2. Word-edge tones in Catalan Pilar Prieto ICREA and UAB 2004 TIE Workshop Santorini, 9-11 September 2004

3. L consistently anchored with onset of accented syllable H generally displaced to the postaccented syllable (Prieto 1995 and Estebas-Vilaplana 2000, 2003). Catalan prenuclear rising accents Broad focus statements: Volen una nena La Marina vol demanar-l’hi ‘ They want a girl’ ‘Mary wants to ask him’

4. Factors affecting H location Right-hand prosodic context (peaks are retracted before upcoming pitch accents; Prieto 2005). Recent experiments show that H strictly aligns with the end of the word (Estebas-Vilaplana 2000, 2003). Thus, Estebas analyzes rises as sequences of a low pitch accent (L*) plus a word edge tone (H) anchored at the end of the word. Yet, other rises place H in the postaccentual syllable. Speech-style differences? Potential presence of H- boundaries?

5. Goals of the study To clarify the role of word-edge tones in broad focus declaratives in Catalan A production experiment examines whether H anchoring to word-edges is produced by speakers to disambiguate sentences. An identification experiment checks whether H alignment can be a helpful perceptual cue to identify word-boundaries.

6. Production experiment Materials: 20 pairs of potentially ambiguous utterances which are only distinguished by word boundary location Code Mirà batalles ‘(s)he watched battles’ w-fin Mirava talles ‘(s)he used to watch carvings’w-med Comprà ventalls ‘(s)he bought fans’w-fin Compraven talls ‘they bought pieces’w-med Buscà vanguàrdies ‘(s)he was looking for newspapers’ w-fin Buscaven guàrdies ‘they were looking for guards’w-med 3 speakers read the 20 pairs 4 times (40 x 4 = 160 sentences per speaker, for a total of 480 utterances)

7. Comprà ventalls Compraven talls Comprà ventallets de vim Compraven tallets de vim

8. Results Strong correlation between H delay and syllable duration for the 3 speakers (correlation coef. 0,67-0,82) Difference in H delay between two groups: Hs in word- final position (e.g., comprà ventalls) are less delayed than in word-medial position (e.g., compraven talls)

9. Effects of within-word position on H location All peaks displaced to the postaccented syllable Clear effects of within-word position on H peak placement: peaks less displaced in word- final position (e.g., comprà ventalls). Differences statistically significant for the 3 speakers (two-tailed t-tests significant at p < 0,0005) No strict word anchoring effects in w-fin.

10. No strict anchoring effects found on w-med: peaks are located before the end of the word (-72 ms) if the accented syllable is word-medial and after (48 ms) if it is word- final. w-med: compraven talls w-fin: comprà ventalls Differences statistically significant for the 3 speakers (two-tailed t-tests significant at p < 0,0005). w-med w-fin

11. F0 alignment differences: w-medialw-final compraven talls comprà ventalls   60 ms 100 ms

12. Effects of within-word position on duration Accented syllables in word- final position are slighly longer than syllables in internal position, except for speaker AG. w-fin: comprà ventalls w-med: compraven talls Differences are not statistically significant (at p > 0,05) except for one speaker

13. Postaccented syllables in word-final position are slighly longer than syllables in word-initial position, except for speaker AG. Differences are not statistically significant (at p > 0,05) except for one speaker. No consistent effects of within-word position on duration patterns.

14. Identification experiment Are differences in range and in peak location used by listeners to perceive differences in word-boundary location? 12 listeners heard 12 ambiguous utterances from the production experiment (a maximum of 3 times) and had to identify the sentence. Comprà ventallets de vim Compraven tallets de vim Nomenaves comtes al matí Nomenà vescomtes al matí Mirà batalles Mirava talles

15. Results Low rate of identification (between 35 and 66% of correct responses, depending on sentence). Type A utterances tend to be less easily identified than Type B utterances (60 vs 40%). Type A: comprà ventalls Type B: compraven talls

16. Why? The hearer identifies more easily Compraven talls (with an H aligned towards the end of the first word) than Comprà ventalls (with an H less displaced to the right). The hearer is probably using a more clear H alignment towards the edge of the word as a cue. In the second case, H placement is more ambiguous. A controlled perception experiment is needed. Less ambiguous More ambiguous 

17. Conclusions No strict anchoring to word-edges. Clear effects of within-word position on H location: H peaks are more retracted in word- final accents than in word-medial accents. No effects of within-word position on duration. H alignment towards word-edges might act as a helpful perceptual cue in disambiguating tasks.

18. THANK YOU. GRÀCIES!

19. Effects of within-word position on range Pitch range of the entire accent (and pitch span during accented vowel) is greater in word-final position than internal position, except for 1 speaker.