Voice source dynamics in intonation

Abstract

A qualitative analysis of voice source dynamics is presented for utterances varying in focal place- ment, with falling (F) and rising (R) pitch. Source parameters, F0, EE, UP, RG, OQ and RD were obtained by manual inverse filtering and parameterization. Results for F sentences suggest that focalization depends on the balancing of focal and non-focal portions of the entire IP. Local prominence-enhancing shifts (towards tenser phonation) are complemented by deaccentuation of post-focal material. While the broad trends are similar in F and R contours, the rising F0 of the R sentences appears to counteract the deaccentuation pattern found with the F contours. Thus, focal accentuation yields less source differentiation in the later portions of the IP.