Voice Modulations in German Ironic Speech

Abstract

Previous research has shown that in different languages ironic speech is acoustically modulated compared to literal speech,and these modulations are assumed to aid the listener in the comprehension process by acting as cues that mark utterances as ironic. The present study was conducted to identify paraverbal features of German 'ironic criticism' that may possibly act as irony cues by comparing acoustic measures of ironic and literal speech. For this purpose, samples of scripted ironic and literal target utterances produced by 14 female speakers were recorded and acoustically analyzed. Results showed that in contrast to literal remarks, ironic criticism was characterized by a decreased mean fundamental frequency (F0), raised energy levels and increased vowel duration, whereas F0-contours differed only marginally between both speech types. Furthermore, we found ironic speech to be characterized by vowel hyperarticulation,an acoustic feature which has so far not been considered as a possible irony cue. Contrary to our expectations, voice modulations in ironic speech were applied independently from the availability of additional, visual irony cues.The results are discussed in light of previous findings on acoustic features of irony yielded for other languages.

Gestural codas pave the way to the understanding of verbal irony

“…Previous results have also showed inconsistent prosodic patterns across studies and across languages. While mean F0 values have been shown to increase in Italian and Cantonese sarcastic irony (Anolli et al 2002, Cheang & Pell 2009, as well as in French sarcastic requests (Laval & Bert-Erboul 2005) and English sarcasm (Bryant & Fox Tree 2005), a decrease in mean F0 has been found in English sarcastic utterances (Attardo et al 2003, Cheang & Pell 2008 and German ironic criticism (Scharrer et al 2011). Similarly, regarding pitch variability, while F0 variability has been found to be higher in English and French sarcastic utterances (Attardo et al 2003, Laval & Bert-Erboul 2005, a reduced F0 range has been reported for Cantonese sarcastic irony (Cheang & Pell 2009).…”

“…Speakers produced ironic utterances at a significantly slower speech tempo than baseline utterances. A decrease in speech rate has been documented as one of the prosodic regularities that signal the presence of ironic intent across languages (Anolli et al 2002, Bryant 2010, Laval & Bert-Erboul 2005, Scharrer et al 2011). Bryant (2010:556) suggests a cognitive explanation for this pattern, as follows: "Slowing down speech gives the listener more time to process the relatively higher propositional load often contained in verbal irony, compared to literal interpretations of the same utterances."…”

“…'molt' ['very'], 'meravellós' ['wonderful'], 'm'encanta' ['I love']), as well as mitigation words and expressions (e.g. 'una mica' ['a little'], 'potser' ['maybe']; see Scharrer et al 2011). Tier 4 was used to annotate the presence of superlative or diminutive suffixes (e.g.…”

“…Several studies have analyzed the prosodic properties of ironic utterances by comparing them to non-ironic ones (e.g. Gibbs 2000, Nakassis & Snedeker 2002, Anolli et al 2002, Attardo et al 2003, Laval & Bert-Erboul, 2005, Cheang & Pell 2009, Bryant & Fox Tree 2002, 2005, Bryant 2010, Scharrer et al 2011, Padilla 2012. In general, ironic utterances have been reported to contrast with non-ironic utterances in their use of pitch modulations (e.g.…”

You ‘have’ to hear this: Using tone of voice to motivate others.

“…Though little is known about social communicative intentions as conveyed through prosody, there is some evidence that different kinds of "social prosodic" functions including conveying humor, sarcasm, irony, or sincerity, can also be linked to specific acoustic cue configurations (e.g., Monetta, Cheang, Pell, 2008;Rigoulot, Fish, Pell, 2014;Scharrer, Christmann, & Knoll, 2011), similar to findings from emotional prosody research. In addition, the power of voice has long been recognized by those who suggest that prosody can also be used to influence others (e.g., Hall, Coats, & Smith Le Beau, 2005;Juslin & Scherer, 2005;Ko, Sadler, Galinsky, 2015;Ko et al, 2015).…”