Post on 19-Dec-2015
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
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Graphic representation of F0
time
F0
(in H
ertz
)
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS[ t ][ s ] [ s ]
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The ‘ripples’
F0 is not defined for consonants without vocalfold vibration.
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS[ v ][ g ] [ g ][ z ]
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The ‘ripples’
... and F0 can be perturbed by consonants withan extreme constriction in the vocal tract.
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS50
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Abstraction of the F0 contour
Our perception of the intonation contour abstracts away from these perturbations.
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS50
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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.
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Same ‘tune’, different alignment
LEGUMES are a good source of vitamins
The main rise-fall accent (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.
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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
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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.
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Yes-No question tune
are LEGUMES a good source of vitamins
Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.
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Yes-No question tune
are legumes a GOOD source of vitamins
Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.
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Yes-No question tune
are legumes a good source of VITAMINS
Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.
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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.”
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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?]
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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 ...]
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‘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
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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 ...]
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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
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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).
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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)]
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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.
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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.