On the nature of preverbal focus in Greek : a theoretical and experimental approach

The relation between prosodic realization, syntactic structure, interpretation and focus has caused much debate in the literature. This thesis aims at contributing to our understanding of the semantic and prosodic properties of object foci in Greek, employing theoretical and experimental tools. The main research question is: do preverbal object foci in Greek differ from their postverbal counterparts?. In the first part of the thesis, Greek preverbal object foci are compared to their postverbal counterparts with respect to exhaustivity, contrast and discourse topichood. For this purpose, a number of tests are applied to the Greek data. On the basis of the results of the tests, it is argued that preverbal and postverbal object foci do not differ with respect to exhaustivity and contrast. It is also argued that the two differ with respect to discourse topichood. It is shown that Greek preverbal object foci are actually fronted dis course topics. In the second part of the thesis, a production and two perception experiments were carried out to investigate the phonetic properties of preverbal and postverbal object foci in Greek. Moreover, a production and a perception experiment were carried out to investigate the phonetic realization of contrast in Greek.LEI Universiteit LeidenTheoretical and Experimental Linguistic

Vragen stellen in het Frans: het gedrag van Nederlandse T2-leerders

Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic

The prosody of French wh-in-situ questions: echo vs. non-echo

This study compares the prosodic properties of French wh-in-situ echo questions and string-identical information seeking questions in relation to focus. Thirty-six (12 × 3) wh-in-situ questions were embedded in dialogues designed to elicit (A) echo questions expressing auditory failure, (B) information seeking questions with broad focus or (C) information seeking questions with narrow focus on the wh-phrase, i.e. a focus structure similar to the one of echo questions. Analyses regarding the F0, duration and intensity of the utterances produced by 20 native speakers of French show clear prosodic differences between the three conditions. Our results indicate that part of the prosodic properties of echo questions can be attributed to the presence of narrow focus (A and C vs. B) while another part is truly characteristic of echo questions themselves (A vs. B and C). In combination with known differences regarding their pragmatics, semantics and syntax, this sets echo questions apart as a separate question type. At the same time, our results offer evidence for prosodic encoding of focus in French wh-in-situ questions, confirming and adding to existing claims regarding the prosody of focus marking in French on the one hand and the presence of focus marking in wh-interrogatives on the other.Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic

On the phrasing properties of Hindi relative clauses

This paper presents results from a production experiment in Hindi, showing that differences in attachment site of object relative clauses result in prosodic differences when the antecedent of the relative clause (RC) is part of a complex NP with the structure N1 of N2. In particular, based on duration and F0 data we argue that the phrasing in a matrix sentence encodes the attachment site of the object RC. When the RC attaches high, i.e. modifying the head N1 of the complex NP, N2 and N1 form together a phonological phrase, while the verb of the matrix clause forms a phonological phrase on its own. In the case of low attachment, i.e. the RC modifies the genitive N2, the N2 forms its own phonological phrase, while N1 forms a phonological phrase with the verb of the matrix clause.Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic

The intonation and pragmatics of Greek wh-questions

We experimentally tested three hypotheses regarding the pragmatics of two tunes (one high-ending, one flat-ending) used with Greek wh-questions: (a) the high-ending tune is associated with information-seeking questions, while the flat-ending tune is also appropriate when wh-questions are not information-seeking in which case their function can instead be akin to that of a statement; (b) the high-ending tune is more polite, and (c) more appropriate for contexts leading to information-seeking questions. The wh-questions used as experimental stimuli were elicited from four speakers in contexts likely to lead to either information-seeking or non-information-seeking uses. The speakers produced distinct tunes in response to the contexts; acoustic analysis indicates these are best analysed as L*+H L-!H% (rising), and L+H* L-L% (flat). In a perception experiment where participants heard the questions out of context, they chose answers providing information significantly more frequently after high-ending than flat-ending questions, confirming hypothesis (a). In a second experiment testing hypotheses (b) and (c), participants evaluated wh-questions for appropriateness and politeness in information- and non-information-seeking contexts. High-ending questions were rated more appropriate in information-seeking contexts, and more polite independently of context relative to their flat-ending counterparts. Finally, two follow-up experiments showed that the interpretation of the two tunes was not affected by voice characteristics of individual speakers, and confirmed a participant preference for the high-ending tune. Overall, the results support our hypotheses and lead to a compositional analysis of the meaning of the two tunes, while also showing that intonational meaning is determined by both tune and pragmatic context

Greek marks Topics instead of Foci

Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic

What does prosody tell us about relative clause attachments in German. Speech Prosody 2010, 100927:1-4.

Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic

Evidence for the compositionality of tunes and intonational meaning

Contains fulltext : 220391.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)05 augustus 201

Wh-question or wh-declarative? Prosody makes the difference

NWOTheoretical and Experimental Linguistic