Sources of variation in tonal alignment: Evidence from acoustic and kinematic data

Abstract

This study is concerned with the alignment of f0 peaks in rising LH pitch accents in German, both in relation to acoustically defined segments, referred to as segmental anchors, as well as to dynamically defined speech gestures, referred to as articulatory anchors. The effects investigated were the effects of syllable structure (test words ˈ CV:CV and ˈ CVCV, where the test syllable is open or closed, respectively), dialectal background (the varieties of German spoken in Düsseldorf and Vienna), and accent status in the intonational hierarchy (prenuclear and nuclear accents). As reported for related languages, peaks in closed syllables tended to be later than those in open syllables. However, it was only in nuclear accents that those differences were systematic for all four speakers. Thus only limited support can be provided for an alignment with the syllable edge. Although there was a tendency for Southern varieties to have later peaks than Northern ones, as also found in previous studies, alignment latencies of individual speakers in the two dialectal groups overlapped. These results support a gradient view of dialectal variation in tonal alignment. In this view, dialectal differences are not represented symbolically. Rather, the rising accents used by speakers of both varieties can be adequately captured with one symbolic representation. When comparing prenuclear and nuclear accents, by contrast, differences were found which could be interpreted as discrete. Whereas nuclear accent peaks were anchored to the intervocalic consonant, prenuclear accent peaks were anchored to the following unstressed vowel. This anchor shift could clearly be observed both in the acoustic and articulatory records, reflecting a difference at the symbolic level, possibly in terms of an additional tone following the LH complex.