Duration and fundamental frequency in sentence-final intonation

Abstract

Phonetically matched finished and unfinished sentences in English and in Hebrew were recorded by a female speaker of each language. Fundamental frequency ( F 0 ) and durational measures were obtained to determine the acoustic features which signal finality in the two languages. The results indicated that English and Hebrew make similar use of the various aspects of F 0 in distinguishing between finished and unfinished utterances. Final segments in unfinished sentences of both languages showed higher F 0 peaks, higher valleys and smaller F 0 falls relative to their finished counterparts. Unfinished sentences in both Hebrew and English exhibited continuation rises. The “ P 1 effect” was supported by neither language; starting F 0 values did not differ in finished and unfinished sentences. Whereas segments were longer in sentence-final versus phrase-final position in English, finished and unfinished sentences in Hebrew revealed no durational differences. These results are consistent with cross-linguistic data indicating that the magnitude of final lengthening is greater in English than in other languages. Moreover the finding that final stressed syllables in Hebrew and English show almost identical patterns of F 0 movement while exhibiting no parallel similarities in duration, supports the independence of timing and F 0 in sentence production.