Setting up the database

The correlates fo r the vow els w ere used in the database. Accented and adjacent post•

accented correlates were q u a n tifie d and then entered n u m e rica lly in to a data file w hich contained in fo rm a tio n about the p itch correlates o f the vow els in F a th e d u ra tio n o f a ll the sounds o f the w ord in m illiseconds, and the in te n s ity o f each segm ent in num eric form in conform ance w ith the g re a te st in te n s ity o f the vow el. In te n s ity values w ere entered in percentages w ith 100% conform ing to the p o in t o f greatest energy recorded in a token.

These num bers w ere also p u t in to th e com puter program . The tw o-vow el an alysis was elected to tr y to su p p o rt the tw o ״vow el contour o f the ris in g accents.

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-The m edial F e value o f th e vow el w as e ith e r m easured o r com puted a u to m a tica lly by

A ll 735 o rig in a l tokens analyzed by a com puter program w here th e correlates o f w ord prosody were recorded. The fo rm u la used w as (in H z.):

V ^ D - I V ^ S i + S]

where V represents the accented vow el and p o in ts (1) and (3) re p re se n t the fir s t and la s t m easurem ents o f the accented vow el and th e phonological expectation (risin g , fa llin g ) is realized. A m in im u m difference o f 3 H z was used to determ ine the rise o r fa ll o f the token because the p itch e xtra ctio n pro g ra m is accurate to w ith in 3 H z.

5.4.5.1 Categories risin g and fallin g (F, )

Falling

Tw o types o f acoustic contours w ere in te rp re te d as a fa llin g tone w hen they occurred in a syllable under the phonologically described fa llin g accent. One w as a “ steady Fall” , where a ll m ovem ent in F # w as in a continuous decline fro m V 2 (1) to the V x (3). T h is obtained acoustically 229 tim es representing 66% o f a ll phonologically described fa llin g vowels.

A second type o f contour was also classified as fa llin g : the ris in g -fa llin g . The equation V , ( ! ) > V 4 (3)

(where > im plies by a t le a st 3 H z.) T h u s a contour such as th a t in F ig u re 10 was recorded as ris in g -fa llin g , p re se rvin g the descriptio n o f the vow el contour, b u t also pre- serving the essential fa llin g n a tu re o f the accent. T h is contour occurred 35 tim es o r 10%

o f the to ta l phonologically described fa llin g vow els. The ris in g -fa llin g contour is classically designated as the proper fo rm fo r a long accented vow el. The m a jo rity o f occurrences, 62%, did ob tain in lo n g -fa llin g vow els.

Rising

There w ere also tw o classifica tions fo r the ris in g vow el. One w as a “ steady rise ” V x ( l ) < У , ( 3 )

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5,4*5 P relim inary results

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w here the rise w as fa ir ly continuous across the accented vow el. T h is obtained 163 tim es, 42% o f the phonologically described ris in g accents.

A no the r category o f vowels w ere in te rp re te d to be ris in g . These w ere “ gem inate ris e ” w here the contour o f the accented vow el w as n o t a steady rise , b u t the onset o f th e adja•

cent post-accentual vowel was a s ig n ific a n t rise fro m the accented vow el. The fo rm u la V,<1) > V j ( 3 )

w as used, where V , ( l ) is the F e value o f the onset o f th e adjacent post-accentual vowel and > im plies a difference o f a t least th re e H z. T h is co n to u r obtained in rising-expected cases where V l had not risen s ig n ific a n tly 79 tim e s o r 20% o f th e to ta l ris in g expected category o f the corpus. T h is contour w as in te rp re te d as ris in g because the phonological expectation fo r ris in g vowels is gem inate and im p lie s a d isylla b ic e ffe ct.[3 6 ] A lso, the e m p irica l evidence fro m these data tends to de m on stra te th a t the ris in g tone contrasts w ith the fa llin g tone by tending to rise ove r a s y lla b le b o un dary; the fa llin g tone does not.

The fa llin g accent rose over a sylla b le bo u n d a ry in a to ta l o f 7% in the corpus, and thus supports the view th a t: a rise in F e across th e bo un dary in to the subsequent post-tonic vow el is ch a ra cte ristic o f the ris in g accents. In the ris in g accents, the adjacent post- accentual vow el w as g re a te r a t onset th a n th e end o f the accented vow el 169 tim es or 43%. W hile in its e lf n o t a s ig n ific a n t percentage, in re la tio n to the num ber o f actual cases w here the adļjacent post-accented sylla b le w as g re a te r th a n th e end o f the preceding accented sylla b le , it m ay be in te rp re te d as s ig n ific a n t.

5.4.6.2 Fundamental frequency and duration

C o n tra ry to any claim s th a t no d is tin c t accents occur in m odern S -C ,[37] fo u r d is tin c t accents w ere observed w hich could adequately be described as lo n g -risin g (LR ), lo n g -fa llin g (L F j, s h o rt-ris in g (SR), and s h o rt-fa llin g (SF). O f the to ta l 735 accents a tte m p te d b y the speakers, 70% obtained w ith a s ig n ific a n t rise o r fa ll in F e in agreem ent w ith th e ir phono­

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logical description. The lo n g -fa ilin g (L F ) accent w as achieved 93% w ith an average fa ll in Fq o f 22 H z and an average d u ra tio n o f 179.5 ms. The lon g-risin g accent (LR ) was achieved 72% w ith an average rise in Fq o f 12 H z fo r the category V r (1) < V x (3) and an average rise o f 10 Hz fo r the category Ѵ а (1) > V Ł(3). D u ra tio n was calculated fo r the accented vow el position o n ly. The average d u ra tio n o f the accented vowels ( Ѵ 4 ) was 178.5 ms. The s h o rt-fa llin g accent (SF) w as achieved 66.2% w ith an average fa ll o f Fq o f 16 H z and an average d u ra tio n o f 104 m s. The s h o rt-ris in g accent (SR) was achieved 53% w ith an average rise in Fq o f 8.4 H z in the category V L (1) < V 4 (3) and 11 Hz fo r the category V 2 (1) > V L (3). The average d u ra tio n fo r the accented vowels (V 4 ) was 100.2 ms.

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Figure 11: D is trib u tio n o f phonological accents and th e ir re alizatio n

LONG

SHORT