AN ANALYSIS OF INTONATION PATTERNS IN ECUADORIAN CUENCANO SPANISH: A SP_ToBI DESCRIPTION

El Cantado Cuencano ‘Cuencano singing’ constitutes the hallmark of Cuenca citizens. This colloquially described intonational feature is what makes Cuencano Spanish one of the most prosodically interesting Andean dialects in the country of Ecuador. There is, however, a lack of scientific research conducted on this dialect’s intonation, which can be considered as under-documented up to this point. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to begin to analyze and document Cuencano Spanish intonation patterns. In addition, this research also aimed to provide scientific evidence and draw plausible conclusions to support or refute the impressionistic observations about the Indigenous origins of Cuencano singing. A sample of 550 utterances produced by 5 male and 5 female participants was collected in order to conduct this research. The sample comprised 11 categories that included declarative statements, yes/no questions, exclamative statements, wh-questions, imperatives, lists, conditionals, tag-questions, interjections, negative statements, and vocatives. The tokens were analyzed using Praat and labeled by implementing the Spanish version of the Tones and Break Indices system (Sp_ToBI). It was found that the presence of the emphatic pitch accent labeled as L+^H* and the high frequency appearance of bitonal pitch accents, such as L+H* and H+L*, in almost every token in the data set suggest that Cuencanos speak with a variety of degrees of tonal emphasis. This translates into a mixture of a substantial number of rising and falling tones found in Cuencanos’ speech. These findings account for the appearance of the highly marked singing quality of Cuencano Spanish or Cantado Cuencano. They may also be linked to impressionistic descriptions, such as esdrujulizacion, and the influence that Indigenous languages and culture had on Cuencano Spanish

Development, perceptual evaluation, and acoustic analysis of amplitude-based F0 control in Electrolarynx speech

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 2009."September 2009." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-126).An Electrolarynx (EL) is a battery-powered device that produces a sound that can be used to acoustically excite the vocal tract as a substitute for laryngeal voice production. ELs provide laryngectomy patients with the basic capability to communicate, but current EL devices produce a mechanical speech quality which has been largely attributed to the lack of natural fundamental frequency (F0) variation. In order to improve the quality of EL speech, the present study aimed to develop and evaluate an automatic F0 control scheme, in which F0 was modulated based on variations in the root-mean-squared (RMS) amplitude of the EL speech signal. Recordings of declarative sentences produced by two male subjects before and after total laryngectomy were used to develop procedures for calculating F0 contours for EL speech, and perceptual experiments and acoustic analyses were conducted to examine the impact of F0 modulation on the quality and prosodic function of the EL speech. The results of perceptual experiments showed that modulating the F0 of EL speech using a linear relationship between amplitude and frequency made it significantly more natural sounding than EL speech with constant F0, but also revealed some limitations in terms of communicating linguistic contrasts (distinction between question vs. statement and location of contrastive stress). Results are interpreted in relation to the acoustic characteristics of F0 modified EL speech and discussed in terms of their clinical implications and suggestion for improved algorithms of F0 control in EL speech.by Yoko Saikachi.Ph.D

THE EMERGENT PROSODIC SYSTEM(S) OF BILBAO-AREA STANDARD BASQUE

The aim of this study is to contribute to the larger body of research concerned with the prosodic systems of the Basque dialects currently spoken in Southern Basque country. More specifically, the author focuses on Standard Basque from the Bilbao area and its potential prosodic system(s). Standard Basque was phonologically codified by the Basque Academy, but there was no prosodic system provided by the Basque Academy. Although initial investigations have been undertaken by Hualde, more current research has shown that the standard spoken outside of the classroom is different from that which is taught (Lantto, 2019; Rodríguez-Ordóñez, 2016). Given that prosody is rarely taught within the classroom, it would not be surprising for differences to be found. The most obvious difference between Standard Basque and some of the traditional dialects is that Standard has no word-level contrastive stress; functions such as singular/plural distinctions and case are marked by postpositions. What has been determined is that the prosodic system of Standard Basque, or Batua, patterns closely to that of Gipuzkoan Basque. However, as noted by Hualde & Elordieta (2014), there is little knowledge regarding the variation of the functioning of Standard Basque’s acoustic correlates. As stated by Elordieta & Hualde (2001), it is only after a comparison of the intonational characteristics of the currently spoken dialects has been conducted that a typological categorization of Basque prosodic systems can be made. As Standard Basque was not codified with a prosodic system, it ultimately comes down to what individual speakers and speaker groups have done to account for this in their standard dialect productions. It cannot be presumed that the prosody of SB (Standard Basque) found in one region will exactly line up with prosody found in other regions; these too would need to be documented and analyzed as prosodic sub-systems. One major gap in current research is the analysis of intonation at the phrasal level; Gaminde et al. (2011) look at acoustic correlates and their respective force, but only at the word level. While Hualde looks at intonation, the study uses Gipuzkoan Basque used as a substratum, which constricts the findings to that particular dialectal region. For this reason, the dialect of Batua spoken in the Bilbao area proves to be worth investigating. The local dialect of the area was long ago lost, such that Batua could be said to be the Bilbao dialect. The revitalization movement of the 1960s brought about a significant number of new speakers, who learned the standard variety in school. To add to this, Bilbao’s presence as a major commercial hub has made it so that there is a vast number of regional vernaculars circulating throughout the area, all in contact with one another. For this study, data was taken from 6 Basque-Spanish bilinguals whose primary dialect of Basque is the standard, that participated in two experimental tasks: eliciting words in isolation in one task and eliciting neutral declaratives and yes-no questions in the other. These tasks were a means of gathering raw data on the intonation of both word and phrasal level productions. Results supports the previous findings of Gaminde et al. (2015) as well as those of Aurrekoetxea et al. (2015), in terms of how stress is realized in Standard Basque when taking into account factors such as syllable weight and syllable count. What’s more, findings also support the proposition of Hualde & Beristain (to appear) that inter-speaker variation will be heavily affected by the contact speakers have with other dialects of Basque

Phonological issues in the production of prosody by francophone and sinophone learners of english as a second language

Un accent de non-natif peut mener à une incompréhension ou à la perception de degrés différents d'accent d'étrangeté. La prosodie, qui est maintenant reconnue comme un élément important de l'impression d'étrangeté, est relativement peu abordée en recherche en acquisition des langues étrangères. Ceci contraste avec l'intérêt grandissant envers la prosodie en tant qu'élément de la langue maternelle. Dans cette thèse, la recherche phonologique est évaluée quant à sa pertinence dans la recherche sur la prosodie des langues étrangères. Deux aspects de la théorie phonologique sont étudiés: la typologie et l'organisation phonologique. Ce choix est justifié par la présomption générale que l'étrangeté prosodique est créée soit par une différence de typologie entre langue maternelle (L1) et langue étrangère (L2) soit par un transfert de traits prosodiques de la L1. La critique de la recherche en typologie phonologique conclut que, à ce stade, aucun modèle de classification prosodique n'est applicable à l'acquisition d'une L2. En particulier, l'étude démontre que certaines typologies, en particulier la théorie de l'isochronie accentuelle/l'isochronie syllabique de Pike, devraient être exclues parce qu'elles entravent les progrès en recherche sur l'acquisition et la production de la prosodie des langues étrangères. Le second aspect de la théorie phonologique étudié dans cette thèse est l'organisation phonologique. La prémisse est que les différences sous-jacentes à l'organisation prosodique plutôt que les différences phonologiques de surface sont transférées de L1 à L2. Les analyses approfondies de l'anglais nord américain, le français et le chinois standard révèlent d'importantes différences phonologiques entre l'anglais nord américain et les deux autres langues. Quatre expériences évaluent certaines de ces différences. La prosodie de l'anglais produite par des locuteurs natifs du français est analysée dans des phrases rythmiquement simples et des phrases rythmiquement plus complexes. Les résultats démontrent que l'accentuation lexicale est moins problématique que l'accentuation prosodique supra-lexicale. En particulier, il est démontré que les montées de fréquence fondamentale (F0) de début et de fin de syntagme accentuel (SA), typiques du français, sont source d'erreur dans la prosodie de l'anglais langue seconde. Il est cependant montré que cette erreur, bien que remarquée par les locuteurs natifs de l'anglais, n'affecte pas la perception de placement d'accentuation par ces derniers. La prosodie de l'anglais produite par des locuteurs natifs du chinois est analysée en termes de transfert de ton et d'alignement de pic de F0. Les résultats indiquent que les locuteurs du chinois utilisent les tons chinois quand ils produisent des tons accentuels de l'anglais; plus spécifiquement, la majorité des locuteurs utilisent le ton 2 (ton montant) quand ils produisent un ton accentuel montant. La dernière expérience révèle que les locuteurs natifs du chinois alignent le ton accentuel avec la syllabe accentuée à laquelle elle correspond de manière plus stricte que les locuteurs natifs de l'anglais nord américain le font. Les résultats de cette thèse génèrent un aperçu de la progression de la performance de la prosodie d'une langue étrangère. Les conclusions comportent des implications sur le contenu pédagogique et le format de l'enseignement de la prononciation. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Phonologie, Phonétique, Phonologie prosodique, Prosodie, Rythme, ESL, Français du Québec, Français de France, Chinois

Functional categories in the L2 acquisition of English Morpho-syntax: a longitudinal study of two Farsi-speaking children

This is a longitudinal case study of two Farsi-speaking children learning English: 'Bernard' and 'Melissa', who were 7;4 and 8;4 at the start of data collection. The research deals with the initial state and further development in the child second language (L2) acquisition of syntax regarding the presence or absence of functional categories, as well as the role and degree of L1 influence in this regard. Some studies in the field of child L1 acquisition are discussed to determine similarities or differences between child L1 and child L2 acquisition. Examining data collected from the children's spontaneous speech, the researcher's diaries and translation and other tasks over a period of 20 months, the competing claims of the two most prominent hypotheses about early L2 grammars are tested: Vainikka & Young-Scholten's (1996) Minimal Trees/Structure Building hypothesis and Schwartz & Sprouse's (1996) Full Transfer/Full Access hypothesis. Word order, use of rote-learned formulae, suppliance of copula/auxiliary be, modals, questions, case assignment, finiteness, presence of null subjects, subject-verb agreement, negation and tense marking are investigated, and the conclusion is reached that functional categories are absent at the initial state and that they emerge without the learners' reliance on their L1, consistent with Minimal Trees/Structure Building. A difference is observed between the two subjects regarding development of some aspects of verbal morphology, and standardized tests of intelligence, aptitude, verbal memory and phonological awareness show that processing speed and what can be described as 'verbalness' are important factors affecting the rate of development of these elements

Formal analysis of intonation: the case of the Kuwaiti dialect of Arabic

A formal analysis of intonation is carried out in this study, which involves an investigation of the intonation system of Kuwaiti Dialect of Arabic (KDA). Following the prosodic framework established in Britain in general and Crystal's theory in particular, intonation is viewed here as a unitary system: tonality, tonicity, and tone. Each system is individually considered (chapters four, five, and six). This study consists of six chapters. The introductory chapter (one) is made up of four distinct parts. After a brief discussion of the importance of intonation in speech, part one gradually presents the progress of knowledge in the field of intonation starting from the very early and hence impressionistic treatments until the most recent and hence adopted phonological/phonetic approach. The language under investigation is phonologically and morphologically explored in part two. Part three explicitly states research objectives, the scope of the investigation and the data, and the methodology upon which the study is based. The final part of chapter one is devoted to an independent account of Arabic intonation. Chapter two discusses different prosodic features, such as; loudness, duration, tempo, and pause, and assesses their contribution to intonational contrasts. It also explores the physical nature of pitch as the prime component of intonation. The major functions of intonation are discussed in chapter three, where it is concluded that intonation is multifunctional. Chapter four is exclusively devoted to a consideration of the grammaticality of tonality. It is concluded here, as supported by statistical investigation, that a KDA speaker paragraphs his flow of speech by means of intonation in such a way as to correspond with the structure of elements of clause rather than it being the case that "one clause is one tone group" as suggested by Halliday (1970). Chapter five discusses the communicative importance of tonicity in speech. The position of tonicity is thoroughly examined and related to the informational and grammatical constructions of the utterance in which it occurs. It is concluded that tonicity in KDA is unpredictable, and that the nucleus is position-free. Tonicity is mainly determined by the speaker's assessment of which segment (segments) to focus as guided by the nature of his message. Chapter six answers questions which are fundamentally related to the physical movement of pitch which constitutes the tone system of KDA. Functionally, pitch contour types are related to their concomitant sentence types. A bidirectional method is applied in analysing the KDA tone system; on the one hand, the 'kinetic' and 'static' movements of pitch are phonetically investigated, and on the other hand, pitch contours are phonologically grouped and functionally related through their syntactic relevance to sentence types. It is then concluded that: (a) KDA has five basic tones; rise, fall, level, rise-fall, and fall-rise, and (b) the distribution of pitch contours as related to sentence types is hardly systematic; while the unmarked/marked distinction is clear with an overwhelming frequency in declaratives (fall) and interrogatives (rise), it is certainly less obvious in the case of exclamations and totally absent in the case of commands