Tonal and Articulatory Marking of Information Structure: Kinematic and Acoustic Correlates of Accentuation ('TAMIS')

Project summary

In this project we investigate the intonational and articulatory marking of central aspects of information structure in German: We concentrate on the marking of focus in domains of different lengths, the type of focus (contrast vs. non-contrast), the marking of degrees and types of givenness (cognitive activation) and of givenness on focussed constituents, in particular second-occurrence focus. Intonational marking of information status crucially depends on not just whether a target word is accented or not, but rather, if it is accented, on the accent category, i.e. its type and strength, and, if it does not receive a fully-fledged pitch accent, on the type of secondary prominence. Alongside glottal control, supralaryngeal articulation is a considerable factor in differentiating between these different categories, particularly in the case of secondary prominence, as well as more directly in the marking of information structure. Strategies employed relate to articulatory effort, particularly hyperarticulation and sonority expansion, focussing on differences in intra-gestural timing (e.g. stiffness and displacement) and differences in the timing of opening and closing gestures. Based on a controlled corpus study, we expect to gain insights into the interaction between tonal and articulatory expression of information status, in particular cumulative vs. compensatory effects. An interpreted subset of the corpus will be made publicly available, including time aligned annotations of intended information structure, rating scores, intonation (GToBI), and articulatory landmarks.