Abstract |
Clause-internal filled pauses and
preceding peak fundamental frequency (F0) values were analyzed to determine whether the
intonation of filled pauses is relative to, or independent of, prior prosodic
context. Higher peaks were found to be systematically associated with higher
filled-pause values, supporting the 'relative' hypothesis. A linear model, in which
filled-pause F0 was expressed as an invariant (over speakers) proportion of the distance
between preceding peak F0 and a speaker-dependent baseline F0, produced results nearly
identical to those of a two-parameter model in which the coefficients of peak and baseline
were allowed to vary freely. The model was less appropriate for filled pauses after
sentence-initial peaks, but unaffected by temporal variables. |
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