Final lowering in non-final position

Abstract

This article argues that a factor contributing to final lowering in intonation is that H tones preceding downstep are scaled higher than H tones not preceding downstep, all else being equal. Final lowering is argued to be (in part) the absence of this effect with the last element of a sequence of downstepped tones. The evidence comes from intonation data recorded with speakers of German from Southern Germany and Austria. In two structures, a sequence of downstepped prenuclear pitch accents PA 1!PA 2…!PA n−1 is continued with a nuclear pitch accent PA n that is not downstepped. In both structures, final lowering is found on the last downstepped pitch accent PA n−1 , crucially in penultimate position of the intonation phrase. Here potential triggers for final lowering in the environment are not present (phrase-final position) or present only in one structure (a following L% boundary tone). The application of final lowering in these cases shows that there is a factor contributing to final lowering that affects accentual tones not followed by downstep, regardless of the environment.