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Introduction to Intonation

Jennifer J. Venditti www.cs.rutgers.edu/~venditti Cognitive Science 201 29 March 2001. Introduction to Intonation. 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.

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Introduction to Intonation

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  1. Jennifer J. Venditti www.cs.rutgers.edu/~venditti Cognitive Science 201 29 March 2001 Introduction to Intonation

  2. 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.

  3. Speech production oral & nasal cavities larynx lungs air

  4. Speech production oral & nasal cavities larynx lungs The vocal folds may be held wide open, or may vibrate.

  5. Speech production oral & nasal cavities larynx lungs Positioning of the tongue, lips, etc. acoustically ‘shapes’ the air.

  6. Vocal fold vibration Physical: Fundamental frequency (F0) rate of vibration of the vocal folds Perceptual: Pitch fundamental freq. perceived pitch [UCLA Phonetics Lab demo]

  7. Graphic representation of F0 F0 (in Hertz) legumes are a good source of VITAMINS time

  8. The ‘ripples’ [ t ] [ s ] [ s ] legumes are a good source of VITAMINS F0 is not defined for consonants without vocal fold vibration.

  9. The ‘ripples’ [ v ] [ g ] [ z ] [ g ] legumes are a good source of VITAMINS ... and F0 can be perturbed by consonants with an extreme constriction in the vocal tract.

  10. Abstraction of the F0 contour legumes are a good source of VITAMINS Our perception of the intonation contour abstracts away from these perturbations.

  11. The ‘waves’ and the ‘swells’ ‘wave’ = accent ‘swell’ = phrase legumes are a good source of VITAMINS

  12. TOPIC #1 Accent Placement and Intonational Tunes

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. 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.

  16. Same ‘tune’, different alignment LEGUMES are a good source of vitamins The main rise-fallaccent (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.

  17. Same ‘tune’, different alignment Legumes are a GOOD source of vitamins The main rise-fallaccent (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.

  18. Same ‘tune’, different alignment legumes are a good source of VITAMINS The main rise-fallaccent (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.

  19. Broad focus “Tell me something about the world.” legumes are a good source of vitamins In the absence of narrow focus, English tends to mark the first and last ‘content’ words with perceptually prominent accents.

  20. Yes-No question tune are LEGUMES a good source of vitamins Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.

  21. Yes-No question tune are legumes a GOOD source of vitamins Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.

  22. Yes-No question tune are legumes a good source of VITAMINS Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.

  23. WH-questions [I know that many natural foods are healthy, but ...] WHAT are a good source of vitamins WH-questions typically have falling contours, like statements.

  24. Broad focus “Tell me something about the world.” legumes are a good source of vitamins

  25. Rising statements “Tell me something I didn’t already know.” legumes are a good source of vitamins [... does this statement qualify?] High-rising statements can signal that the speaker is seeking approval.

  26. Yes-No question are legumes a good source of VITAMINS Rise from the main accent to the end of the sentence.

  27. ‘Surprise-redundancy’ tune [How many times do I have to tell you ...] legumes are a good source of vitamins Low beginning followed by a gradual rise to a high at the end.

  28. ‘Contradiction’ tune “I’ve heard that linguini is a good source of vitamins.” linguini isn’t a good source of vitamins [... how could you think that?] Sharp fall at the beginning, flat and low, then rising at the end.

  29. TOPIC #2 Alignment of Accent with Stressed Syllable

  30. Alignment with syllable matters [TWA doesn’t fly there ...] they fly to Des Moines Rise right at start of stressed syllable cues statement of fact.

  31. Alignment with syllable matters [TWA doesn’t fly there ...] they fly to Des Moines Rise which is delayed somewhat cues suggestion, or uncertainty about whether the statement qualifies as relevant.

  32. 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’).

  33. 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.

  34. TOPIC #3 Intonational phrasing and disambiguation

  35. 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).

  36. 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.

  37. 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.

  38. 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.

  39. Phrasing can disambiguate • Temporary ambiguity: When Madonna sings the song ...

  40. Phrasing can disambiguate • Temporary ambiguity: When Madonna sings the song is a hit.

  41. 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)]

  42. Phrasing can disambiguate Mary & Elena’s mother mall I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday One intonation phrase with relatively flat overall pitch range.

  43. Phrasing can disambiguate Elena’s mother mall Mary I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday Separate phrases, with expanded pitch movements.

  44. 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.

  45. References The 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.

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