Initial and final intonation cues of Czech yes-no questions

Abstract

In this paper, we explore prenuclear and nuclear fundamental frequency (F0) patterns and durational cues in Czech neutral yes-no questions and compare them with (neutral) statements. The data were obtained in a production experiment with 21 native speakers and later described phonetically and modeled within the Autosegmental Metrical (AM) framework. Despite of the fact that the final rise distinguishes Czech polar questions from statements, we found additional significant differences in prenuclear positions: The initial accentual phrases have a larger pitch excursion and longer duration in statements than in questions. These findings thus support the claim that prenuclear tonal patterns should be taken into account in the analysis of sentence modality. © 2018, International Speech Communications Association. All Rights Reserved.