2. Functional Timing of Prosody Klaus J. Kohler IPDS, Kiel, Germany Symposium on “Prosodic Timing – From Signal to Function” Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University 27 January, 2006

3. 1. Timing 3 strands of dynamics, i.e. amplitude-time courses in speech production –subglottal: air flow generation ºlong-term settings and dynamics ¶vocal effort ¶breath group organization ºlocally superimposed short-term dynamics ¶force accent

4. –glottal: phonation and f0 ºlong-term settings and dynamics ¶“voice quality” »individual »group ¶functional voice control: attitudes, emotions ¶pitch register, pitch range ¶internal timing of global pitch patterns

5. ºlocally superimposed short-term dynamics ¶force accent ¶tone (tone languages), tonal accent (e.g. Swedish) ¶raising pitch for local accentuation ¶segmental distinctions »voiced/voiceless »breathy (voice) »creak

6. –supraglottal: vocal tract gestures ºshort-term opening-closing/closing-opening gestures ¶vocalic and consonantal segments ¶syllables: onset and rhyme

7. ºintegrated into long-term settings and dynamics ¶base of articulation ¶overall speech rate »individual characteristic »group characteristic: Mediterranan vs Scandinavian »functional adaptation: asides, time constraints ¶rhythm: grouping of syllables ¶functional vocal tract control: liprounding for endearment, speaking with a smile

8. temporal coordination of the 3 strands –pathological –language and dialect differences –functional adaptation

9. Germ. Sie hat ja gelogen. “She’s been lying.” 

10. amplitude interaction between the 3 strands –increase of f0 and syllabic amplitude-time course for pitch accent –increased level in all 3 strands for force accent

11. Germ. (Wie Boris) Valerie die Treppe runterkickt. “(When Boris) kicks Valerie down the stairs.” k 

12. vocal tract dynamics are pimarily short-term –locally timed strictures of opening and closing –supplemented by short-term glottal adjustments –leading to segmental structure –for the linguistic function of word identification ºmade alphabetic writing systems possible ºorigin of the phoneme concept ºand of the concepts of target and coarticulation

13. ºglottal features play subsidiary role at this level ¶consonantal distinctions »mainly voiced/voiceless »often coded by other timing means ¶tone ¶voice register

14. glottal dynamics are pimarily long-term for pragmatic functions –they should thus be analysed as global patterns –not, e.g., as linear sequences of H and L –differentiation of ºshort-term f0 patterns for word tones ºand long-term f0 patterns for pragmatics likewise subglottal dynamics are pimarily long- term for pragmatic functions

15. 2. Function linguistic function to differentiate intellectual meaning –word phonology –prosodic structure ºword stress: increase, noun vs verb ºsentence accent, focus, emphasis for contrast or for intensity: I‘m not going to visit him. ºsentence mode: He hasn‘t done it, has he. ºsyntagmatic phrasing: He left her (,) a new man.

16. social function: indices of speaker - hearer relations expressive function: attitudes and emotions guide function: assisting and influencing the decoding of messages –rhythmic structure –phonetic rhetoric (boring, interesting, cajoling)

17. pragmatic functions of peak contour synchronizations –early – finality: established –medial – openness: new observation –late – unexpectedness: expressive evaluation –late medial – contrasting new observation

18. Er war mal schlank. “He used to be slim.“ - medial - late medial - late

19. This gives us a semantic-pragmatic net of –established –new –new with rational contrast to expectation –new with contrast and expressive evaluation.

20. pragmatic function of force accent –negative emphasis for intensity –negative expressive evaluation –disapproval It can be added to the semantic-pragmatic net.

21. 3. Timing – Function Relationship scale of synchronization of –long-term f0 patterns –with short-term vocal tract dynamics synchronization of subglottal, glottal and supraglottal short-term timing strands in force accents

22. on the other hand, semantic-pragmatic net of functions These synchronization patterns and functions may be assumed to be universal. Force accent and its negative expressiveness may also be assumed to be universal.

23. How are the peak synchronizations and respective functions linked in different dialects and different languages? –Swedish –Russian –Alemannic dialects of German

24. intervention of additional features for the coding of the same functions –peak height –intensity –segmental lengthening –lexical elements, morphosyntax

25. 4. Perception of Timing Patterns perceptual intonation categories –determined by global characteristics ºf0 peak and valley synchronizations ºinternal f0 contour timing ºintensity timing –addition of local characteristics ºf0 increase on accented syllable ºaccented syllable duration

26. The original f0-VT synchronization categories of –early – medial – late medial – late peaks –and early – late valleys –receive a new perceptual categorization as multifactorial timing categories.

27. There are indications –that production and perception of the multifactorial timing of intonation categories are congruent –and that isolated parameter manipulation for perception tests may create artefacts.

28. The production of short-term segmental aspects and their perception may diverge –in perception longer-term parameters (articulatory prosodies) play a more prominent role –pronunciation for “white please” º    :  by a Londoner ºmistaken for  pli:z  by a Scottish listener ºexpecting  pli:z]

29. 5. Developing a new research paradigm The goal of phonetics is the elucidation of speech communication –of the relationship between phonetic substance and communicative function –with linguistic form being derived from this relationship.

30. Neither substance nor function can be analysed without the other: –measurement must take place within communicative domains ºgo beyond lab speech ºtake spontaneous speech into the lab;

31. –functional categories must be related to substantive parameters in production and perception ºgo beyond systemic linguistic contrasts ºinclude the whole spectrum of the behavioural sound - meaning relationships ºwith reference to such central concepts as time and function.

32. There is growing unease with Laboratory Phonology theory and practice, e.g. with ToBI. –Yi Xu goes as far as giving priority to function over lingistic form. –When we combine this with Björn Lindblom’s priority of substance over linguistic form, we capture the future of phonetics.

33. This movement will gather momentum in years to come –in the development of a comprehensive theory of speech communication –and in the description of speech behaviour in the languages of the world. We will then have a new paradigm:

34. The Paradigm of Function-Oriented Experimental Phonetics I hope you find it exciting! So we can now take some time for questions and other communicative functions.