Abstract
Fundamental-frequency contours for simple sentences with various prominence placement and intonation contours were examined to determine variation in pitch for one speaker over an 8-week period. These data were compared with the speaker-to-speaker variation of four other speakers producing the same sentences. The results show that fluctuations both in absolute frequency and in range of excursion are as great in a single speaker as those pooled over four different speakers. The only consistent factors were (1) that syllabic prominence always yields a pitch rise, (2) that questions always have a terminal pitch rise, (3) that statements always have a terminal pitch fall, and (4) there is a consistent interaction between various prominence patterns and sentence types. The range of variation in level and extent of pitch rises allows only a binary distinction to be made of ± Prominence and ± Breath Group. Finer distinctions seem to carry no reliable linguistic information even within the same speaker.
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