EVIDENCE FOR TONAL IDENTITY FROM PEAK SCALING UNDER PITCH SPAN VARIATION

Martine Grice, Stefan Baumann & Nils Jagdfeld
IfL Phonetik, University of Cologne

ID 1214
[full paper]

In a reading task we investigate the scaling of pitch accents in neutral and lively speech in German. We first show that lively speech tends to increase the pitch span, raising the F0 targets for H tones but little affecting those for L tones. We then investigate the scaling of a tone whose identity is controversial: the second tone, X, of an early peak accent (H+X*). This pitch accent is employed on inferentially accessible referents and has been analysed as H+!H* as well as H+L*. Our finding that the F0 target for X is clearly raised in lively speech favours its analysis as a downstepped high tone in a H+!H* pitch accent.