TOBI: Bi-Tonal Pitch Accents(the exciting conclusion!)

January 31, 2017

A Modest Agenda• Your first course project reports are due!

• Production exercise #1 will be due on Friday at 5 pm.

• Now let’s walk through the rest of the TOBI paradigm...

TOBI, so far1. Pitch Accents

• H* and L*

2. Phrase Accents

• H- and L-

3. Boundary Tones

• H% and L%

4. Break Indices

• 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4

5. Downstepping and Upstepping

Bitonal Pitch Accents• In addition to H* and L*, there are three bitonal pitch accents.

• Here are the first two:

• L + H*

• L* + H

• The starred element denotes the tone which is associated with the stressed syllable.

• L + H* = high peak on stressed syllable, preceded by a sharp rise in pitch.

• L* + H = low pitch target on stressed syllable, followed by a sharp rise in pitch.

H* vs. L + H*• Marianna won it.

H*

L + H*

Note: informative vs. contrastive function

L* vs. L* + H• Only a millionaire.

• Marianna made the marmalade?

L + H* L* + H L- H%

L* L* H-H%

L + H* vs. L* + H• There’s a lovely one in Bloomingdale’s.

L* + H

L + H*

Filling the Gap• Another feature of phrase accents is that they fill in the gap between the nuclear accent and the boundary of the intermediate phrase.

L* + H L- H%

1 0 1 1 4

More Downstepping• Bitonal pitch accents can also undergo downstepping.

L + H* L + !H* L + !H* L-L%

1 1 1 1 1 4

H + !H*• The final pitch accent in the TOBI inventory is H+!H*.

• This one often appears at the beginning of phrases.

Pitch-Accents Round-up• There are five pitch accents:

• H*

• L*

• L + H*

• L* + H

• H + !H*

• The * attaches to stressed syllables.

• The final pitch accent in an intonational phrase is the nuclear accent.

• Generally perceived as more prominent.

Practice Time…• Bi-Tonal pitch accent practice:

http://www.uofclinguistics.org/441/TOBIlab4.html