Prosodic Phonology Research Articles

Review of You (2020): Prosodic Phonology of the Fuzhou Dialect: Domains and Rule Application

Review of You (2020): Prosodic Phonology of the Fuzhou Dialect: Domains and Rule Application

Research on College English Intonation Teaching from the Perspective of Prosodic Phonology

Research on College English Intonation Teaching from the Perspective of Prosodic Phonology

Análise de dados de segmentação não convencional de palavras em textos de alunos do Ensino Fundamental I

This article brings some considerations about the non-conventional segmentation of words based on a research study carried out in the first author’s scientific initiation program, in the 2019-2020 cycle. For this research, 51 essays from Elementary School students from two educational institutions in Porto Velho (RO) were collected, quantified and analyzed. After analyzing the data collected based on the theories proposed by current phonological models, such as Prosodic Phonology, a great influence of prosody was perceived in the segmentation elaborations of the writers, soon realizing that by studying this phenomenon it is possible to contribute to the study of the relationship between orality and writing.

Displacing the PStem

Abstract Much debate in prosodic phonology has centered on the question of recursive prosodic layers versus independent constituents. Recently, Downing and Kadenge (Downing, Laura & Maxwell Kadenge. 2015. Prosodic stems in Zezuru Shona. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 33(3). 291–305, Downing, Laura & Maxwell Kadenge. 2020. Re-placing the PStem in the prosodic hierarchy. The Linguistic Review 37(3). 433–461) have advocated for a unique prosodic constituent, the PStem, to match stem-level phonology. They argue that the stem level should not be sensitive to canonically word-level phenomena such as minimality and culminativity. Alternatively, Itô and Mester (Itô, Junko & Armin Mester. 2007. Prosodic adjunction in Japanese compounds. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics. 97–111 et seq.) propose that the PStem/PrWd division can be collapsed into recursive PrWd levels, in which any recursive layer can have any given set of properties. In this paper, I hope to add to this debate by showing that Downing and Kadenge’s idea of specifically stem-level processes is falsifiable in light of new empirical evidence from a number of unrelated languages. In terms of the recursion question, I show that there are two types of language behavior with respect to stem- versus word-level phonology: one in which stem and word are the loci of the distinct processes, and one in which stem and word show the same behavior (“recursive identity”). I conclude by showing that arguments intending to reduce recursive identity to cyclicity encounter their own suite of problems.

The Medieval Prosodic Orthography of the Tiberian Masoretic Reading Tradition

Abstract The medieval accentual notations of the Tiberian Masoretic Reading Tradition (TMRT), known as the ṭaʿămē hammiqrå̄, guide the reader in the proper intonement of the Hebrew Bible. Since Dresher’s groundbreaking 1994 article, scholars of the ṭaʿămē hammiqrå̄ have increasingly understood the system to exhibit features corresponding to the prosodic phrase structure of speech. However, the lack of a suitable theoretical framework for analysing and interpreting the ṭaʿămē hammiqrå̄ has greatly hindered research on the system, leaving it largely opaque. This article presents conclusions from Pitcher (2020), a study undertaken to investigate the possibility that the correspondences identified by Dresher may point to a more significant correlation between the ṭaʿămē hammiqrå̄ and modern prosodic descriptions than has been previously considered. In this article the ṭaʿămē hammiqrå̄ are introduced as a prosodic orthography of liturgical Tiberian Hebrew and a wholly linguistic model grounded in the discipline of prosodic phonology is proposed.

A comparative analysis of English nuclear stress principles in conversation

AbstractNuclear stress (or sentence stress) as a prosodic feature marks information flow in spoken English, and has received some treatment in the linguistics literature, most notably in pragmatics, but less so in newer phonological paradigms. Current theories in linguistics might shed light on this feature, such as Optimality Theory (OT) and cognitive grammar (CG). This paper compares potential insights and likely predictions of these two approaches for nuclear stress, by examining a recorded conversation of native US English speakers. The descriptive statistics indicate stress pattern distributions as expected, and some stress tokens show particular pragmatic and discourse functions of nuclear stress. The OT framework can better explain the interaction of different levels of prosody, grammar, and information structure, while CG might offer a more holistic explanation of stress, and its sociopragmatic and discourse functions, and may thus be likely more applicable to discourse studies, applied linguistics, and pedagogy. Implications are discussed for a CG theory of prosodic phonology, and for L2 pedagogy.

The Role of Musical Ear in Developing L2 Prosodic Phonology

The Role of Musical Ear in Developing L2 Prosodic Phonology

VÍRGULAS EM TEXTOS DE ALUNOS DE 11 A 15 ANOS DO ENSINO FUNDAMENTAL II: UM ESTUDO LONGITUDINAL

ABSTRACT In this article, we investigate the presence and the absence of commas in a longitudinal sample of texts of the genre report written by 11 to 15 years-old students from a school in the countryside of São Paulo State. Our hypothesis is that the comma is used when syntactic boundaries match the prosodic ones. The prosodic constituents are formed from syntactic and phonological information, according to principles defined in the Prosodic Phonology theoretical approach. The characterization of the conventional commas and the non-conventional absences of commas was made from the identification of syntactic boundaries in which they should or could be placed, taking as reference a Brazilian Portuguese grammar. The results were that the conventional comma increases during the years of schooling, as expected. However, the presence and absence of comma rates changed depending on the type of syntactic structure and on the occurrence of intonational phrase boundaries. Comma occurred predominantly in positions where intonation phrase boundaries match major syntactic boundaries, as a sentence boundary. In turn, the comma systematically does not occur in positions where the syntactic and prosodic boundaries do not match.

Forming Derivatives in Hindko Language: A Morpho-Syntactic Analysis

Hindko is an Indo-Aryan Language. The current study aims to investigate the formation of nominative derivatives in Hindko by doing a multi-level analysis in the light of a contemporary etymological perspective. The study categorizes these derivatives in terms of syntactic and semantic aspects. The study employs a multi-level approach to analyzing the derivatives by analyzing prosodic phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantic levels. The study uses the historical literature of the language, the daily conversations of the native speakers, and note-taking techniques to record the data. The study categorizes the verb forms of Hindko into 18 classes, from which nominal derivatives are derived. The verbs are classified into different categories according to their semantic and syntactic behavior. The study shows that, semantically, the verbs share meanings with each other and are also similar in their semantic functions. The study finds that a morphological stem-based approach is used for the derivatives. Prosodically, the study discovers the effects on the stem of the derivatives. Moreover, the study concludes that in Hindko there are six types of nominal derivatives: the active participle, the passive participle, the form of exaggeration, the instrumental noun, the qualificative adjective, and the locative noun. The research reflects the Form I verb stem as input for forming the six types of nominal derivative (the output). The study recommends a further in-depth analysis from syntactic perspective.

La syntaxe sémiologique de L. J. Prieto

The article revisits a proposal by Luís J. Prieto for the (re)definition of syntax, dated 1988-1989. Prieto’s idea deserves to be reclaimed for multiple reasons: the resemblance of what he calls “phonological syntax” with what is called today “prosodic phonology”; the way in which it helps to understand the Hjelmslevian principle of biplanarity (heteroplane function); and, most of all, its semiotic value, which goes beyond the strictly linguistic level and makes it a fundamental notion for a semiotic theory of knowledge.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the English Prosodic Phonology Processing Test (EPPPT): A Multi-Trait Multimethod Approach

Most of the prosody perception tests do not capture how listeners perceive and interpret stress, tone, and intonation in the process of listening comprehension. The current study developed the English Prosodic Phonology Processing Test (EPPPT). A sample of 240 Luo speaking high school students were tested using Confirmatory Factory Analysis (CFA) in a multi-trait multimethod matrix. Four traits were measured including word prosody, sentence prosody, juncture, and discourse prosody. Three methods were used including the picture selection task, stress assignment task, and chunking task. CFA confirmed the current taxonomy of the diverse traits of English prosodic phonology: word stress, sentence stress, open and closed junctures, and discourse. The methods yielded statistically significant differences among the discriminant validity of these traits. The model fit was better when the different prosodic traits were specified (convergent validity), while the methods of testing yielded distinguishable, unique types of information about prosodic phonology processing. Using a battery of five tests, the results of EPPPT showed that the traits are quite independent of each other and the method effect is not significant.
 Keywords: reliability, validity, EPPPT, Prosody, MTMM

Reduced Neural Specialization for Word-level Linguistic Prosody in Children with Autism.

Children with autism often show atypical brain lateralization for speech and language processing, however, it is unclear what linguistic component contributes to this phenomenon. Here we measured event-related potential (ERP) responses in 21 school-age autistic children and 25 age-matched neurotypical (NT) peers during listening to word-level prosodic stimuli. We found that both groups displayed larger late negative response (LNR) amplitude to native prosody than to nonnative prosody; however, unlike the NT group exhibiting left-lateralized LNR distinction of prosodic phonology, the autism group showed no evidence of LNR lateralization. Moreover, in both groups, the LNR effects were only present for prosodic phonology but not for phoneme-free prosodic acoustics. These results extended the findings of inadequate neural specialization for language in autism to sub-lexical prosodic structures.

Português guineense: O que a entoação das sentenças interrogativas mostra sobre essa variedade

ABSTRACT In Guinea-Bissau, Portuguese is the only official language, and, for historical and sociopolitical reasons, European Portuguese (EP) is assumed as the variety spoken. However, we find a multilingual space in which Kriol is the national unity language and Portuguese is spoken as a second language. In this context, we analyzed the intonation of neutral yes-no questions of Guinea-Bissau Portuguese (GBP), to examine whether the intonation of this sentence type resembles that found SEP (spoken in Lisbon) or whether we are facing a Guinea-Bissau Portuguese variety in formation. Using the theoretical framework of Prosodic Phonology and Intonational Phonology, we analyzed neutral yes-no questions produced through a reading task performed by four Guinea-Bissau participants, native speakers of Kriol, and speakers of Portuguese as a second language. Our results show that, for the pre-nuclear and nuclear contour as well as tonal density, the intonation of GBP neutral yes-no questions differs from SEP and is closer to Brazilian and African varieties already studied. This outcome was previously pointed out in the literature for declarative sentences, suggesting that GBP is developing its own intonational grammar.

A entoação do português falado em Maputo, Moçambique: Um estudo de caso

ABSTRACT This case study of Portuguese as spoken in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, describes the intonation of neutral declarative SVO sentences and neutral yes-no questions using the theory and methodological tools of Prosodic Phonology and Autosegmental-Metrical Intonational Phonology. In neutral declaratives, 1) prosodic phrasing of Subject and Predicate into independent (S)(VO) intonational phrases (IPs) predominated; 2) LH+L* L% and H+L* L% nuclear contours predominated in final IPs, while contours with high H% boundary were most frequent in medial IPs; 3) phrase accents frequently occurred between S and V, between V and O and even within S, separating the nucleus from its complements; and 4) an additional tone was possible in association with the pre-stressed syllables of long (5-syllable), mostly IP-initial, prosodic words. In neutral questions, the nucleus most often featured a rising-falling L+(<¡)H* L% movement. High tonal density was also found, with pitch accents associated with stressed syllables of all PWs in both declaratives and yes-no questions.

Hesitations and relative proeminence in prosodic constituents in children's speech.

to verify if hesitations would occur, preferably, in strong or weak positions of four of the prosodic constituents: phonological utterance, intonational phrase, phonological phrase and clitic group. the data were extracted from a bank composed of 147 interview situations recorded with children aged 5-6 years. Was used the principle of relative prominence for the analysis of prosodic constituents. From this principle, the hesitant occurrences identified in prominent elements in the organization of each of the prosodic constituents was considered as for strong position and, as in a weak position, the hesitant occurrences identified in parts of constituents that surround the prominent positions. The judges detected 2.399 hesitant occurrences. the following total hesitations were identified in strong and weak positions, respectively: (1) in the phonological utterance = 305 (28.37%) and 770 (71.63%); (2) in the intonational phrase = 285 (20.67%) and 1094 (79.33%); (3) in the phonological phrase = 129 (16.49%) and 653 (83.51%); and (4) in the clitic group = 154 (15.21%) and 859 (84.79%). although hesitant occurrences have been identified in strong positions in all prosodic constituents analyzed, there was prevalence due to the weak position. This result corroborates studies that claim that hesitations would occur in non-nuclear prosodic portions. Furthermore to this confirmation, the results reinforce the effectiveness of the prosodic phonology model in relation to the principle of relative prominence.

Phonetic Encoding Contributes to the Processing of Linguistic Prosody at the Word Level: Cross-Linguistic Evidence From Event-Related Potentials.

This study aimed to examine whether abstract knowledge of word-level linguistic prosody is independent of or integrated with phonetic knowledge. Event-related potential (ERP) responses were measured from 18 adult listeners while they listened to native and nonnative word-level prosody in speech and in nonspeech. The prosodic phonology (speech) conditions included disyllabic pseudowords spoken in Chinese and in English matched for syllabic structure, duration, and intensity. The prosodic acoustic (nonspeech) conditions were hummed versions of the speech stimuli, which eliminated the phonetic content while preserving the acoustic prosodic features. We observed language-specific effects on the ERP that native stimuli elicited larger late negative response (LNR) amplitude than nonnative stimuli in the prosodic phonology conditions. However, no such effect was observed in the phoneme-free prosodic acoustic control conditions. The results support the integration view that word-level linguistic prosody likely relies on the phonetic content where the acoustic cues embedded in. It remains to be examined whether the LNR may serve as a neural signature for language-specific processing of prosodic phonology beyond auditory processing of the critical acoustic cues at the suprasyllabic level.

中国经典翻译的韵律音系学研究体系: 以蒙学典籍翻译为例

The Chinese culture is known as a broad and profound culture with long hisroty.The Chinese classics, as an important element of excellent traditional culture, have been passing down from generation to generation with their poetic style. They are also an important vehicle for promoting “Chinese culture going abroad” in the new era. Among them, primer classicssuch as San Zi Jing, Bai Jia Xing, Qian Zi Wen, Qian Jia Shi, Di ZiGui, etc. pass on the unique wisdom and language charm of the Chinese culture in the past thousands of years. The fact that the texts are catchy and easy to recite is inseparable from their strict and standardized rhythmic tradition. In recent years, the team led by Professor Ren Xiaofei in the Corpus-based Translation Teaching and Research Center, Jiangsu University has devoted to the prosodic phonological study on the translation of Chinese Classics, including Chinese Primer Classics. They take the advantage of the theoretical framework and methodology of prosodic phonology to elaborate the translation norm of the Chinese rhythmic tradition by using Interphonic and Praat. This is a overall report about their seires of studies on the Englsih translation of Chinese Primer Classics. It is emphasized that the reproduction of the sound effet of the Chinese Classics is of great significance to protect and disseminate the cultural heritage of human beings.

(Dys)Prosody in Parkinson's Disease: Effects of Medication and Disease Duration on Intonation and Prosodic Phrasing.

The phonology of prosody has received little attention in studies of motor speech disorders. The present study investigates the phonology of intonation (nuclear contours) and speech chunking (prosodic phrasing) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) as a function of medication intake and duration of the disease. Following methods of the prosodic and intonational phonology frameworks, we examined the ability of 30 PD patients to use intonation categories and prosodic phrasing structures in ways similar to 20 healthy controls to convey similar meanings. Speech data from PD patients were collected before and after a dopaminomimetic drug intake and were phonologically analyzed in relation to nuclear contours and intonational phrasing. Besides medication, disease duration and the presence of motor fluctuations were also factors included in the analyses. Overall, PD patients showed a decreased ability to use nuclear contours and prosodic phrasing. Medication improved intonation regardless of disease duration but did not help with dysprosodic phrasing. In turn, disease duration and motor fluctuations affected phrasing patterns but had no impact on intonation. Our study demonstrated that the phonology of prosody is impaired in PD, and prosodic categories and structures may be differently affected, with implications for the understanding of PD neurophysiology and therapy.

Phase-based Constraints within Match Theory

This paper argues that Match Theory (Selkirk 2011) cannot account for some types of phrasal syntax-prosody correspondence in Blackfoot (Algonquian; Frantz 2017). I focus on the verbal complex and show that the verbal complex contains phrasal syntactic structure all the way up to a CP phrase, and that it contains two distinct prosodic constituents corresponding the vP/VP and the CP, respectively. Since the verbal complex contains phrasal syntax, theories of phrasal syntax-prosody correspondences should apply. I argue that the definitions of the syntactic units which correspond to prosodic constituents must be redefined based on phases, and show how a phase-based revision of Match Theory can account for the syntax-prosody correspondence in Blackfoot verbal complexes. The result is a unified theory of the prosodic phonology of stems and phrases which is built on universal syntactic definitions. Although Match Theory is the theoretical focus of this paper, the evidence from Blackfoot implies that phrasal syntax-prosody correspondences can and should be brought 'below the word' in any theory of prosodic phonology.

The role of heads and cyclicity in bracketing paradoxes in Armenian compounds

It is often argued that words have complex internal structure in terms of their morphology, phonology, and semantics. On the surface, Armenian compounds present a bracketing paradox between their morphological and phonological structure. I argue that this bracketing paradox simultaneously references endocentricity, strata, and prosody. I use Armenian as a case study to argue for the use of cyclic approaches to bracketing paradoxes over the more common counter-cyclic approaches. I analyze the bracketing paradox using cyclic Head-Operations (Hoeksema 1985) and Prosodic Phonology (Nespor and Vogel 1986), specifically the Prosodic Stem (Downing 1999a). I argue that the interaction between the bracketing paradox and the rest of compound phonology requires the use of stratal levels and cyclicity. I argue that counter-cyclic approaches like Morphological Merger (Marantz 1988) or Morphological Rebracketing (Sproat 1985) are inadequate because they make incorrect predictions about Armenian phonology.