Dimensions of intonation. Wiktor Jassem’s contribution to the studies on the melody of speech

Abstract

Intonation is often considered the most problematic component of prosody. It may largely contribute to the meaning of an utterance and provide rich indexical information. The complexity of the intonationrelated phenomena, from the acoustic level up to the cognitive process of semiosis, resulted in a variety of conceptualisations and divergent theoretical approaches. In the present text, an attempt is made to sketch the late Wiktor Jassem’s contribution to intonation studies, starting from his early work on colloquial British English to the studies focused on the Polish language as well as his general perspective on prosody and on the methods of its exploration. Some of his unpublished contribution to research projects on various aspects of prosody is also acknowledged. The present overview is based both on available written materials (publications, references, reports, reviews) and the author’s personal communication with Wiktor Jassem and his collaborators.

InMemoriamWiktorJassem(1922–2016)

“…The unstressed syllables preceding the stressed syllable after the last grammatical boundary were termed the Anacrusis (ANA), with different timing properties. Both constituents together form the Total Rhythm Unit (TRU); see Karpiński (2016). This contrasted with the traditional 'ictusremiss' type of stress pattern analysis, in which the ANA is treated as a rhythm unit missing the ictus.…”

“…The study of speech melody occupied the attention of Jassem and his group for six decades, starting with his dissertation and continuing, in cooperation particularly with Maria Steffen-Batogowa, Grażyna Demenko and Piotra Łobacz, with quantitative methods in experimental perception studies and signal analysis in speech technology. A detailed exposé of Jassem's work on prosody is provided by Karpiński (2016).…”

“…With his many publications and numerous international cooperations and co-authorships, Jassem exerted a lasting influence on several generations of phoneticians, not only in his native Poland, as a range of international tributes and detailed biographical appreciations demonstrates: Windsor Lewis (2003) provides many biographical and scientific details; Hirst (2012) explains Jassem's stress model; Gibbon (2012) describes meetings with Jassem; Gibbon, Hirst & Campbell (2012) co-edited a Festschrift on Jassem's 90th birthday. Gibbon (1976) and Karpiński (2016) provide detailed overviews of Jassem's contributions to prosody, and Jassem's Polish and English Wikipedia entries give background information (see also his CV in Gibbon et al 2012). For me it was a special honour to be inducted into the Polish Phonetics Society as Honorary Member at the same time as Wiktor Jassem.…”