A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Frota, Sónia
Data de Publicação: 2012
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/26455
Resumo: Production studies of the intonational signalling of focus in European Portuguese (EP) have shown that focus is expressed by a specific pitch accent type, thus revealing a systematic contrast between nuclear accents associated with different meanings. In declarative utterances, the contrast between the neutral/broad focus reading and the narrow/contrastive focus reading is essentially realized as an alignment difference: H+L* (neutral accent) and H*+L (focus accent). A pilot perceptual study using natural stimuli has shown that subjects are able to distinguish between members of neutral/focus minimal pairs and to match them to the appropriate production context. However, the perception of the contrast found in production has not yet been investigated in detail. The present paper revisits the production contrast and investigates its categorical nature using a multiple methodology approach that resorts to semantically motivated tasks. Several experiments tested whether differences in F0 peak and valley alignment would trigger a perceptual change from one meaning to the other, and whether the alignment differences pattern alike in stimuli based on a neutral and a focus sentence. In Experiment 1, stimuli were classified in a context-matching identification task. In Experiment 2, participants rated appropriateness of stimulus to context in a semantic scaling task. Finally, in Experiment 3, pairs of stimuli were discriminated in a context-matching discrimination task. The results of the three experiments provide converging evidence for the distinction between H+L* and H*+L. Moreover, they support the claim that the neutral/focus accent distinction is primarily an alignment contrast phonologically encoded at the pitch accent level. These findings have implications for the understanding of the nature of intonational contrasts, and the discussion about the approaches and methods to define prosodic categories.
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spelling A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perceptionFocusPerceptionPitch accent typeProduction studies of the intonational signalling of focus in European Portuguese (EP) have shown that focus is expressed by a specific pitch accent type, thus revealing a systematic contrast between nuclear accents associated with different meanings. In declarative utterances, the contrast between the neutral/broad focus reading and the narrow/contrastive focus reading is essentially realized as an alignment difference: H+L* (neutral accent) and H*+L (focus accent). A pilot perceptual study using natural stimuli has shown that subjects are able to distinguish between members of neutral/focus minimal pairs and to match them to the appropriate production context. However, the perception of the contrast found in production has not yet been investigated in detail. The present paper revisits the production contrast and investigates its categorical nature using a multiple methodology approach that resorts to semantically motivated tasks. Several experiments tested whether differences in F0 peak and valley alignment would trigger a perceptual change from one meaning to the other, and whether the alignment differences pattern alike in stimuli based on a neutral and a focus sentence. In Experiment 1, stimuli were classified in a context-matching identification task. In Experiment 2, participants rated appropriateness of stimulus to context in a semantic scaling task. Finally, in Experiment 3, pairs of stimuli were discriminated in a context-matching discrimination task. The results of the three experiments provide converging evidence for the distinction between H+L* and H*+L. Moreover, they support the claim that the neutral/focus accent distinction is primarily an alignment contrast phonologically encoded at the pitch accent level. These findings have implications for the understanding of the nature of intonational contrasts, and the discussion about the approaches and methods to define prosodic categories.De GruyterRepositório da Universidade de LisboaFrota, Sónia2017-02-09T19:04:30Z20122012-01-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/26455engFrota, S. (2012). A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and Perception. In G. Elordieta & P. Prieto (eds). Prosody and Meaning. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 163-196.10.1515/9783110261790.163info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-11-20T17:32:55Zoai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/26455Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openairemluisa.alvim@gmail.comopendoar:71602024-11-20T17:32:55Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception
title A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception
spellingShingle A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception
Frota, Sónia
Focus
Perception
Pitch accent type
title_short A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception
title_full A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception
title_fullStr A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception
title_full_unstemmed A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception
title_sort A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and perception
author Frota, Sónia
author_facet Frota, Sónia
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Frota, Sónia
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Focus
Perception
Pitch accent type
topic Focus
Perception
Pitch accent type
description Production studies of the intonational signalling of focus in European Portuguese (EP) have shown that focus is expressed by a specific pitch accent type, thus revealing a systematic contrast between nuclear accents associated with different meanings. In declarative utterances, the contrast between the neutral/broad focus reading and the narrow/contrastive focus reading is essentially realized as an alignment difference: H+L* (neutral accent) and H*+L (focus accent). A pilot perceptual study using natural stimuli has shown that subjects are able to distinguish between members of neutral/focus minimal pairs and to match them to the appropriate production context. However, the perception of the contrast found in production has not yet been investigated in detail. The present paper revisits the production contrast and investigates its categorical nature using a multiple methodology approach that resorts to semantically motivated tasks. Several experiments tested whether differences in F0 peak and valley alignment would trigger a perceptual change from one meaning to the other, and whether the alignment differences pattern alike in stimuli based on a neutral and a focus sentence. In Experiment 1, stimuli were classified in a context-matching identification task. In Experiment 2, participants rated appropriateness of stimulus to context in a semantic scaling task. Finally, in Experiment 3, pairs of stimuli were discriminated in a context-matching discrimination task. The results of the three experiments provide converging evidence for the distinction between H+L* and H*+L. Moreover, they support the claim that the neutral/focus accent distinction is primarily an alignment contrast phonologically encoded at the pitch accent level. These findings have implications for the understanding of the nature of intonational contrasts, and the discussion about the approaches and methods to define prosodic categories.
publishDate 2012
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2012
2012-01-01T00:00:00Z
2017-02-09T19:04:30Z
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10451/26455
url http://hdl.handle.net/10451/26455
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Frota, S. (2012). A focus intonational morpheme in European Portuguese: Production and Perception. In G. Elordieta & P. Prieto (eds). Prosody and Meaning. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 163-196.
10.1515/9783110261790.163
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv De Gruyter
publisher.none.fl_str_mv De Gruyter
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
instacron:RCAAP
instname_str Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
instacron_str RCAAP
institution RCAAP
reponame_str Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
collection Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
repository.name.fl_str_mv Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
repository.mail.fl_str_mv mluisa.alvim@gmail.com
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