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Pointed and plateau-shaped pitch accents in North Frisian

Pointed and plateau-shaped pitch accents in North Frisian Abstract Our study presents the initial results of an analysis of North Frisian intonation, based on a spontaneous interview corpus of Fering, the dialect of the island of Föhr off the west coast of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The corpus was recorded more than 50 years ago during fieldwork for language documentation and conservation purposes. We selected a small part of this corpus – interviews of 10 elderly speakers – and conducted multiparametric F 0 and duration measurements, focusing on nuclear rising-falling pitch accent patterns. We found strong evidence for a phonological pitch-accent distinction that relies on the difference between a pointed and a plateau-shaped F 0 peak. We suggest that the two pitch accents be represented as L+H* and H*+L, and we discuss our findings with regard to possible communicative functions, implications for intonational typology, and the trade-off between F 0 range and F 0 peak extension in conveying pitch height. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Laboratory Phonology de Gruyter

Pointed and plateau-shaped pitch accents in North Frisian

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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the
ISSN
1868-6346
eISSN
1868-6354
DOI
10.1515/lp-2015-0013
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract Our study presents the initial results of an analysis of North Frisian intonation, based on a spontaneous interview corpus of Fering, the dialect of the island of Föhr off the west coast of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The corpus was recorded more than 50 years ago during fieldwork for language documentation and conservation purposes. We selected a small part of this corpus – interviews of 10 elderly speakers – and conducted multiparametric F 0 and duration measurements, focusing on nuclear rising-falling pitch accent patterns. We found strong evidence for a phonological pitch-accent distinction that relies on the difference between a pointed and a plateau-shaped F 0 peak. We suggest that the two pitch accents be represented as L+H* and H*+L, and we discuss our findings with regard to possible communicative functions, implications for intonational typology, and the trade-off between F 0 range and F 0 peak extension in conveying pitch height.

Journal

Laboratory Phonology – de Gruyter

Published: Oct 1, 2015

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