The role of high pitch in Tashlhiyt Tamazight (Berber): Evidence from production and perception

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the functional relevance of high pitch in Tashlhiyt Tamazight (Berber) echo questions and contrastive statements in both production and perception. Production data revealed that compared to statements: (a) questions have a higher pitch register, manifested as an overall higher pitch level and a wider pitch span, (b) questions are more often realized with a pitch peak on the final syllable, and that (c) this pitch peak in questions tends to be realised later in the syllable. Despite these tendencies, pitch peak placement involved considerable variability, both within and across speakers. A subsequent perception study, designed to test to what extent these prosodic cues to sentence modality are used in perception, found that (a) pitch register and (b) the placement of peak on a particular syllable both affect listeners' judgments. The more subtle alignment of the peak within the syllable, (c), was not reliable as a cue.