Do complex pitch gestures induce syllable lengthening in Catalan and Spanish?
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Pilar Prieto
Abstract
In both Spanish and Catalan, narrow contrastive focus and presentational broad focus in nuclear position have different pitch accent choices, namely a rising or a falling pitch accent, respectively. In words with final stress, narrow contrastive focus displays a rise-fall complex pitch gesture in the last syllable of the utterance. This article investigates the effects of the complexity of such a pitch pattern on the durational properties of the syllables in both languages when compared to the simpler falling pitch movement. The results of the production experiment reveal that, in general, the presence of a complex pitch pattern tends to have a lengthening effect on the target syllable. Yet we also find that some instances of this complex contour can be partially truncated, in which case it does not trigger lengthening. In sum, even though truncation and compression have been claimed to be language- and dialect-specific strategies (Ladd 1996; Grabe 1998; Grabe et al. 2000), in our data, truncation can be considered a speaker phonetic realization strategy that interacts with timing in such a way that there is a trade-off relationship between the two factors.
Abstract
In both Spanish and Catalan, narrow contrastive focus and presentational broad focus in nuclear position have different pitch accent choices, namely a rising or a falling pitch accent, respectively. In words with final stress, narrow contrastive focus displays a rise-fall complex pitch gesture in the last syllable of the utterance. This article investigates the effects of the complexity of such a pitch pattern on the durational properties of the syllables in both languages when compared to the simpler falling pitch movement. The results of the production experiment reveal that, in general, the presence of a complex pitch pattern tends to have a lengthening effect on the target syllable. Yet we also find that some instances of this complex contour can be partially truncated, in which case it does not trigger lengthening. In sum, even though truncation and compression have been claimed to be language- and dialect-specific strategies (Ladd 1996; Grabe 1998; Grabe et al. 2000), in our data, truncation can be considered a speaker phonetic realization strategy that interacts with timing in such a way that there is a trade-off relationship between the two factors.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Between phonetics and phonology
- Schwa in American English V+/r/ sequences 15
- Perception of word stress in Castilian Spanish 35
- Do complex pitch gestures induce syllable lengthening in Catalan and Spanish? 51
- Cues to contrastive focus in Romanian 71
- The phonetics of sentence-initial topic and focus in adult and child Dutch 91
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Part II. Segmental and prosodic interactions
- Prosodic structure and consonant development across languages 109
- Rhythmic and prosodic contrast in Venetan and Sicilian Italian 137
- Stem boundary and stress effects on syllabification in Spanish 159
- Prosodic and segmental effects on vowel intrusion duration in Spanish /rC/ clusters 181
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Part III. Interactions between segments and features
- Acoustic and aerodynamic factors in the interaction of features 205
- Fixed and variable properties of the palatalization of dental stops in Brazilian Portuguese 235
- Post-tonic vowel harmony in some dialects of Central Italy 247
- Vowel reduction and vowel harmony in Eastern Catalan loanword phonology 267
- Index of Subjects and Languages 287
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Between phonetics and phonology
- Schwa in American English V+/r/ sequences 15
- Perception of word stress in Castilian Spanish 35
- Do complex pitch gestures induce syllable lengthening in Catalan and Spanish? 51
- Cues to contrastive focus in Romanian 71
- The phonetics of sentence-initial topic and focus in adult and child Dutch 91
-
Part II. Segmental and prosodic interactions
- Prosodic structure and consonant development across languages 109
- Rhythmic and prosodic contrast in Venetan and Sicilian Italian 137
- Stem boundary and stress effects on syllabification in Spanish 159
- Prosodic and segmental effects on vowel intrusion duration in Spanish /rC/ clusters 181
-
Part III. Interactions between segments and features
- Acoustic and aerodynamic factors in the interaction of features 205
- Fixed and variable properties of the palatalization of dental stops in Brazilian Portuguese 235
- Post-tonic vowel harmony in some dialects of Central Italy 247
- Vowel reduction and vowel harmony in Eastern Catalan loanword phonology 267
- Index of Subjects and Languages 287
