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Evidence for attractors in English intonation.
Bettina Braun1, Greg Kochanski, Esther Grabe
1Phonetics Laboratory, University of Oxford, 41 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JF, United Kingdom.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|July 15, 2006
Summary
Human voice pitch imitation reveals that speech intonation converges to a limited set of basic English patterns. This suggests intonation is more structured than previously thought, influencing linguistic representations.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Phonetics
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- The continuous variability of human voice pitch contrasts with linguistic theories suggesting limited intonation patterns.
- Understanding the underlying structure of intonation is crucial for theories of speech production and perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether speakers converge towards a limited set of intonation patterns when imitating novel contours.
- To determine if these patterns function as 'attractors' in the space of possible intonation contours.
Main Methods:
- Subjects imitated 100 random intonation contours.
- Participants repeatedly imitated their own productions over several sessions.
- Analysis focused on the convergence of fundamental frequency (f0) contours.
Main Results:
- Produced f0 contours gradually converged towards a limited set of distinct, recognized basic English intonation patterns.
- These patterns acted as 'attractors' for the imitated contours.
- Convergence was not immediate, with seven of ten participants showing continued convergence after the first iteration.
Conclusions:
- Speech intonation appears to be constrained by a limited set of underlying patterns or 'attractors'.
- Speakers retain and utilize information beyond basic phonological contrasts in intonation.
- Intonational phonology alone may not fully account for the mental representation of intonation.