Title: Intonational%20Meaning%20in%20Discourse
1Intonational Meaning in Discourse
- Jennifer J. Venditti
- Tutorial for the IRCS 5th Annual Undergraduate
Summer Workshop in Cognitive Science - 18 June 2002
2Intonation makes the difference
- A Id like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
- B TWA doesnt fly there ...
- B1 They fly to Des Moines.
- B2 They fly to Des Moines.
- A What types of foods are a good source of
vitamins? - B1 Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
- B2 Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
- A1 I met Mary and Elenas mother at the mall
yesterday. - A2 I met Mary and Elenas mother at the mall
yesterday.
3Intonation is about ...
- Pitch
- Melody, or tune
- Alignment
- Prominence and focus
- Chunking, or phrasing
- ... and more ...
4Vocal fold vibration
Physical Fundamental frequency (F0) ? rate of
vibration of the vocal folds Perceptual Pitch
fundamental freq.
perceived pitch
UCLA Phonetics Lab demo
5Pitch range
- Differences can be due to physical size, gender,
social identity, excitement level, linguistic,
etc ...
6English Pitch Accents
- Certain words in the speech stream can be made
structurally and perceptually prominent by the
use of pitch accents.
Lenora works for Lucent.
- Pitch accents are local pitch movements (e.g.
rising, falling) or pitch maxima/minima that
accompany these metrically strong syllables.
- The intonational tune is the melody that is
created by sequences of pitch accents over an
utterance.
7Intonational tunes What do they mean?
- Lenora works for Lucent.
- Lenora works for Lucent.
- Lenora works for Lucent.
- Lenora works for Lucent.
Tell me something about the world ...
... Really? I wasnt aware of that.
... I hope she doesnt have stock options.
Ive told you a million times ...
See works by Bolinger, Ladd, Hirschberg ...
8Perception experiment
- Speaker 1 Rodents are the only pets that chew up
their cages. - Speaker 2 Guinea pigs chew their cages ......
- Â
- Speaker 1 has made a generalization about
rodents. Speaker 2 then responds by pointing to
the case of guinea pigs, which are either a
supporting example or a counterexample, depending
on whether they are classed as rodents or not. - You see on your answer sheet
- I) Rodents are the only pets that chew up their
cages. - Â
- A) Indeed. _____________, and they're rodents.
(supporting example) - B) Really?______________, and they're not
rodents. (counterexample) - Exercise kindly provided by Mary Beckman, taken
from forthcoming textbook Pierrehumbert
Beckman Laboratory Phonology.
9What is the difference?
(supporting example)
(counterexample)
- The alignment of the tune with the segments is
different.
10Experiment results
Percent of indeed responses
Peak latency (ms) from onset of accented vowel
- Peak latency is correlated with response the
earlier the peak, the more indeed responses.
11Another example
- A Id like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
- B TWA doesnt fly there ...
- B1 They fly to Des Moines.
- B2 They fly to Des Moines.
12Alignment differences cue assertion vs.
suggestion
- A Id like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
- B TWA doesnt fly there ...
13Alignment with different words
Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
? broad focus
A What types of foods are a good source of
vitamins?
- B LEGUMES are a good source of vitamins.
? narrow focus
Legumes are a good source of VITAMINS.
14Placement of focal accent
LEGUMES are a good source of vitamins
The rise-fall tune ( I assert this) shifts
locations.
15Placement of focal accent
Legumes are a GOOD source of vitamins
The rise-fall tune ( I assert this) shifts
locations.
16Placement of focal accent
legumes are a good source of VITAMINS
The rise-fall tune ( I assert this) shifts
locations.
17Focus of a Y-N question
are LEGUMES a good source of vitamins
Rise from the focal accent to the end of the
sentence.
18Focus of a Y-N question
are legumes a GOOD source of vitamins
Rise from the focal accent to the end of the
sentence.
19Focus of a Y-N question
are legumes a good source of VITAMINS
Rise from the focal accent to the end of the
sentence.
20Which word is focused?
- a green car
- a white boat
- a blue bus
- a green boat
- a black car
cream and coffee? honey and eggs? bread and
jam? coffee and honey? bread and milk?
from Prosody on the Web tutorial on focus
21Chunking, or phrasing
- A1 I met Mary and Elenas mother at the mall
yesterday. - A2 I met Mary and Elenas mother at the mall
yesterday.
22Phrasing can disambiguate
Mary Elenas mother
mall
I met Mary and Elenas mother at the mall
yesterday
One intonation phrase with relatively flat
overall pitch range.
23Phrasing can disambiguate
Elenas mother
mall
Mary
I met Mary and Elenas mother at the mall
yesterday
Separate phrases, with expanded pitch movements.
24Lists of numbers, nouns
- twenty.eight.five
- ninety.four.three
- seventy.three.seven
- forty.seven.seven
- seventy.seven.seven
- coffee cake and cream
- chocolate ice cream and cake
- fish fingers and bottles
- cheese sandwiches and milk
- cream buns and chocolate
from Prosody on the Web tutorial on chunking
25Adjective scope ambiguity
- Phrasing can help resolve scope ambiguity
- French bread and cheese
French bread and cheese
French bread and cheese
from Prosody on the Web tutorial on chunking
26How about these ambiguities?
- Temporary ambiguity
- When Madonna sings the song ...
- from Speer Kjelgaard (1992)
- Global ambiguity
- John doesnt drink because hes unhappy.
- Sally saw the man with the binoculars.
27Summary
- Intonational meaning
- Pitch range can cue expressiveness or interest
... - Pitch accents make certain words prominent ...
- Intonational tunes lend pragmatic meaning ...
- Alignment with syllable is a cue to meaning ...
- Focal accent can shift depending on the question
under discussion ... - Intonational phrasing can disambiguate scope or
structural ambiguities ...
28References
- Introductory readings on intonational form and
function - Bolinger, D. (1972) Intonation introduction and
chapter 1. Penguin Books, Ltd. - Ladd, D.R. (1996) Intonational Phonology.
Cambridge Univ. Press. - Kadmon, N. (2001) Formal Pragmatics chapter 12.
Blackwell Publ. - Beckman, M. J. Pierrehumbert (1986)
Intonational structure in Japanese and English.
Phonology Yearbook 3 255-309. - Pierrehumbert, J. Hirschberg (1990) The meaning
of intonational contours in interpretation of
discourse. In Cohen, et al. (eds.) Intentions in
Communication. MIT Press. - Other sources sited in this presentation
- Prosody on the Web www.eptotd.btinternet.co.uk/p
ow/powin.htm - Speer, S. and M. Kjelgaard (1992) Prosodic
resolution of temporary syntactic ambiguity.
Paper presented at the 25th Annual Congress of
Psychology, Brussels.