1. …It’s how you say it
Julia Hirschberg
CS 4706
9/21/2018

2. Intonational Contours
Intonation Features
Intonational Contours
Pitch accents (f0, intensity,duration)
Phrasing (pause, f0, duration)
Minor (intermediate) phrases
Major (intonational) phrases/breath groups
Other Pitch variation (f0)
Pitch range
Final lowering
Intensity/loudness (rms,db)
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3. Voice quality (degree/manner of glottal closure)
Timing
Speaking rate (syls per sec)
Pausal duration
Voice quality (degree/manner of glottal closure)
Hoarseness, breathiness
Pressed, creaky, tense, harsh, whispery voice
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4. Intonation and Syntactic Structure
PP attachment:
You should buy the ticket with the discount coupon.
Clause attachment
If you need me when you get there call me.
Modifier scope:
This fare is restricted to retired politicians and civil servants
Relative clauses
My friend who likes to cook came to visit.
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5. Acoustic/Prosodic Phenomena
Phrasing
Accent
Speaking rate
We only suspected they all knew that a burglary had been committed.
Simple complement
Parenthetical
Right node raising
We only suspected, they all knew, that …. (Parenthetical)
We only suspected, they all knew that… (Complement)
WE only SUSPECTED, THEY all KNEW, that… (RNR)
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6. Intonation and Semantics
Scope ambiguities
Negation
You aren’t booked through Rome because of the fare.
Quantifiers
John only introduced Mary to Sue.
Modals
Dogs must be carried.
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7. Acoustic/Prosodic Phenomena
Accent
Phrasing
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8. Intonation and Discourse
Information status
Given/new information
S: Do you need a return ticket.
U: No, thanks, I don’t need a return.
Contrast (narrow focus)
U: No, thanks, I don’t need a RETURN…. (I need a time schedule, receipt,…)
Discourse markers
Now what I’d like is a nice piece of pizza.
Whatever I said I’d like a pizza.
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9. Speech acts (statements, questions, requests)
Reference resolution
Strict/sloppy interpretations of ellipsis
People who live in Los Angeles adore it’s beaches and so do people who live in New York.
George likes his mother and so does Sue.
George did his homework and so did Sue.
Speech acts (statements, questions, requests)
That’ll be credit card
Can you open that window
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10. Discourse/topic structure
I’m afraid we don’t have time to finish the experiment today.
What a shame.
We can’t pay you the $10.
Can you come back tomorrow?
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11. Acoustic/Prosodic Phenomena
Pitch range, final lowering
Timing
Intonational contour, phrasing, pitch accent
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12. ‘Paralinguistic’ Information
Emotion (anger, happiness, love)
Propositional attitude (uncertainty)
Did you feed the animals?
I fed the goldfish (Rise/Fall/Rise)
Level of speaker engagement
Really
REALLY
Personality
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13. How do these phenomena generalize?
Across individuals and groups?
Across languages?
Across cultures?
Get a3 and a4 for disambig
gw for other
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14. Prosodic Disambiguation of Syntactic and Semantic Ambiguity
Intonational disambiguation across languages: Spanish, Italian and English (w/Avesani & Prieto)
William isn’t drinking because he’s unhappy
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15. Bill doesn’t drink because he’s unhappy.
The Phenomenon
Bill doesn’t drink because he’s unhappy.
The presence of none of the professors will embarrass her.
He only wounded Anne.
He even embraced the policeman.
He managed to find the woman with the binoculars.
He had spoken to her quite clearly.
The professor who loves jelly beans died in terrible agony.
10 or 15 years ago we talked about talking to machines, we studied the problems involved, and we even built demo dialogue systems. Today when you talk to a machine, you have a chance of getting a useful answer -- about travel arrangements or your or your finances. What’s made this possible?
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16. The Issues
Do speakers consistently disambiguate potentially ambiguous utteranced intonationally?
Do native speakers of different languages employ similar methods of disambiguation for similar ambiguities?
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17. Avesani et al 1995; Hirschberg&Avesani 1997
Studies
Avesani et al 1995; Hirschberg&Avesani 1997
Production studies comparing English, Italian and Spanish speakers (4 per language) and then English and Italian
Potentially ambiguous utterances embedded in contexts to disambiguate:
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18. English
I know William very well. Since his girlfriend left him, he’s done nothing but drink. It’s been such a long time since his separation, that he’s used to living alone. Now, William doesn’t drink because he’s unhappy. He drinks because he’s an alcoholic.
There’s something about William that puzzles me. When he’s happy, he has a good time with his friends, and certainly he doesn’t dislike drinking. I think I understand what’s wrong. William doesn’t drink because he’s unhappy.
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19. Spanish
Conozco a Guillermo muy bien. Desde que su novia le dejo, no ha hecho nada mas que beber. Despues de tanto tiempo de su separacion, se ha acostumbrado a vivir solo. Ahora, Guillermo no bebe porque esta triste. Simplement, porque es un alcoholico.
Ha algo de Guillermo que no me convence. Cuando le veo feliz, se que se lo pasa, bien con sus amigos, y que no le desagrada beber. Creo que se lo que le pasa. Guillermo no bebe porque esta triste.
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20. Target utterances excised and labeled for
Analysis
Target utterances excised and labeled for
Intonational contour
Relative prominence of pitch accents
Different ambiguity contexts compared within languages to find common patterns
Common patterns compared across languages
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21. Results
Scope of negation similarly disambiguated between wide and narrow readings by variation of intonational phrasing (one phrase vs. two)
Spanish and Italian speakers also varied nuclear stress placement (on verb for wide)
English speakers also used continuation rise for wide, falling for narrow
Bill doesn’t drink because he’s unhappy.
•    PP-attachment disambiguated by phrasing variation (for Italian speakers)
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22. Association with focus: only consistently disambiguated by all three
Quantifier scope disambiguated by varying nuclear stress placement and phrases (for Italian, Spanish, 2 English subjects)
Association with focus: only consistently disambiguated by all three
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23. How do other languages use intonation to convey information?
Syntactic ambiguity
Semantic ambiguity
Discourse phenomena
‘Paralinguistic’ information
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24. Readings: Johnson, Chapters 1 and 2
Next class
Readings: Johnson, Chapters 1 and 2
9/21/2018