambiguate Temporary ambiguity:
When Madonna sings the song is a hit.
Phrasing can disambiguate Temporary ambiguity:
When Madonna sings % the song is a hit.
When Madonna sings the song % it’s a hit.
[from Speer & Kjelgaard (1992)]
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Phrasing can disambiguate
I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday
Mary & Elena’s mothermall
One intonation phrase with relatively flat overall pitch range.
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Phrasing can disambiguate
I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday
Marymall
Elena’s mother
Separate phrases, with expanded pitch movements.
Intonation makes the difference
A: What types of foods are a good source of vitamins?
B1: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
B2: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
A: I’d like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
B: TWA doesn’t fly there ...
B1: They fly into Des Moines.
B2: They fly into Des Moines.
A1: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
A2: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
ReferencesThe content of this lecture is based mainly on these two sources:
Bolinger, D. (1972) Intonation [introduction and chapter 1]. Penguin Books, Ltd. [also appears as: Bolinger, D. (1964) Around the edge of language. Harvard Educational Review 34(2): 282-293.]
Pierrehumbert, J. (1980) The Phonetics and Phonology of English Intonation. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Other sources cited in the lecture include:
Pierrehumbert, J. and S. Steele (1989) Categories of tonal alignment in English. Phonetica 46: 181-196.
Speer, S. and M. Kjelgaard (1992) Prosodic resolution of temporary syntactic ambiguity. Paper presented at the 25th Annual Congress of Psychology, Brussels.