Transcript Ultimate Attainment in perception of paralinguistic

Shaping the intonation of Wh-questions:
information structure and beyond
Aoju Chen
Max Planck institute for psycholinguistics
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 31 March, 2008
Introduction (1)
There will be a flea market this weekend.
H*L
Pitch accent: pitch peak or
trough usually associated with
the stressed syllable of a word
L*H
Where will Marina want to sell her mandolin?
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Introduction (2)
 Accent placement
WH-word
Where
Open Sentence (OS)
(Lambrecht & Michaelis 1998)
will Marina sell her mandolin?
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Introduction (3)
 Information structure (IS) governs accent placement in
WH-questions
 Information (or proposition) new to the hearer vs. information
known to the hearer
 Focus vs. topic/background
 In WH-questions
 The WH-word is the focus (because …)
 The OS is the topic
 e.g. As to the fact that Marina will sell her mandolin somewhere,
I want to be told where this will be.
 Previous approaches differ in the ‘how’ part
 Must the WH-word be accented (because it is focal)?
 If not, when does the WH-word get accented?
 When does a constituent in the OS get accented?
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Two opposing views
 The ‘left-asymmetry’ view
(Haan 2001,for Dutch)
 The WH-word must be accented,
regardless of the IS of the OS,
because it is focal
 Constituents in the OS can be
focal (focus of introduction) and
therefore get accented
Waar wil Marina haar mandoline verkopen?
 The ‘right-asymmetry’ view
(Lambrecht & Michaelis 1998, for English)
 The WH-word is typically not
accented; its focal status is marked
by its form and position
 Accenting the WH-word only if
the propositions in the OS have
been intensively under discussion
before (i.e. ratified)
 Constituents in the OS get
accented only if the propositions
conveyed have only been touched
upon in the previous discourse
Where will Marina want to sell her mandolin?
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Haan (2001)
 A corpus of 200 tokens of 2 WH-questions recorded by 10 native


speakers of Dutch (repeated reading)
WH-question preceded or followed by a context sentence
186 tokens included for analyses
71%
29%
Waar wil Marina haar mandoline verkopen?
 Role of information structure is hard to assess in repeated reading
 The WH-word is accented regardless of IS, supporting Haan
 Or: the proposition in the OS is ratified, supporting L&M
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 But why accenting constituents in the OS?
Hedberg and Sosa (2002)
 A corpus of 35 WH-questions selected from American
television shows
 34 WH-questions without negator ‘not’
 In 29 cases, the proposition in the OS could be traced back in the earlier
context
 In 5 cases, the proposition in the OS was new
 In 33 of the cases, the WH-word was accented; constituents in
the OS were also accented, supporting both Haan’s leftasymmetric view
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What do we know now?
 It is still unclear how accent placement is
governed by information structure in natural
context
 L&M: rely heavily on carefully constructed WHquestions in made-up contexts
 Haan: repeated reading
 Hedberg and Saosa: the status of the proposition in
the OS may be too generally analysed
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A corpus of naturally occurring Dutch WH-questions
Chen (2006)
 90 naturally occurring WH-questions from the Spoken Dutch

Corpus (CGN)
Criteria for selection
 A balanced representation of different types of WH-questions
 Waarom (why)
 Wanneer (when)
 Wat (wat)


 Why these three types?
Mostly uttered by speakers from the regions where a variety close to the
standard variety is spoken
Discourse type suitable for reliable analysis of information structure
 Mostly broadcast interviews, discussions, and debates
 Occasionally spontaneous face-to-face or telephone conversations
 Clear speech signal
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 Function as real questions, uttered to require information from the hearer(s)
The distribution of regions and discourse types
Region
Discourse type
Core
Others
Interviews
Conversations
Waarom (why)
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2
29
1
Wanneer (when)
27
3
5
25
Wat (what)
29
1
30
0
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Annotation of intonation
 The ToDI notation (Gussenhoven 2005)
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The inter-annotator agreement test A
 A second annotator




Native speaker of Dutch
Not aware of the purpose of this study
Received a short tutorial on ToDI
Annoated intonation of the WH-words in terms of accented
vs. not accented
 Inter-annotator agreement
 87% for accent placement on the WH-word.
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First step towards a clearer picture
 If the WH-word must be accented (because of its focal
status) regardless of the IS in the OS, as claimed by
Haan, we should see the WH-word is accented all the
time.
 Question 1: How frequently is the WH-word accented
in natural speech in Dutch?
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Q1: How frequently is the WH-word accented?
Table 1. The frequency of WH-questions with/without an accent on the WH-word.
unaccented
WH-word
3 (10%)
total
waarom
accented
WH-word
27(90%)
wanneer
23 (77%)
7 (23%)
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wat
19 (63%)
11 (37%)
30
total
69 (77%)
21 (23%)
90
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 Although the WH-word is frequently accented, it is unaccented in
23% of the WH-questions on average
 This is contra Haan’s view
 Most frequently accented in waarom-questions: an effect of
question type ( But why ‘waarom’?)
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 Recall: The intonation of the WH-word is related to
the information structure of the OS (L&M 1998 for
English)
 Q2: Is the intonation of the WH-word dependent on
the information structure of the OS in Dutch WHquestions?
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Propositions in the Open Sentence
 Status before the WH-question is uttered:
 Having been intensively under
discussion
 Having been briefly touched upon
 Having not been discussed at all
Topicality
Presupposition
(TP)
Knowledge
Presupposition
(KP)
Neither TP or KP
L&M (1998)
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KP ≠ TP
TP
KP
0.1825
0
-0.1223
0
1.73306
Time (s)
KP = TP
Accent WH-word
TP
0.1825
0
-0.1223
0
1.73306
Time (s)
KP ≠ TP
KP
0.1825
0
18
-0.1223
0
1.73306
Time (s)
Q2: Is the intonation of the WH-word dependent
on the information structure of the OS?
 Does the sameness of the KP and the TP make it more likely for
the WH-word to be accented than unaccented?
 Does discrepancy between the KP and the TP make it more likely
for the WH-word to be unaccented than accented?
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The inter-annotator agreement test B
 A second annotator






Native speaker of Dutch
Not aware of the purpose of this study
Received a short tutorial on ToDI.
Annoated intonation of the WH-words in terms of accented
vs. not accented
Received readings on the basic concepts of L&M model
Annotated information structure of the OS in terms of TP, KP
and ‘neither’
 Inter-annotator agreement
 87% for accent placement on the WH-word
 73% for labels of information structure
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Q2A: If KP=TP, will the WH-word be more often accented?
Table 2. Frequencies of WH-questions with/without an accent on the WH-word
when KP = TP in the OS.
KP=TP
accented WH-word
unaccented WH-word
total
waarom
18 (90%)
2 (10%)
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wanneer
11 (100%)
0
11
wat
8 (89%)
1 (11%)
9
total
37 (93%)
3 (7%)
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 The WH-word is nearly always accented when the KP and the TP
are identical, arguably according with L&M’s claim
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KP=TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 1- 1.waarom_fn000042_48_N00028_Rivieren
 Context: The interviewer was talking to Marianne Schlaman, an
expert in Dutch studies in Nijmegen, about a series of evening
presentations given by Dutch writers. Mrs. Schlaman went to the
presentations on the first evening.
Interviewer: Maar waarom was je naar de avond gegaan?
But why did you go to this evening?
 TP: ‘you went to this evening’
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KP=TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 2 – 2.waarom_fn007514_58_N03402_Utrecht
 Context: Oscar, interviewee, explained to the interviewers
(there were two) that men and women were more alike than the
feminists would like to admit.
Male interviewer: Waarom zouden feministen dit vervelend
vinden eigenlijk?
Why would feminists find this annoying actually?
 TP:
‘feminists would find this annoying’
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KP=TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 3 – 10.waarom_fn007252_83_N03115_Nholland
 Context: The interviewee was Jacques Booy, a member of the
Federation of Dutch tax advisors. Mr Booy talked to the
interviewer about Minister of Finance Mr. Zalm’s new tax plan
(for 2001) and in particular, commented on the weak points of
this plan. The most discontenting weak point was that Mr.
Zalm and his vice-minister Mr. Vermeend were rushing this
very important plan through Parliament.
Interviewer: Waarom hebben ze zoveel haast?
Why are they in such a hurry?
 TP:
‘they are in a hurry’
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KP=TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 4 – 11.waarom_fn007489_10_N03131_Zholland
 Context: The interviewee was Herman Vuijsje, a sociologist
and political commentator. Mr. Vuijsje told the interviewer that
it was not the time yet for tip-off lines but people were at last
ready to discuss this issue. This was different a few years ago
because people tended to associate tip-off lines with betrayals
during the Second World War.
Interviewer: Waarom komen mensen altijd met die oorlog aanzetten?
Why do people always start mentioning the war?
 TP:
‘people always start mentioning the war’
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Q2B: If KP ≠ TP, will the WH-word be more often unaccented?
Table 3. Frequencies of WH-questions with/without an accent on the WH-word when
KP≠TP in the OS.
KP≠TP
unaccented WHword
1 (10%)
total
waarom
accented WHword
9 (90%)
wanneer
12 (63%)
7 (37%)
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wat
11 (52%)
10 (48%)
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total
32 (64%)
18 (36%)
50
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 The WH-word is observably more frequently accented than unaccented
 This trend is the strongest in waarom-questions: an effect of question type
 Discrepancy between the KP and the TP does not prevent the WH26
word from being accented more often, contra L&M
KP≠TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 5 – 5.waarom_fn007297_62_N03024_Zholland
 Context: The interviewee was Remco Meijer, the author of the
book Aan het hof . He described to the interviewer the
organization of the court. The interviewer then brought up that
Queen Beatrix reorganised the court after she was crowned.
Interviewer: Waarom was dat nodig?
Why was that necessary?
 TP:
 KP:
‘that’ (reorganizing the court)
was necessary
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KP≠TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 6 – 19.waarom_fn007338_52_N03011_Nholland
 Context: The interviewee talked about the problem that many
asylumseekers claimed falsely to be younger than 18 in order to
be treated as underage asylumseekers. He told the interviewer the
medical examination conducted to establish whether someone
was younger than 18 in doubtful cases.
Interviewer: Maar waarom vinden ze ‘t zo belangrijk om zich uit
te geven voor achttien in plaats van uh tweeëntwintig?
But why do they find it so important to pretend to be
18 instead of 22?
 TP:
 KP:
‘they’ and ‘pretended to be 18’
find it important to pretend to be 18 instead
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of 22
KP≠TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 7 – 8.waarom_fn007150_30_N03020_Nholland
 Context: The interviewer talked to Hans van Wissen, who
published a provocative article in de Volkskrant about the
scandal that crown prince Willem-Alexander promised not to
run for the IOC but nevertheless has become a member of the
IOC. Mr. van Wissen found this very disappointing because it
was not how things should work.
Interviewer: Ja waarom heeft u zich dan niet wat journalistiek
terughoudener opgesteld?
Yes why didn’t you reacted journalistically in a more
reserved manner?
 TP: ‘you’ (Hans van Wissen)
 KP: were not journalistically reserved
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KP≠TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 15 – 30.wanneer_fn006711_21_N05003_noInterview_Nholland
 Context: Speaker N01163 talked to speaker N05003 what she
and her family could do in their (ski) holiday if there would not
be enough snow.
 N05003:
En wanneer gaan jullie weg?
And when are you leaving?
 TP: ‘you’
 KP: are leaving
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KP≠TP: accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word
 Example 16 – 9. wanneer_fn008143_39_N08108_noInterview_Nholland
 Context: Speaker N08108 told speaker N08109 that Eric called
him yesterday. They then recalled what they did together with
Eric on Queen’s day and tried to establish when Eric went
home. Speaker N08109 believed that Eric either left before him
or a bit after him.
N08108: En en en uh uh wanneer ben jij dan naar huis gegaan?
And and and uh uh when did you go home then?
 TP: ‘went home’
 KP: ‘you’ (N08109)
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Q2: Is there a relationship between the intonation of the
WH-word and the information structure of the OS?
 The intonation of the WH-word is NOT independent of
the information structure of the OS, contra Haan (2001)
 When KP=TP, the WH-word is nearly always accented
 Intriguingly, the sameness of the KP and TP is not a
necessary condition for the WH-word to get accented,
contra L&M
 The WH-word gets accented (64%) also when KP≠TP
 Probably communicative motivation for the speaker to accent
the WH-word
 Accenting shows a strong desire to obtain the information required via
the WH-word (e.g. why-questions)
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Accent assignment in the OS
The ‘left-asymmetry’ view
(Haan 2001)
The ‘right-asymmetry’ view
(L&M 1998)
 An accent can be assigned to
a TP and a KP
 An accent cannot be
assigned to a TP
 The accents in the OS tend to
be realised with a smaller
pitch range than the accent on
the WH-word
 The accents in the OS are
not formally different
from the accent on the
WH-word
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Q3: Can TP constituents be accented?
 TP constituents are accented in 34% of the WHquestions.
 This supports Haan but not L&M
 Example 2 – 2.waarom_fn007514_58_N03402_Outrecht
[H*L on ‘vervelend’]
 Example 3 – 10.waarom_fn007252_83_N03115_Nholland
 [L*H on ‘haast’]
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Q4: Are the accents in the OS realised with a
reduced pitch range?
 Yes, sometimes.
 Reduced pitch accent (14% of WH-questions with an accented
WH-word)
 Pitch setup (17%)
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Q5: Are accents in the OS only assigned to KP and TP? (1)
 NO.
 In 13% of the WH-questions an accent is assigned to an adverb;
the WH-word is not accented
 These adverbs have no topical relation to the presupposition in the
OS; they introduce a new meaning element to the discourse
 These adverbs are








eigenlijk ‘actually
juist ‘exactly’
nou ‘now’
precies ‘precisely’
specifiek ‘specifically’
toch ‘nevertheless’
wel ‘well’
zo ‘so’
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Q5: Are accents in the OS only assigned to KP and TP? (2)
 Observed functions of these adverbs
 Intensify the contrast between the current proposition and the
set of possible propositions (e.g. ‘specifiek’)
 Affirm the truth value of the proposition (e.g. ‘wel’)
 Highlight a shift of attention from the topic at utterance time to
a different one (e.g. ‘eigenlijk’ actually)
 Common effect of these accented adverbs
 The speaker sounds more engaged and eager to find out the
information required via the WH-word
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38
39
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Conclusions
 The intonation of the WH-word is to some extent related
to the information structure of the OS, contra Haan
(2001)
 Communicative motivation may play a role in accent
assignment …
 TP constituents can be accented; sometimes accents in
the OS can be realised with a reduced pitch range or pitch
step-up
 Accents are also assigned to a group of adverbs in the OS
that appear to introduce a new meaning dimension
 Lack of accent on the WH-word (to avoid ‘accent clash’)
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Thank you!
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