Ling 441 - Advanced Phonetics - Intonation + TOBI, part 2

[@enriquecamara6361]

Again, thanks so much for the video. I come from a different background, but I truly appreciate this introduction to ToBi. 12:18 In my perception of it, there are two interdependent IPs in here. IP 1: /And the ˅PEACH colors/; IP2: /↘ON the walls// [/And the ˅PEACH colors/↘ON the walls//]. IP 1 has a fall-rise as nuclear tone, beginning on 'peach', coming down onto 'co-', and rising back up on '-lors'. The IP boundary is signaled by this melodic fluctuation (a typical fall-rise ˅) without jucture pause between the interdependent IPs. The second IP undergoes tail-stretching, that is, the stress is not on 'walls' (last lexical element, as expected) but on the preposition 'on'. I clearly hear 'ON the walls' rather than 'on the WALLS'. Why the speaker does this, it is uncertain to me; it probably introduces expressivity, style, musicality, interest, entertaining deviation for kids, ... there might be other contextual explanations (including the fact that kids are seeing the painting, etc.). The idea that the accent is to be found in the most noticeable word is problematic. You said that 'wall' is the second most catchy word. Well, 'wall' is more noticeable than 'on' because it is a lexical item, despite the fact that intonation makes the preposition 'on' unexpectedly prominent in this particular recording. I wonder if in ToBi terms you could express my perception/analysis as: H* L-H% for 'And the PEACH colors', and H*L% for 'on the walls'. Put together we might get something like: H* L-H% (3?) H*L%. The more I listen, the clearest I see it. But I'm aware that this might invoke anathema from ToBi experts. Does it? Thanks

[@cognitivephonetician]

Hi--I'm not sure I'd really call myself a TOBI expert so much as I'm a phonetician who's trained in that tradition! And even among trained transcribers, you'd expect there to be disagreements about how to transcribe any individual token that you'd have to hash out in a discussion. I've presented this particular token so many times in lectures that it's not easy for me to hear it differently than I do already. I kind of hear what you're saying about "on", but I'm wondering if maybe that's a bit of perceptual residue from the F0 rise on the syllable that precedes it? From my perspective, that particular syllable just goes by too fast to consider it to be accented. (You might try to compare it with a contrastively focused "And the peach colors ON the walls, not under them." to get a sense of what a clear accent on "on" would sound like.) I'm not familiar enough with your transcription approach to comment on it meaningfully, but yes, it does sound like there's a fall-rise sequence on "peach colors" here. If anything, though, I hear more of a break after "peach" than after "colors". I don't really hear much of a break at all after "colors", actually, which is why I'd be reluctant to transcribe any sort of 3 or 4 break there.

[@enriquecamara6361]

@@cognitivephonetician Thanks again! There's something of a cognitive projection at work here, isn't there? I work with the sentence until I manage to reduce it to my transcription conventions, and then I only hear that! I suggested that the stress was on "ON" (which, interestingly, does not usually have a weak form), but I must agree with you that the recording is not narrowing the focus on the preposition in order to suggest any contrasts (with under for example). However, the recording is peculiar, ↘isn't it? It is sort of fancy reading, sort of arty, for kids... I might sugest a Solomonic solution here. "ON" is too short for narrowing the focus on itself, you are right, but... its pitch is unexpectedly (productively) high! The British tradition from where I come has concentrated mostly on what happens from the beginning of the nuclear tone to the end of the IP (the tone, or tune). What we have here is something, of an expressive/stylistic nature, that happens within the (pre-)head of the IP (before the nuclear tone). I'm less familiar with this part of the syllalbus, which I never got to teach. My second attemp at ToBi rendering would go as H* L-H% (3?) H* L* L%. (three pitch accents! My god!) I don't know if it makes any sense. I see it clear now!!! (lol) [I will not bother you now with my understanding of 3, 4 and IP boundaries] Thank you very much for your responses and your suggestions. I'll be glad to continue the dialogue if you wish, if you don't, thanks so much for your generosity and for the good work!

[@jamilshahror2920]

I'm preparing for my MA dissertation around a proposed relation between prosody and punctuation, and this is really helpful; thanks a lot!

[@lauragwilliams4806]

Could you share the reference to the peach colours study? Thanks!

[@cognitivephonetician]

We never actually wound up getting that one out in print, but you can check out a presentation version of it here: www.uofclinguistics.org/research/presentations/CurtinWinters2011.pdf

[@강강-d8s]

7:06

[@mohamedothman596]

Thanks a lot for the insightful and illuminating videos on ToBI, I'd really appreciate it if I got your email. Thanks in advance