intonation patterns in polish and english by joanna rutkowska marzena raczkowska prepared on the...
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INTONATION PATTERNS IN POLISH AND ENGLISH
by
Joanna RutkowskaMarzena Raczkowska
prepared on the basis of Marek, B., Intonation and Emphasis in Polish and English, PSICL 3Demenko G., Badania intonacji na
potrzeby technologii mowy, WN-UAM 1999
Intonation
The intonation of a sentence is the pattern of pitch changes that occurs during the utterance of the sentence.
Presentation of the approach
The most popular approach in the studies on intonation is so-called BRITISH SCHOOL.
According to this approach there are three types of pitch patterns:
-low ( L )-high ( H )-middle ( M )
English nuclear tones can be defined in terms of those three kinds of pitch.
In our presentation we will try to compare Polish and English nuclear tones in terms of these pitch patterns.
To refresh your memory...
a tone group (fraza intonacyjna) consists of pre-head head nucleus (the syllable which carries the main
change in pitch) tail
[prehead [ head [[ nucleus] tail ]]]
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Oh, I’m SO glad to see you
Types of nuclear tones - falls: HL
high-low (HL) Pol. Znowu ten wariat. Eng. not present
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This freak a gain
Znowu ten wariat
Types of nuclear tones - falls: ML and HM
middle-low (ML) Pol. Bardzo zły znak. Eng. I don't believe it.
high-middle (HM) Pol. To nie jest najlepsza poradnia. Eng. What did you do?
Types of nuclear tones - falls: xL
extra-low (xL) Pol. Mówiłem ci, że to jest kiepski nawóz. Eng. not present
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I told you this was not a good fertiliser.
Mówiłam ci, że to jest kiepski nawóz.
low-middle (LM) Pol. Byłeś tu już? Eng. Try not to be late.
middle-high (MH) Pol. not present Eng. Why don't I write to the secretary, did you say?
low-high (LH) Pol. Co mówiłeś? Eng. It isn't as bad as all that.
Types of nuclear tones - rises: LM, LH
COMPLEX TONES low-high-low (LHL) or middle-high-low (MHL)
Pol. not present Eng. It's ridiculous.
high-low-high (HLH) or middle-low-high (MLH) Pol. not present Eng. No one wants to force you to play.
LEVEL TONES middle-middle (MM)
Pol. Dwa miasta . Eng. Two cities.
Types of nuclear tones (intonacje rdzenne) - other
Differences between nuclear tones in different l-s
Some of the above listed phenomena are universal for different languages
However, certain languages show considerable differences in their use of nuclear tones STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES REALISATIONAL DIFFERENCES SEMANTIC DIFFERENCES
STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES
Some types of nuclear tones (structures of pitch patterns) are present only in some languages
e.g.
English HLH nuclear tone is not present in Polish
REALISATIONAL DIFFERENCES
Similar intonation patterns appear in different languages, but they are realized in different ways. For example, LM tone is realized differently in English and in Polish:
In Polish the increase of fundamental frequency occurs most often at the end of a phrase
in English it can occur at the beginning of a phrase
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REALISATIONAL DIFFERENCES - illustration
Pytasz dlaczego nie piszę do sekretarki?
Have you been there?
In Polish the increase of fundamental frequencyoccurs most often at the end of a phraseIn English the increase of fundamental frequencycan occur at the beginning of a phrase
SEMANTIC DIFFERENCES
Intonation patterns can be structurally similar, but they can have different meaning. For example, LH pattern can mean different things in Polish and in English
In English LH does not indicate a question. In the expression
It isn't as bad as all that
LH pattern indicates oppositionIn Polish the expression
Wcale nie jest znowu taka zła
would be probably realized with falling intonation pattern of HL type.
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In Polish, opposition is expressed by falling intonation pattern of HL type.In English LH does not indicate a question. It indicates opposition.
SEMANTIC DIFFERENCES - illustration
It isn't as bad as all that
Wcale nie jest znowu taka zła
FOCUS
Focus is a specification assigned to an element of a semantic structure before the latter enters any postsemantic processes, and which can later be manifested in the surface structure by means of a nucleus placed on a corresponding element.
Focus assignement in neutral sentences -1
In case of the ”neutral sentences” the focus is assigned according to the following rules:1 If the semantic structure contains only
one root and this root is a verb root, then this verb root receives the
feature FOC (focus) V root ---- V root FOC
Eg. It's [[rain]ROOTing]VERB
Rules for focus assignement (ns) - 2
2 The FOC is assigned to an action verb root if the semantic structure contains this verb root and an agent noun root
act V root ---- act V root FOC/ agent noun root
eg. [David]NOUN [[laugh]ROOTed]VERB.
Rules for focus assignement (ns) - 3
3 If the semantic structure contains a patient and a beneficiary or an agent noun root
the feature FOC will usually be assigned to the patient.
patient N root ---- patient N root FOC/benef.,agenteg. [Mary]AGENT opened [the box]PATIENT.
Rules for focus assignement (ns) - 4
4 A location noun root, if present, will always have the feature FOC ( except for sentences with existential "there”
loc N root ---- loc N root FOC
eg. A book is on [the table]LOCATION N ROOT.(as opposed to: There is a book on the table.)
Focus assignement in Polish neutral sentences
The principle of FOC assignement seems to hold true for Polish, eg.
Pada. V root ---- V root FOC
Ściemnia się. V root ---- V root FOC
Janek zaśmiał się. Act V root ---- act V root FOC/ agt N root
Janek wylał mleko. pat N root ---- pat N root FOC/ben, agt
Książka leży na stole. loc N root ---- loc N root FOC
EMPHASIS
Intonation can serve as a means of expressing emphasis.
The semantic structure of an utterance determines the intonation which this utterance receives in the phonetic representation.
The nature of emphasis is basically the same in Polish and English.
Emphasis - examples
1a. 'Roger is a teacher.1b. Roger is a teacher.2a. 'Robert jest Ang likiem.2b. Robert jest Ang likiem.3a. Ma rysia jest tan cerką.3b. Ma rysia jest tan cerką.
Sentences of each pair differ in meaning. 1b, 2b and 3b express a contrast which is absent or less obvious in 1a, 2a ,3a.
Contrastive and emotive emphasis
Now look at the examples:1a. It’s beautiful!1b. Jak tu ślicznie!2a. Roger is a teacher. 2b. Roger jest nauczy cielem.3a. Roger is a teacher.3b. Roger jest nauczy cielem. All the above sentences can be interpreted as
emphatic. It can be also seen that the list contains examples for both contrastive and emotive emphasis.
Focus shift in emphatic sentences
The context may sometimes require a shift of FOC from the neutral position of ”neutral sentences" and place it on some other element of the semantic structure. Such a shift produces emphasis.
The rule for EMPH assignement
The feature EMPH is placed on focus in contrastive and emotive sentences.
The nature of emphasis is basically the same in Polish and English
X FOC ---- X EMPH/ contrX FOC ---- X EMPH/ emot
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Emphasis - illustration
It’s beautiful
Jak tu śli cz nie
Conclusion
The nature of emphasis and the principle underlying intonation assignement are basically the same in Polish and English.
X FOC ---- X EMPH/ emot [Listen]FOC everybody! [Mary]FOC has arrived!Patrzcie państwo! Marysia przyjechała!
X FOC ---- X EMPH/ contrRoger is a teacher.Roger jest nauczycielem.