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Acoustic cues to focus and givenness in Egyptian Arabic

  • Sam Hellmuth
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Instrumental Studies in Arabic Phonetics
This chapter is in the book Instrumental Studies in Arabic Phonetics

Abstract

Hellmuth (2009) showed that contrastively focussed items are realised in an expanded pitch range in Egyptian Arabic (EA), whereas items following such a focus are realised in a compressed pitch range (cf. Norlin 1989 for EA, and Chahal 2001 for Lebanese Arabic). No equivalent variation in F0 excursion was found depending on whether the item was new to the discourse or given (repeated from earlier in the discourse). The present study presents analysis of F0 excursion, duration, overall intensity and spectral tilt, in a directly parallel dataset collected from six speakers of EA, in order to test whether any of these correlates are employed in the expression of givenness in EA. Focus is found to be marked by F0 excursion only, but no prosodic correlates of givenness are observed.

Abstract

Hellmuth (2009) showed that contrastively focussed items are realised in an expanded pitch range in Egyptian Arabic (EA), whereas items following such a focus are realised in a compressed pitch range (cf. Norlin 1989 for EA, and Chahal 2001 for Lebanese Arabic). No equivalent variation in F0 excursion was found depending on whether the item was new to the discourse or given (repeated from earlier in the discourse). The present study presents analysis of F0 excursion, duration, overall intensity and spectral tilt, in a directly parallel dataset collected from six speakers of EA, in order to test whether any of these correlates are employed in the expression of givenness in EA. Focus is found to be marked by F0 excursion only, but no prosodic correlates of givenness are observed.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. Transliteration and transcription symbols for Arabic xi
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Part I. Issues in syntagmatic structure
  8. Preliminary study of Moroccan Arabic word-initial consonant clusters and syllabification using electromagnetic articulography 29
  9. An acoustic phonetic study of quantity and quantity complementarity in Swedish and Iraqi Arabic 47
  10. Assimilation of /l/ to /r/ in Syrian Arabic 63
  11. Part II. Guttural consonants
  12. A study of the laryngeal and pharyngeal consonants in Jordanian Arabic using nasoendoscopy, videofluoroscopy and spectrography 101
  13. A phonetic study of guttural laryngeals in Palestinian Arabic using laryngoscopic and acoustic analysis 129
  14. Airflow and acoustic modelling of pharyngeal and uvular consonants in Moroccan Arabic 141
  15. Part III. Emphasis and coronal consonants
  16. Nasoendoscopic, videofluoroscopic and acoustic study of plain and emphatic coronals in Jordanian Arabic 165
  17. Acoustic and electromagnetic articulographic study of pharyngealisation 193
  18. Investigating the emphatic feature in Iraqi Arabic 217
  19. Glottalisation and neutralisation in Yemeni Arabic and Mehri 235
  20. The phonetics of localising uvularisation in Ammani-Jordanian Arabic 257
  21. EMA, endoscopic, ultrasound and acoustic study of two secondary articulations in Moroccan Arabic 277
  22. Part IV. Intonation and acquisition
  23. Acoustic cues to focus and givenness in Egyptian Arabic 301
  24. Acquisition of Lebanese Arabic and Yorkshire English /l/ by bilingual and monolingual children 325
  25. Appendix 355
  26. Index 359
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.319.14hel

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. Transliteration and transcription symbols for Arabic xi
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Part I. Issues in syntagmatic structure
  8. Preliminary study of Moroccan Arabic word-initial consonant clusters and syllabification using electromagnetic articulography 29
  9. An acoustic phonetic study of quantity and quantity complementarity in Swedish and Iraqi Arabic 47
  10. Assimilation of /l/ to /r/ in Syrian Arabic 63
  11. Part II. Guttural consonants
  12. A study of the laryngeal and pharyngeal consonants in Jordanian Arabic using nasoendoscopy, videofluoroscopy and spectrography 101
  13. A phonetic study of guttural laryngeals in Palestinian Arabic using laryngoscopic and acoustic analysis 129
  14. Airflow and acoustic modelling of pharyngeal and uvular consonants in Moroccan Arabic 141
  15. Part III. Emphasis and coronal consonants
  16. Nasoendoscopic, videofluoroscopic and acoustic study of plain and emphatic coronals in Jordanian Arabic 165
  17. Acoustic and electromagnetic articulographic study of pharyngealisation 193
  18. Investigating the emphatic feature in Iraqi Arabic 217
  19. Glottalisation and neutralisation in Yemeni Arabic and Mehri 235
  20. The phonetics of localising uvularisation in Ammani-Jordanian Arabic 257
  21. EMA, endoscopic, ultrasound and acoustic study of two secondary articulations in Moroccan Arabic 277
  22. Part IV. Intonation and acquisition
  23. Acoustic cues to focus and givenness in Egyptian Arabic 301
  24. Acquisition of Lebanese Arabic and Yorkshire English /l/ by bilingual and monolingual children 325
  25. Appendix 355
  26. Index 359
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