Using prosodic completion tasks to explore the phonetics and phonology of intonation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a methodological technique first developed in Vermillion (2001) and remodelled in Vermillion (anticipated 2005), which is used to investigate the meaning of intonation. Using this methodology, two contrasted sets of meanings are illustrated. First, we compare how 30 New Zealand English-speaking University students use their intonation to indicate a continuation request to their discourse partner, with how these same speakers cue that they want the conversation to stop. This pair was contrasted by the majority of speakers through modification of their final boundary tone (%); for 18 of the 30 speakers the contrast was between L% to show that the conversation should cease and H% to show that it should continue. The other 12 speakers used a higher H* pitch accent preceding the L% to indicate continuation. The second meaning contrast was selected to further explore how a H*LL% sequence may be used to convey two opposing meanings. The data showed that 77% speakers realised H*LL% when conveying both authority and submission. A comparison of the heights of H* and L% in these contours reveals that the height of the L% is significantly higher when conveying submission than authority. The example Prosodic Completion Tasks illustrate how PCTs may be a useful initial methodology in exploring the Phonetics and Phonology of intonation.