Tonal placement in Tashlhiyt: How an intonation system accommodates to adverse phonological environments

In most languages, words contain vowels, elements of high intensity with rich harmonic structure, enabling the  perceptual retrieval of pitch. By contrast, in Tashlhiyt, a Berber language, words can be composed entirely of voiceless segments. When an utterance consists of such words, the phonetic opportunity for the execution of intonational pitch movements is exceptionally limited. This book explores in a series of production and perception experiments how these typologically rare phonotactic patterns interact with intonational aspects of linguistic structure. It turns out that Tashlhiyt allows for a tremendously flexible placement of tonal events. Observed intonational structures can be conceived of as different solutions to a functional dilemma: The requirement to realise meaningful pitch movements in certain positions and the extent to which segments lend themselves to a clear manifestation of these pitch movements

An exploration of the rhythm of Malay

In recent years there has been a surge of interest in speech rhythm. However we still lack a clear understanding of the nature of rhythm and rhythmic differences across languages. Various metrics have been proposed as means for measuring rhythm on the phonetic level and making typological comparisons between languages (Ramus et al, 1999; Grabe & Low, 2002; Dellwo, 2006) but the debate is ongoing on the extent to which these metrics capture the rhythmic basis of speech (Arvaniti, 2009; Fletcher, in press). Furthermore, cross linguistic studies of rhythm have covered a relatively small number of languages and research on previously unclassified languages is necessary to fully develop the typology of rhythm. This study examines the rhythmic features of Malay, for which, to date, relatively little work has been carried out on aspects rhythm and timing. The material for the analysis comprised 10 sentences produced by 20 speakers of standard Malay (10 males and 10 females). The recordings were first analysed using rhythm metrics proposed by Ramus et. al (1999) and Grabe & Low (2002). These metrics (∆C, %V, rPVI, nPVI) are based on durational measurements of vocalic and consonantal intervals. The results indicated that Malay clustered with other so-called syllable-timed languages like French and Spanish on the basis of all metrics. However, underlying the overall findings for these metrics there was a large degree of variability in values across speakers and sentences, with some speakers having values in the range typical of stressed-timed languages like English. Further analysis has been carried out in light of Fletcher’s (in press) argument that measurements based on duration do not wholly reflect speech rhythm as there are many other factors that can influence values of consonantal and vocalic intervals, and Arvaniti’s (2009) suggestion that other features of speech should also be considered in description of rhythm to discover what contributes to listeners’ perception of regularity. Spectrographic analysis of the Malay recordings brought to light two parameters that displayed consistency and regularity for all speakers and sentences: the duration of individual vowels and the duration of intervals between intensity minima. This poster presents the results of these investigations and points to connections between the features which seem to be consistently regulated in the timing of Malay connected speech and aspects of Malay phonology. The results are discussed in light of current debate on the descriptions of rhythm

Kysyvän funktion vaikutus spontaanin ja luetun suomen intonaatioon

Goals This study aims to map the effect of interrogative function on the intonation of spontaneous and read Finnish. Earlier research shows that the most prominent feature in Finnish question intonation is an appeal to the listener. Question word questions typically start with a high peak which is followed by falling intonation. In yes/no questions, F0 remains on a high level until the word carrying sentence stress and then falls. Final rises are mainly found in intonation clichés such as "Ai mitä?" ("What?") These earlier results are based on read speech and enacted dialogues. In this study, questions and statements found in spontaneous dialogues were compared. These utterances were also compared with read versions of the same utterances. Fundamental frequency values were compared using a mixed model. Contours were also grouped using auditory and visual inspection. Thus it was possible to compare frequencies of contour types according to utterance type and speech style. The position of questions in the F0 distribution of the whole material was also investigated in this study. Method he material consisted of four spontaneous dialogues and their read versions. The speakers were young adults from the Helsinki metropolitan area, four females and four males. The whole material was first divided into broad dialogue function categories arising from the material and F0 curves were calculated for each category. After this, 277 questions and 244 statements were selected for closer inspection. Values reflecting F0 distribution and contour shape were measured from the F0 contours of these utterances. A mixed model was used to analyse the differences. Utterance type, question type, speech style and speaker gender were used as fixed effects. The frequencies of F0 contour types were compared using a Chi square test. Additional material in this study came from eight young female speakers in central Finland. Results and conclusions In the mixed model analysis, significant differences were found both between questions and statements and between spontaneous and read speech. Generally, utterance type affected the variables reflecting contour type while speech style affected the variables reflecting F0 distribution. The effect of question type was not clearly visible. In read speech the contours resembled earlier results more closely. Speakers had different strategies in differentiating between questions and statements. In the whole material, F0 was slightly higher in questions than in statements. The effect of dialectal background could be seen in the contour types. The results show that interrogative function affects intonation in both spontaneous and read Finnish.Tavoitteet Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, miten kysyvä funktio vaikuttaa spontaanin ja luetun suomen intonaatioon. Aiemmat tutkimukset osoittavat, että suomen kysymysintonaatiossa voimakkaimmin ilmenevä piirre on vetoomus kuulijaan. Kysymyssanakysymyksille on tyypillistä alun korkea huippu, jonka jälkeen perustaajuus laskee. Tästä poiketen kO-kysymyksissä perustaajuus säilyy korkealla lausepainolliseen sanaan saakka ja laskee vasta sen jälkeen. Nouseva loppu esiintyy lähinnä kiteytyneissä ilmauksissa kuten "Ai mitä?" Aiemmat tulokset perustuvat lukupuhuntaan ja näyteltyihin dialogeihin. Tutkimuksessa verrattiin spontaanipuheesta löytyviä kysymyksiä ja väitteitä keskenään. Toisena vertailukohtana olivat tutkittavat lauseet lukupuhuntana. Lauseista mitattuja perustaajuusarvoja verrattiin tilastollisen monitasomallin avulla. Lisäksi kontuurit tyypiteltiin auditiivisen ja visuaalisen havainnon perusteella. Tämä mahdollisti kontuurityyppien frekvenssien vertailun lausetyypin ja puhetyylin mukaan. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin myös kysymysten asemaa koko aineiston perustaajuusjakaumassa. Menetelmät Tutkimusaineisto koostui neljästä dialogista sekä litteroitujen vuorosanojen luetuista toisinnoista. Puhujat olivat nuoria aikuisia pääkaupunkiseudulta. Kumpaakin sukupuolta edusti neljä puhujaa. Ensin koko aineisto jaettiin väljiin aineistolähtöisiin dialogifunktioluokkiin, joiden perustaajuuskäyrät laskettiin kokonaisuudessaan. Tämän jälkeen rajattiin 277 kysymystä ja 244 väitettä tarkempaa tutkimusta varten. Ilmauksista laskettiin perustaajuuskäyrät, joista mitattiin jakaumaa ja muotoa kuvastavia tunnuslukuja. Tilastollisen monitasomallin avulla etsittiin selittäviä tekijöitä näissä mittaustuloksissa esiintyviin eroihin. Selittäjinä käytettiin lause- ja kysymystyyppiä, puhetyyliä ja puhujan sukupuolta. Kontuurityyppien esiintymistä vertailtiin Khin neliötestin avulla. Täydentävänä aineistona oli lukupuhuntaa kahdeksalta keskisuomalaiselta naispuhujalta. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset Monitasomallinnuksessa merkitseviä eroja löytyi sekä kysymysten ja väitteiden välillä että spontaanipuheen ja lukupuhunnan välillä. Lausetyypillä oli vaikutusta erityisesti kontuurin muotoon ja puhetyylillä taas perustaajuusjakaumaan. Kysymystyypin vaikutus ei tämän kokoisessa aineistossa näkynyt selvästi. Lukupuhunnassa kontuurit muistuttivat selvemmin aiempien tutkimusten tuloksia. Eri puhujilla oli erilaisia tapoja erottaa kysymykset väitteistä. Koko aineiston tasolla perustaajuus oli hieman korkeampi kysymyksissä kuin väitteissä. Murretaustan vaikutus näkyi kontuurityyppien erilaisena jakaumana keskisuomalaisilla puhujilla. Tulokset osoittavat, että kysyvä funktio vaikuttaa intonaatioon sekä spontaanissa että luetussa suomessa