On (and off) ramps in intonational phonology: Rises, falls, and the Tonal Center of Gravity

Barnes, Jonathan; Brugos, Alejna; Veilleux, Nanette; Shattuck‐Hufnagel, Stefanie

doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2020.101020

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The variable synchrony represents the distance between the center of periodic energy-mass (CoM) and the center of gravity of the corresponding F0 trajectory (CoG). CoM and CoG follow a similar methodology in calculating a weighted average time point (based on the Tonal Center of Gravity, see Barnes et al, 2012 , 2021 ), as shown in the Equations of (10) and (11).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracing the Phonetic Space of Prosodic Focus Marking

Roessig

Winter

Mücke

2022

Front. Artif. Intell.

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Focus is known to be expressed by a wide range of phonetic cues but only a few studies have explicitly compared different phonetic variables within the same experiment. Therefore, we presented results from an analysis of 19 phonetic variables conducted on a data set of the German language that comprises the opposition of unaccented (background) vs. accented (in focus), as well as different focus types with the nuclear accent on the same syllable (broad, narrow, and contrastive focus). The phonetic variables are measures of the acoustic and articulographic signals of a target syllable. Overall, our results provide the highest number of reliable effects and largest effect sizes for accentuation (unaccented vs. accented), while the differentiation of focus types with accented target syllables (broad, narrow, and contrastive focus) are more subtle. The most important phonetic variables across all conditions are measures of the fundamental frequency. The articulatory variables and their corresponding acoustic formants reveal lower tongue positions for both vowels /o, a/, and larger lip openings for the vowel /a/ under increased prosodic prominence with the strongest effects for accentuation. While duration exhibits consistent mid-ranked results for both accentuation and the differentiation of focus types, measures related to intensity are particularly important for accentuation. Furthermore, voice quality and spectral tilt are affected by accentuation but also in the differentiation of focus types. Our results confirm that focus is realized via multiple phonetic cues. Additionally, the present analysis allows a comparison of the relative importance of different measures to better understand the phonetic space of focus marking.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracing the Phonetic Space of Prosodic Focus Marking

Roessig

Winter

Mücke

2022

Front. Artif. Intell.

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“…The fact that that the location of the category boundary is significantly later for the la

continuum—where the vowel is short and the slope steeper—than for the other two continua, which present a long vowel and a shallower slope can be understood in relation to earlier work on factors that affect the perception of F0 pattern in addition to alignment ( Barnes et al, 2021 ; D’Imperio, 2000 ; D’Imperio & House, 1997 ; Niebuhr, 2003 ; Niebuhr et al, 2011 ). The fact that these factors weigh in on the perception of melodic patterns lends support to the interpretation that the hearer integrates a range of properties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…In addition to the height of the tone targets, various other factors also impact the JND. Several studies have shown that, aside from the alignment of the turning point that defines the beginning of an F0 change, perception is affected by other phonetic properties: F0 height, slope, curvature, and segmental durations ( Barnes et al, 2021 ; D’Imperio, 2000 ; D’Imperio & House, 1997 ; Niebuhr, 2003 ; Niebuhr et al, 2011 ). For example, Franich (2016) manipulated vowel duration in a perception study investigating the contrast between a falling contour and a high tone in Medumba (Bantu, Cameroon).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual Sensitivity to Tonal Alignment in Nuer

Gjersøe

Remijsen

2023

Lang Speech

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This paper examines the perceptual threshold in patterns of tonal timing (alignment) of Falling versus Low tones. The results indicate a remarkable sensitivity among the listeners. In a perception experiment with 30 participants, we tested how native speakers of the West Nilotic language Nuer responded to stimuli in which the timing of the F0 fall that distinguishes Low versus Fall following a High target is manipulated. We measured the threshold for the responses to shift tone perception from 25% to 75%. The results show that listeners only needed an average of 19 ms to differentiate between the melodic shapes and as little as 13 ms for one item. Perceptual sensitivity this fine-grained is not expected based on what is known about the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) from previous studies. Results from non-tonal languages report a sensitivity threshold for tonal timing of at least 50 ms at category boundaries. This difference suggests that whether or not subjects speak a tone language may be a determining factor in their JND.

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“…Thus, 590 utterances entered the analysis. The produced target words were analyzed phonologically (accent position and type, following GToBI; [ 58 ], perceived prominence and phrase boundary placement according to DIMA; [ 59 ]) and acoustically (e.g., measured in terms of duration, intensity, and Tonal Center of Gravity, the latter incorporating the shape of the contour and the alignment of turning points; see [ 13 , 14 , 60 ]).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, we considered several continuous phonetic parameters. Firstly, we measured alignment and scaling of the Tonal Center of Gravity (TCoG) following Barnes and colleagues [ 13 , 14 , 60 ]. TCoG measures represent an alternative to traditional measures using turning points and are able to capture both alignment in time and F0 scaling.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boosting or inhibiting - how semantic-pragmatic and syntactic cues affect prosodic prominence relations in German

Baumann,

Lorenzen

2024

PLoS ONE

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In this exploratory study, we investigate the influence of several semantic-pragmatic and syntactic factors on prosodic prominence production in German, namely referential and lexical newness/givenness, grammatical role, and position of a referential target word within a sentence. Especially in terms of the probabilistic distribution of accent status (nuclear, prenuclear, deaccentuation) we find evidence for an additive influence of the discourse-related and syntactic cues, with lexical newness and initial sentence position showing the strongest boosting effects on a target word’s prosodic prominence. The relative strength of the initial position is found in nearly all prosodic factors investigated, both discrete (such as the choice of accent type) and gradient (e.g., scaling of the Tonal Center of Gravity and intensity). Nevertheless, the differentiation of prominence relations is information-structurally less important in the beginning of an utterance than near the end: The prominence of the final object relative to the surrounding elements, especially the verbal component, is decisive for the interpretation of the sentence. Thus, it seems that a speaker adjusts locally important prominence relations (object vs. verb in sentence-final position) in addition to a more global, rhythmically determined distribution of prosodic prominences across an utterance.

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On (and off) ramps in intonational phonology: Rises, falls, and the Tonal Center of Gravity

Cited by 13 publications

References 20 publications

Tracing the Phonetic Space of Prosodic Focus Marking

Tracing the Phonetic Space of Prosodic Focus Marking

Perceptual Sensitivity to Tonal Alignment in Nuer

Boosting or inhibiting - how semantic-pragmatic and syntactic cues affect prosodic prominence relations in German

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