a descriptive study of intonation in welsh...

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ウェールズ英語における平叙文とYes/No 疑問文イントネーションに関する記述研究：パイロット・スタディー

A Descriptive Study of Intonation in Welsh English: Preliminary Investigations of Statements and Yes/No Questions1

Marina Arashiro

新城　真里奈

　本研究は、ウェールズ英語（WE）におけるイントネーションの記述研究である。WEには、ウェールズ語の特徴の転移と推察されている特徴が多く観察される。これまでのWE研究は、分節音が中心で、イントネーションに関する先行研究は少なく、体系だった記述がない状態である。　本研究では、平叙文と Yes/No疑問文（Y/N疑問文）に焦点をあてた。本稿の目的は、平叙文と Y/N疑問文にみられるWEイントネーションの特徴を記述することであるが、WEの特徴をより明確に示すため、標準南部イギリス英語（SSBE）も比較のために分析した。本研究で分析したデータは、平叙文 5文、Y/N疑問文 7文である。WEと SSBE話者各 1名に 3回ずつ読み上げてもらう形式で録音を行った。分析の際、イントネーション句を、前頭部、頭部、核音調に分け、各部のピッチパタンを記述した。　分析の結果、WEの平叙文では、SSBEと同様、多くの場合核音調は下降調で、Y/N疑問文では上昇調であることが明らかとなった。しかし、WEでは使用される核音調の種類が多く、平叙文で上昇調、Y/N疑問文で下降調の核音調も観察された。これは、WEでは、核音調のみで 2つの文種の区別ができない場合があるということを示唆している。この結果を踏まえて、他の部分のピッチパタンを分析したところ、前頭部が文種の区別に関与している可能性が明らかとなった。WEデータでは、平叙文の場合、前頭部のピッチパタンは比較的低めのピッチの平板であるが、Y/N疑問文においては、一貫して、上昇がみられた。WEの Y/N疑問文の前頭部における上昇は、SSBEの Y/N疑問文より上昇幅が大きいことも明らかとなった。また、WEにおいては、頭部の最初の音節でピッチが下がるため、前頭部における上昇は、意図的なものであるといえる。頭部のピッチパタンは、文種の区別には関与しないようであるが、WEと SSBEでは異なる特徴が観察された。SSBEでは、頭部のピッチパタンは、比較的平板であることが多い。一方で、WEにおいては、ウェールズ語の強勢の影響から、最初の強音節が低く、後続の弱音節で上昇、あるいは上昇下降調を形成することが多いという特徴が観察された。

要　旨

ウェールズ英語における平叙文と Yes/No 疑問文イントネーションに関する記述研究：パイロット・スタディー

180 新城　真里奈

1. Introduction

In Wales, Welsh was the dominant language until about two centuries ago when a number of English people migrated

there to work as labourers in coal and steel mines. Since then, the Welsh language has been in decline and English has spread

throughout Wales, due in part to the implementation of an Anglo-centric educational system. During the first half of the 20th

century, there was a drastic drop in the number of Welsh speakers from 49.9% to 28.9%. After a re-evaluation of the cultural

value of this indigenous language was conducted, a number of policies were enforced to promote its revitalisation. A new

educational system that made Welsh a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools in Wales has been successful

in increasing the number of Welsh speakers in the younger generation (Matsuyama 2007: 52-53). A recent census revealed,

however, that the overall Welsh-speaking population dropped from 20.8% to 19% between 2001 and 2011 (Office for National

Statistics 2011: 13).

According to Wells (1982), there is little doubt that the phonology of the Welsh language has a strong influence on Welsh

English (WE) (p.377). The influence can be found in various aspects of WE, including grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

With regard to pronunciation, the perceptual impression of WE is markedly different from that of Standard Southern British

English (SSBE) and other English accents in England. Some researchers state that intonation is the feature distinguishing WE

from other English accents (Wells 1982: 392; Tench 1990: 138). WE intonation is typically, though informally, described as

‘lilting’ or ‘sing-song’. Despite its peculiarity, WE intonation has rarely been investigated in the context of phonetic research.

Apart from brief descriptions of WE intonation’s general characteristics (e.g. Wells 1982; Tench 1990), Walters (2006) is

probably the only study that describes it at length.

The present study investigates intonation patterns in statements and yes/no questions (Y/N questions) in WE. This paper

also compares intonation in WE and SSBE and shows how the former differs from the latter. To these ends, experimental

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Previous studies

2.1. Stress in SSBE, Welsh, and WE

2.2. SSBE intonation

2.3. Welsh intonation

2.4. WE intonation

3. Experiment

3.1. Methodology

3.2. Results and discussion

3.2.1. Nuclear tones

3.2.2. Pitch patterns in the prehead

3.2.3. Pitch patterns in the head

4. Conclusion

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recordings were made and the audio data were analysed impressionistically and acoustically. Section 2 reviews previous

studies on the suprasegmental features of SSBE, Welsh, and WE. Section 3 outlines the experiment methodology and presents

the results of its analyses. Section 4 draws a conclusion by suggesting which part of an intonation phrase (IP) seems to play an

important role in distinguishing statements and Y/N questions. Because of the smallness of the data, the present study serves

only as a pilot study for a larger, more thorough investigation.

2. Previous Studies

This section will review previous studies on suprasegmental features of SSBE, Welsh, and WE. Although the focus is on

intonation, the following section summarises stress features, as they seem to influence overall intonation patterns, at least in

Welsh and WE.

2.1. Stress in SSBE, Welsh, and WE

The main acoustic correlates of stress are fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and intensity. In standard accents of

English, stressed syllables have a higher F0 or a major part of an F0 movement, and longer duration and greater intensity

than unstressed syllables. Languages differ in terms of which of these features are used and/or which of the features are

considered the most important for the manifestation and perception of stress. For example, among the features listed here, the

most important correlate is the F0 in standard accents of English. In Russian, however, duration is the key factor (Svetozarova

1998: 263). What makes Welsh unusual is the fact that none of the above features is found in stressed syllables. Stressed

syllables in Welsh carry a lower F0, little F0 movement, and a shorter duration compared to unstressed final syllables. On the

other hand, phonologically unstressed final syllables carry a higher F0 and/or most of the F0 movement, and have a longer

duration. In fact, at least to the English ear, it is the unstressed final syllables that sound more prominent (Watkins 1954: 8).

Stressed syllables in Welsh are by no means prominent in the same sense as in SSBE, although they still serve as rhythmic

beats. Welsh scholars (e.g. Rees [Rhys] 1977; Ball & Williams 2001) suggest that this unique stress system is the result of a

historical change called the Old Welsh Accent Shift. Before the shift, they explain, the stress of a polysyllabic word was on the

final syllable. Around the 11th century, when the shift occurred, the ‘stress element’ moved to the penultimate syllable while

the ‘pitch element’ remained on the ultimate syllable (Ball & Williams 2001: 182-185).

2.2. SSBE intonation

Intonation patterns in SSBE have been well documented in a number of impressionistic and instrumental studies. Palmer

(1922) proposed a famous way to describe English intonation. Although his original framework was modified (for instance,

by Kingdon 1958; Halliday 1967), his idea to divide an RP intonation phrase into head, nucleus, and tail has been unarguably

influential. After almost a century, his framework is still in use. Additionally, no one appears to be denying the importance of

nuclear tones as far as standard English accents are concerned. This section does not aim to discuss theoretical changes and

differences in detail, but rather to summarise the general features of SSBE intonation. In the remaining sections of this paper,

terms and their definitions will follow Wells (2006). See Wells (2006) for detailed definitions and explanations of terms.


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Wells (2006) follows the British school tradition in dividing IPs into four parts: prehead, head, nucleus, and tail. The

nuclear tone – a pitch movement stretching from the nucleus to the end of the tail – is assumed to be the most important in

standard accents of English, as it carries the major part of intonational meaning. The most frequently used nuclear tones in

SSBE are the fall, rise, and fall-rise. In neutral statements, the nuclear tone falls, and in polar-questions, it rises. The fall-rise

is also frequently used in neutral Y/N questions and statements, where tone indicates a reservation or implication.

In other parts of an IP, variations in the pitch pattern make only a minor contribution to the overall intonational meaning,

adding nuances. Cruttenden (1997) writes that the relation between nuclear and prenuclear tones ‘is rather like the distinction

between a stem morph and a prefix where the core meaning is carried by the stem and the effect of the prefix is to modify in

some way the core meaning of the stem’ (p.49). In a neutral utterance, the head of an IP most commonly has a high level or

a step-down pattern (Cruttenden 1997: 160-161; Wells 2006: 209). When it has other patterns, the head modifies the general

meaning indicated by the nuclear tone by adding attitudinal meanings, such as emphasis, protest, or surprise. As for the

prehead, only two patterns, low and high level, need to be distinguished. The former is most likely to be used in a neutral

sentence, and the latter adds extra emphasis (Wells 2006: 214-215).

2.3. Welsh intonation

Intonation is rarely studied in the field of Welsh linguistics. Only a few reports are available, none of which are conclusive.

Because of the limited number of studies, and differences in research aims, no consensus has been achieved on any aspect of

Welsh intonation. Researchers even disagree on the number of nuclear tones: Thomas (1967) identifies eight tones and Rees

[Rhys] (1977, 1984) identifies four tones, recognizing variations according to the ‘key’ of the IP. In his review of these studies,

Ball (1989) posits four main nuclear tones, including fall, rise-fall, rise, and level (pp. 93-94).

With regard to the identification of nuclear tones, Thomas (1967) was not concerned with the basic issue of what factors

control the selection of a particular tone from the whole inventory.2 Rees [Rhys], who focused on the discourse function of

intonation, did not discuss the meanings of each tone in detail, although he did distinguish ‘Tone 1’ (i.e. fall and rise-fall) and

‘Tone 2’ (i.e. rise and level) based on the general ideas of ‘resolving’ and ‘non-resolving’ (1984: 146). He further wrote that

among variations of Tone 1, the low fall is the unmarked tone, while the high fall and the rise-fall are marked tones (1984:

146).

Although there is no statement on preference according to sentence type, examples shown in Thomas (1967) suggest the

following: (1) falling tones seem to be preferred in statements, exclamations, and wh-questions and (2) rising tones seem to be

preferred in Y/N questions. However, several statements with a rising terminal tone do exist, and at least one polar-question in

Thomas’s data is described as having a high falling nuclear tone.

Pitch patterns in the Welsh prehead are similar to those in English in the sense that they are most likely level but different

in that they may also rise. The normal prehead, according to Thomas (1967), has a level or a rising tone beginning at around

mid of the speaker’s voice range. Other documented patterns in the prehead are high rising, high level, and low level. The first

two are reported to add greater emphasis (pp.12-14).

Thomas (1967) points out that pitch patterns in the head are predictable in Welsh to some extent, though they are far less

so than in English. In fact, in addition to three basic patterns, ‘saw-toothed’, ‘rising’ and ‘level’, he reports mixed patterns in

which two of these appear in one head (pp.14-18).

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It can be inferred from previous studies that in Welsh, certain nuclear tone types are linked, at least to some extent, to

certain types of sentences. This is indicated by the examples in Thomas (1967) and Rees [Rhys] (1977, 1984), which claim

the existence of the ‘resolving’ and ‘non-resolving’ functions. However, there is some counter-evidence indicating that the

reality is not so simple. For preheads and heads in Welsh, variations in pitch patterns are limited to a certain degree, although

it seems that there is a wider range of possible patterns to be distinguished than in SSBE, and the pitch patterns may also be

much less static than in SSBE.

2.4. WE intonation

Even though some state that intonation is the most noticeable feature of WE (e.g. Wells 1982: 378; Tench 1990: 138), it

has not been studied in detail. Apart from descriptions of WE intonation’s general characteristics (e.g. Connolly 1990; Tench

1990), Walters (2006) is perhaps the only study to describe it at length. The remaining part of this section will summarise

characteristics of WE intonation described in previous studies.

The most frequently observed features of WE intonation are the high frequency of the rise-fall nuclear tone (Wells 1982:

392; Calabrese & Coadou 1999: 144; Collins & Mees 1990: 101; Connolly 1990: 126; Tench 1990: 138), a wider pitch range

compared to SSBE (Collins & Mees 1990: 101; Connolly 1990: 126; Tench 1990: 140), and frequent pitch movements in the

head (Connolly 1990: 126; Tench 1990: 140). The validity of these statements on WE’s intonational features is unfortunately

unknown, as they have not been supported by experimental or quantitative studies. Referring to the first feature, Wells (1982)

states that ‘[t]his gives the impression of throwing into inexplicable prominence the syllable after the one bearing the intonation

nucleus’ (p. 392). Collins & Mees (1990) further pointed out that WE speakers use a rising tone in narrative (p. 101).

Walters (2006) analysed WE intonation using ToBI. After investigating 558 IPs, he reported that the rising nuclear tone

is ‘by far the most common type in the data’, (55%), followed by the falling tone (20.5%), and the rising-falling tone (18.9%)

(Ch. 5.4.1). One hundred and twenty statements were chosen at random from the data and further analysed. The results showed

that 46.7% statements had a falling ‘terminal tone’, i.e. the final single pitch movement of the IP, and 53.3% had a rising one

(Ch. 5.7.3). With regard to interrogatives, among 139 wh-questions, the terminal tones of 73 instances were falling and 66

were rising; among 77 Y/N questions, the terminal tones of 19 were falling and 58 were rising; and among 592 tag-questions,

446 were falling and 146 were rising (Ch. 5.7.4).

Walters argues that the terminal tone in WE functions to signal discourse meanings of either finality or non-finality. He

states that the falling terminal tone indicates finality and the rising and level terminal tones indicate non-finality. The contrast

of finality and non-finality may be ‘informational (text-orientated)’ or ‘interactional (listener-orientated) (2006: Ch. 5.7.1-2)’.

He concludes,

[W]hether a falling or rising terminal tone is used depends not only whether information embarked upon is deemed

complete or incomplete, but also on whether the speaker wants to proclaim or refer it to the listeners (Walters 2006: Ch.

5.7.3).


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3. Experiment

The present study examines intonation of statements and Y/N questions in WE. The main aim of the paper is to describe

intonational patterns in the two basic sentence types and to investigate what kinds of pitch patterns are associated with one

sentence type versus the other. The second aim is to show how WE intonation differs from SSBE intonation. To this end, the

SSBE data were also analysed and the results for the two accents were compared. The remainder of this paper outlines the

methodology used in this study and discusses the results of the analysis.

3.1. Methodology

The descriptions below are based on a comparison of statements and Y/N questions from one WE speaker and one

SSBE speaker. WE recording was conducted in Carmarthen (Carmarthenshire, south-west Wales), the county with the highest

population of Welsh speakers in South Wales. The WE speaker was born and raised in the same town and was in his 60s at the

time of the recording. Although his first language was not Welsh but English, he was a learner of the language and could speak

it fluently. During the interview, he reported that proficiency in Welsh speaking was important for his business. The auditory

impression of his English accent was of typical Welsh English. The SSBE data were recorded in London, with a speaker in her

40s who was born and raised in Swindon.

Both speakers were asked to read 34 sentences, 12 of which were analysed for the present study. They included five

statements and seven Y/N questions. Sentences were randomly ordered and read three times. Several items were discarded

because of mispronunciation. The data finally consisted of 66 statements and Y/N questions (36 from the WE speaker and 30

from the SSBE speaker). The Y/N questions were of two types: (1) Y/N questions with an inverted subject and verb and (2)

declarative questions, which have the same construction as statements and are identifiable as questions only by their rising

intonation. The recordings were made in a quiet room at a sampling rate of 44,100 Hz with a PCM recorder (Olympus) and an

external clip-on microphone (Olympus).

Since no agreed framework exists for describing WE or for comparing the two regional accents, the WE and SSBE data

were analysed based on the framework traditionally employed for a description of SSBE intonation: an IP was divided into

prehead, head, and nucleus plus tail, and pitch patterns of each part were investigated auditorily as well as acoustically. The

acoustic analysis was carried out with the free computer software Praat (Boersma & Weenink 2013).

3.2. Results and discussion

As nuclear tones are generally considered especially important, at least in SSBE, the result of the analysis of this tone will

be presented first. The results for the prehead and the head will follow.

3.2.1. Nuclear tones

Table 1 shows variations in nuclear tone and the number of times the variation was observed in both WE and SSBE.

Overall preference for nuclear tone choice in WE was in a sense similar to that of SSBE: in both accents, (1) statements had a

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falling type of tone more frequently than a rising type and (2) the majority of Y/N questions carried a rising-type tone.

Differences were identified in the variations of falling/rising nuclear tones. Table 1 indicates a greater variation in WE

than SSBE. In the statements, the nuclear tones used in SSBE were either a simple fall (F) or a fall-rise (FR). In WE, four

tones were observed: simple fall (F), rise-fall (RF), simple rise (R) and rise-fall-rise (RFR). The fall-rise tone, which occurs

frequently in SSBE, was not observed at all among WE statements. Section 2.4 noted that Rees [Rhys] (1977) considers a

simple fall as unmarked and a rise-fall as marked in Welsh. In SSBE, the rise-fall tone is also marked and is associated with

the meanings ‘impressed’ or ‘sarcastic’ (Cruttenden 1997:92, 105). A previous study on WE, on the other hand, reports that

rise-fall tones as well as simple falling tones are frequently used in emotively neutral sentences (Connolly 1990:126). The

present study’s result is in line with Connolly’s observation. The two nuclear tones, a simple fall and a rise-fall, seemed to be

used alternatively in the WE data.

Table 1. Nuclear tones in WE and SSBE3

Falling Rising

F RF FR R RFR

Statements

SSBE7 0 5 0 0

(7) (5)

WE5 3 0 3 4

(8) (7)

Y/N questions

SSBE0 0 18 0 0

(0) (18)

WE2 0 5 12 2

(2) (19)

Another noticeable feature of statements in WE was that the first pitch movement of the nuclear tone was rising (i.e.

had RF, R or RFR tones) in two-thirds of the data. This result can likely be attributed to the direct transfer of the Welsh stress

system. As mentioned in Section 2.3, in Welsh, the pitch goes lower when a syllable receives stress and higher in post-stress

unstressed syllables, reflecting how the present WE speaker spoke. Influence of the Welsh stress system will become more

apparent in the discussion of pitch patterns in the head in Section 3.2.3.

The SSBE speaker read all interrogatives with a fall-rise tone (FR), while the WE speaker once again demonstrated a

larger inventory of nuclear tones in Y/N questions. The four nuclear tones found in WE are simple fall (F), fall-rise (FR), rise

(R), and rise-fall-rise (RFR). Among the rising tones, the WE speaker seemed to prefer the simple rise to the fall-rise while

the SSBE speaker preferred the latter.

While there were specific differences, the overall preferences in WE and SSBE were similar to each other. The result

suggests that in WE, as in SSBE, falling tones denote ‘finality’ and are more correlated with definitive statements, while rising

tones signal ‘non-finality’ and are used more frequently in Y/N questions and statements where reservation or implication is

expressed. It should be noted here, however, that some WE speakers report that they do not necessarily distinguish statements

and Y/N questions solely by nuclear tone. When the WE consultant listened to two identical sentences differentiated only by

a falling and a rising nuclear tone (i.e. a statement and a declarative question) and was asked whether or not he perceived a


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difference in the meaning, he answered that he did not. This report, together with observations of rising tones in statements and

falling tones in Y/N questions in the present data and previous studies, gives rise to two questions. The first is whether, and to

what extent, WE speakers use a nuclear tone to distinguish statements and Y/N questions. The second question is whether they

use other cues to distinguish these sentence types. To answer the first question, more data need to be analysed and a perceptual

experiment conducted. With regard to the second question, the present data suggested that the pitch at the beginning of an IP

or the prehead plays a role in distinguishing questions from statements.

3.2.2. Pitch patterns in the prehead

Pitch patterns in the prehead are rarely focused on in the description of SSBE intonation because of their minor contribution

to overall grammatical or pragmatic meaning. In WE, however, the pitch pattern in the prehead seems to function as a marker

to distinguish statements from questions.

250

200

150

100

50

Figure 1. An example of intonation of a statement in WE

(Hz)

We’re leav- ing for Germ- any on Mon- day.

250

200

150

100

50

Figure 2. An example of intonation of a Y/N question in WE

(Hz)

May I bor- row your rub- ber?

Figures 1 and 2 are examples of a statement and question in WE respectively. The F0 curves are drawn automatically

by Praat (Boersma ＆ Weenink 2013) and clearly show different patterns in the preheads. In Figure 1, the pitch curve of the

prehead (We’re) is flat, the average F0 of this part being around 125 Hz. In Figure 2, there is a steep rising curve in the prehead

(‘May I’) where the F0 rises from 160 to 238 Hz.

Further acoustic analysis was carried out for pitch patterns in the prehead. To compare the direction and degree of pitch

movements in the prehead, the F0s were measured at two points. The first and second points of measurements were the lowest

and highest peaks in the prehead. The first point was usually detected near the beginning of the prehead and the second point,

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at around the mid to the end of the prehead, depending on the rate and the range of the pitch change. A third point was added

to the graph to show how the pitch moved after the prehead to the beginning of the head. The third point is the first peak in

the initial syllable of the head. Figures 3 and 4 show the results of measurements for WE statements and Y/N questions. The

numbers in the horizontal axis represent first, second, and third points of measurement, and the vertical axis shows F0 at the

point of measurement in semitones (sts) (re 100 Hz).

Figures 3 and 4 clearly demonstrate that statements and Y/N questions have different pitch patterns in the prehead.

The figures show that the pitch at the beginning of the prehead ranged from 2.5 to 7.5 sts (110 to 160 Hz) in WE statements,

whereas in WE Y/N questions, it ranged between 3 to 12 sts (120 to 200 Hz). One-third of the Y/N questions were found to

begin at a pitch of 7.5 sts (160 Hz) or higher. The difference is even more apparent in the F0 distribution at the second point of

measurement. The pitch ranged from 2.5 to 9 sts (110 to 170 Hz) in statements, while it ranged from 10 to 20 sts (180 to 320

Hz) in Y/N questions, except in one instance, which had a pitch just above 3 sts (120 Hz).

20181614121086420

-2

(sts)20181614121086420

-2

(sts)

Figure 3. WE statements (in semitones) Figure 4. WE Y/N questions (in semitones)1 2 3 1 2 3

In statements, the direction of pitch movements was rising in some instances and falling in others. Apart from the one

exception, the direction of pitch movement was consistently ascending in Y/N questions. In Y/N questions, the pitch in the

prehead frequently reached a height well above 200 Hz (12 sts). The consultant used quite a high pitch range for a male

speaker, and in a few utterances, his voice reached a falsetto.

The range of pitch movement was also different in the two sentence types. As the graphs illustrate, the slopes between

the first and second points are much steeper in Figure 4 than in Figure 3, indicating a wider (rising) pitch movement in Y/N

questions than in statements. The average differences between the first and second points of measurements were calculated

by subtracting the F0s at the latter from those at the former. The difference was -1.5 sts (-11.3 Hz) in statements with a falling

prehead, +2.2 sts (+17.7 Hz) in statements with a rising prehead, and +6.1 sts (+66.9 Hz) in Y/N questions. The rise in the

prehead in WE Y/N questions was usually noticeable, while the minor pitch movement in WE statements was occasionally

unperceivable.

The pitch appears to be distributed in a similar way at the third point of measurement (in the head) in statements and


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Y/N questions: the pitch ranged from -1 to 12 sts (90 to 200 Hz) in statements and Y/N questions in WE. In statements, the

direction of pitch movement from the end of the prehead to the first syllable of the head was falling in half of the data and

rising in the other half. The pitch patterned more consistently in the Y/N questions. The direction of the movement was almost

always falling; the steep slopes in Figure 4 indicate greater pitch movement in the Y/N questions than in the statements in

WE. As the first stressed syllables of the head were usually significantly lower in pitch than the peak of the prehead in WE

Y/N questions, it is plausible that the substantial rise in the prehead was produced intentionally in order to show the speaker’s

intention of asking a question.

The result of acoustic measurements indicates that in WE preheads in Y/N questions may start at a higher pitch and

usually have a rising pattern, while those in statements tend to be lower and relatively monotonous.

Pitch patterns in the prehead in WE were also different from those in SSBE. Figures 5 and 6 show pitch patterns in the

prehead and the first syllable of the head in SSBE statements and Y/N questions. To conduct an inter-dialect comparison,

the vertical axes were scaled in semitones. In the present data, SSBE statements usually had a low level prehead followed

by a high stressed syllable in the head. The pitch in the prehead in statements was found to pattern in a similar way in SSBE

and WE. However, minor, often unperceivable pitch changes appear to occur slightly more often in WE. The range of pitch

movement may also be slightly greater in WE in some cases, in which case the movement was perceivable. Figures 5 and 6

suggest that the pitch at the beginning of the prehead may be higher in Y/N questions than in statements in SSBE. The pitch

appears to rise often towards the end of the prehead in SSBE Y/N questions (+1.8 sts on average), though the degree of rising

is not as great as in WE Y/N questions (+6.1 sts).

22

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

(sts)22

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

(sts)

Figure 5. SSBE statements (in semitones) Figure 6. SSBE Y/N questions (in semitones)1 2 3 1 2 3

Another difference between SSBE and WE was found in the direction of pitch movement from the end of the prehead

to the first stressed syllable of the head. In WE questions, the pitch movement was usually downward, whereas in SSBE

questions, the first syllable of the head keeps the pitch from the end of the prehead (Figure 6).

This section revealed that there is a significant difference in pitch pattern in the prehead between WE statements and

Y/N questions. In Y/N questions, a noticeable rise was observed in the prehead, while the pitch was relatively stable in

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statements. The degrees of rising in WE Y/N questions were also much greater than those in SSBE Y/N questions. The low

pitched beginning of the head in the WE Y/N questions suggests that substantial rises in the prehead in WE Y/N questions are

produced intentionally. Given the relatively consistent patterns in the prehead and the wider variations in nuclear tones in WE,

it appears that the pitch pattern in the prehead supports a distinguishing of the two sentence types, though it may not be true

that this is the sole distinguishing marker.

3.2.3 Pitch patterns in the head

Welsh stress seems to have a significant influence on intonation in WE. As shown in Section 3.2.1, the first pitch movement

of nuclear tones in WE was mostly the rising. It was speculated that this was because stressed syllables in WE often have a

lower pitch than the surrounding weak syllables because of Welsh influence, and that the post-stress weak syllables frequently

carry a higher pitch. Similar Welsh stress influence was observed in pitch patterns in the head. This section will discuss inter-

dialect difference in the head.

Figures 3 to 6 in the previous section clearly demonstrate an inter-dialect difference in the pitch of stressed syllables. In

half of WE statements, the pitch in the first stressed syllable in the head went down from the end of the prehead (Figure 3),

while in all SSBE data, the pitch went up to the stressed syllable (Figure 5). There was an abrupt decrease in pitch from the

end of the prehead to the initial stressed syllable in the head in all WE Y/N questions (Figure 4). The pitch never decreased

significantly in the SSBE Y/N questions (Figure 6).

With regard to the pitch movement from the stressed syllable to the end of a foot in the head, half of the WE data had a

rising or a rise-fall pattern. The other half of the data showed level or falling patterns. Since the pitch does not necessarily go

up in stressed syllables in WE, level tones were generally at the mid or low range of the speaker’s voice. In SSBE, two thirds

of the data had a level tone and one third had a slightly falling tone. Level tones observed in the SSBE data were mostly at a

high pitch. Only a few mid-level patterns were found and no low level pattern was observed in the head in SSBE.

300

250

200

150

100

Figure 7. An example of statement intonation in SSBE

(Hz)

We’re leav- ing for Germ- any on Mon- day

The above-mentioned inter-dialect contrast in the head can be observed in Figures 1 (in Section 3.2.2) and 7 above. In

Figure 1 (WE), although the stressed syllable (‘leav-’) in the head does not descend, it maintains the pitch level in the mid

range. The stressed syllable with a level pitch is followed by an abrupt rise around the syllable boundary between the stressed

and unstressed syllables. The pitch reaches its peak in the middle of the first unstressed syllable (‘-ing’) and then gradually



lowers until the end of the foot. Thus, in Figure 1, the foot in the head has a rise-fall pattern. In Figure 9 (SSBE), the pitch

rises during the stressed syllable (‘leav-’) and reaches the peak by the end of the syllable. The unstressed syllable (‘-ing’)

immediately following the end-syllable keeps the high pitch, and then the pitch drops slightly in the final unstressed syllable

of the foot (‘for’). Thus, the head in Figure 9 is perceived as carrying a high-level tone.

The present SSBE data seem to support the description given in previous studies: that pitch pattern in the head is generally

static in SSBE. When there is a pitch movement after stressed syllables, the direction is always descending. In WE, on the

other hand, the pitch patterns in the head were found to be less static, and the direction of pitch movement from the stressed

syllable was commonly ascending or ascending plus descending.

4. Conclusion

The present study compared pitch patterns in prehead, head, and nucleus plus tail in WE and SSBE. The results indicated

that, as in SSBE, WE statements and Y/N questions often have a particular type of falling and rising tone respectively. In WE,

however, the variations of the nuclear tone were wider than in SSBE. Observations of rising tone types in statements and

falling tone types in a few Y/N questions indicated that sentence types are not always distinguished only by the nuclear tone.

Further investigations of other parts of the IP revealed that pitch patterns in the prehead may play a role in signalling

sentence types. It was found that preheads in WE Y/N questions consistently carry a rising pitch movement. The degree of

pitch movement was also much greater than the WE statements or SSBE Y/N questions, both of which may have a slightly

rising prehead. The consistency and significance of the pitch movement in the prehead suggest that the pitch pattern in this part

of the sentence may serve as a cue to distinguish statements and Y/N questions in WE.

Welsh stress influence was apparent in the pitch patterns in the head of WE. Stressed syllables in WE often had a low

pitch, and a rising or rise-fall pattern was formed from the stressed syllable to the final unstressed syllable of the foot. In SSBE,

on the other hand, pitch patterns in the head were rather monotonous. A foot in the head was found most commonly to have

a high level tone.

Some limitations of these findings need to be mentioned. As the data were elicited through a formal task, the descriptions

in this paper may represent the most typical pitch patterns of each sentence type. However, the descriptions may also be an over-

simplification of the reality. Different elicitation methods, such as an interview in a more natural situation or free conversation,

may reveal more complicated results. The data investigated in the present study was also limited in size. Therefore, the above

observations may include idiosyncratic features; more data are required to confirm that these features are widely found in WE

statements and Y/N questions. In particular, investigations might focus on whether the pitch patterns in the prehead truly serve

as the distinguishing marker of Y/N sentences. This preliminary finding needs to be verified through perceptual experiments as

well as analyses of larger amounts of recorded data. Investigating a large sample may present differences by generation, since

younger people speak with a more standardised accent, while some older speakers retain a broad WE accent.

191

1　This work was supported in part by Grants for Excellent Graduate Schools, MEXT, Japan. 2　Thus, he just describes observed pitch patterns by showing examples but does not mention which of the observed

tones are marked or unmarked. He states, however, that emphatic sentences often carry ‘complex tunes’ and certain patterns in the prehead, and that the head adds extra prominence (Thomas, 1967).

3　‘F’ stands for a simple fall, ‘RF’ for a rise-fall, ‘FR’ for a fall-rise, ‘R’ for a simple rise and ‘RFR’ for rise-fall-rise.

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