TOBI Basics

April 13, 2010

Intonation• Languages superimpose pitch contours on top of word-based stress or tone distinctions.

• This is called intonation.

• It turns out that English:

• has word-based stress

• and phrase-based pitch accents (intonation)

• The pitch accents are pragmatically specified, rather than lexically specified

• They change according to discourse context.

• In English, pitch accents align with stressed syllables.

Pitch Accent Types• In English, pitch accents can be either high or low

• H* or L*

• Examples: High (H*) Low (L*)

Yes. Yes?

H* L*

Magnification. Magnification?

• As with tones in tone languages, “high” and “low” pitch accents are defined relative to a speaker’s pitch range.

• My pitch range: H* = 155 Hz L* = 100 Hz

• Mary Beckman: H* = 260 Hz L* = 130 Hz

Information• Note that there’s a tendency to accent new information in the discourse.

• 4 different patterns for 4 different contexts:

H*

H*: Manny came with Anna.

H*

H*: Manny came with Anna.

L*

L*: Manny came with Anna?

L*

L*: Manny came with Anna?

• Note that:

•The H* is followed by a falling pitch pattern

• The L* is followed by a rising pitch pattern

Phrases• Intonation organizes utterances into phrases

• “chunks”

• Intonational phrases are the largest phrases

• Boundary tones mark the end of intonational phrases

• In the transcription of intonation, phrase boundaries are marked with Break Indices

• Hence, TOBI: Tones and Break Indices

• Break Indices are denoted by numbers

• 1 = break between words

• 4 = break between intonational phrases

Tone Types• There are two types of tones at play:

1. Pitch Accents

• associated with a stressed syllable

• may be either High (H) or Low (L)

• marked with a *

2. Boundary Tones

• appear at the end of a phrase

• not associated with a particular syllable

• may be either High (H) or Low (L)

• marked with a %

Sample TOBI Transcription

Tones: L* H%

Breaks: 1 1 1 4

Question Formation• Note that not all questions end in L* H%.

• What’s the intonational difference between these two?

Did you see Bob?

L*H%

Where did you go?

H* L%

• The upsloping intonation only applies to yes/no questions.

• Also note: “Uptalk”

• = application of L* H% pattern to declarative sentences.

Downstepping• There can be more than one pitch accent within an intonational phrase.

• Successive H* accents tend to drift downward in F0 within an intonational phrase.

• = downdrift, or downstepping

• This provides further evidence for phrasal organization.

• Downstepped H* accents are denoted with a !H*

• Anna gave Manny a mango.

H* !H* !H* L%

• There’s a lovely, yellowish, old one.

H* !H* !H* L%

Downstepping Pitch Track

H* !H* !H* L%

=271 Hz =238 Hz =200 Hz

Intermediate Phrases• A downstepping pattern can be reset by the presence of an intermediate phrase boundary.

• Example:

It’s lovely, and yellowish, and it’s an old one.

H* !H* L- H* L-L%

• Intermediate phrase boundaries are marked with a break index of 3.

• At the end of each intermediate phrase is a phrase accent

• Either Low (L-) or High (H-)

Intermediate Phrase Transcription

H* !H* L- H* L-L%

1 1 1 3 1 1 0 1 4

One Phrase vs. Two Phrases• No intermediate phrase boundary:

“I” means insert.

H* H*L-L%

1 1 4

• An intermediate phrase boundary, with a L- phrase accent:

“I” means insert.

H* L- H*L-L%

3 1 4

• Note: intermediate sense of disjuncture, between word and intonational phrase.

One Phrase vs. Two Phrases• No intermediate phrase boundary:

Marianna made the marmalade.

L* L* H-H%

1 1 1 4

• An intermediate phrase boundary, with a H- phrase accent:

Marianna made the marmalade.

L* H- L* H-H%

3 1 1 4

A Chunking Reviewutterance

intonational phrase (intonational phrase) ...

intermediate phrase (intermediate phrase) ...

(pitch accent) nuclear accent

(stressed syllable) stressed syllable

Break Indices• 4 marks boundaries between intonational phrases

• associated with a boundary tone (H% or L%)

• sense of complete disjuncture

• 3 marks boundaries between intermediate phrases

• associated with a phrase accent (H- or L-)

• lesser sense of disjuncture

• 1 marks boundaries between words

• 0 marks non-boundaries between words

• (2 marks uncertainties or apparent mismatches)

• rarely used

Combinations• Different combinations of phrase accents and boundary

tones have different connotations.

1. L-L% Declarative sentences

2. H-H% Yes/No questions (usually)

3. L-H% Continuations

4. H-L% A “plateau” pattern

• Upstep: boundary tones after H- are higher than normal.

Upstepping

• H-H%

• H-L%

“My name is Marianna.”

Bitonal Pitch Accents• In addition to H* and L*, there are three bitonal pitch accents.

• Here are the first two:

• L + H*

• L* + H

• The starred element denotes the tone which is associated with the stressed syllable.

• L + H* = high peak on stressed syllable, preceded by a sharp rise in pitch.

• L* + H = low pitch target on stressed syllable, followed by a sharp rise in pitch.

H* vs. L + H*• Marianna won it.

H*

L + H*

Note: informative vs. contrastive function

L* vs. L* + H• Only a millionaire.

• Marianna made the marmalade.

H* L* + H L- H%

L* L* H-H%

L + H* vs. L* + H• There’s a lovely one in Bloomingdale’s.

L* + H

L + H*

Filling the Gap• Another feature of phrase accents is that they fill in the gap between the nuclear accent and the boundary of the intermediate phrase.

L* + H L- H%

1 0 1 1 4

More Downstepping• Bitonal pitch accents can also undergo downstepping.

L + H* L + !H* L + !H* L-L%

1 1 1 1 1 4

H + !H*• The final pitch accent in the TOBI inventory is H+!H*.

• This one often appears at the beginning of phrases.

Pitch-Accents Round-up• There are five pitch accents:

• H*

• L*

• L + H*

• L* + H

• H + !H*

• The * attaches to stressed syllables.

• The final pitch accent in an intonational phrase is the nuclear accent.

• Generally perceived as more prominent.