Phonological conditioning of peak alignment in rising pitch accents in Dutch

This paper deals with the factors that influence the alignment of F0 movements with phonetic segments. It reports two experiments on the alignment of rising prenuclear pitch accents in Dutch. In experiment 1, it is shown that the final peak of the rise is aligned at the end of the vowel if the accented syllable contains a long vowel, but during the following consonant if the accented syllable contains a short vowel. The beginning of the rise is consistently aligned at the beginning of the accented syllable. Experiment 2 attempts to distinguish between two explanations for this finding: (1) a durational account, in which the F0 rise takes a certain amount of time and overruns into the following consonant if the vowel is short; and (2) a structural account, in which the peak of the rise is seen as a tonal target aligned with the end of the syllable (which is structurally earlier for long vowels than for short vowels). The data partially support both accounts. There is an alignment difference despite a lack of durational difference, which supports the structure-based account. However, the effect is reduced compared to experiment 1, showing that time pressure may work against the ideal alignment.