Papers by Takahito Shinya
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2006
In Japanese the F0 peak of a word is downstepped after a lexically accented word. Lexical accent ... more In Japanese the F0 peak of a word is downstepped after a lexically accented word. Lexical accent can be characterized by its phonological specification in the lexicon or by its phonetic F0 pattern. A perceptual experiment was conducted in order to observe how these two properties interact with each other as downstep triggers. The experiment tested whether listeners compensate for downstep exclusively based on the phonological information of lexical accent or on the phonetic cues available. Participants were asked to judge the relative prominence between two F0 peaks. Results suggest that in order for two words to be perceptually equal in prominence, the second F0 peak must be lower than a given first F0 peak. This difference between the two F0 peaks was significantly greater when the first word was phonetically accented than when it was phonetically unaccented, which suggests that the downstepped F0 peak is perceptually compensated. A similar effect was observed for the phonologically accented first peak,...
A key result of studies in phrasal phonology since the 1970s has been the finding that, cross-lin... more A key result of studies in phrasal phonology since the 1970s has been the finding that, cross-linguistically, phrase-level phonological processes do not make use of the vast set of potential domains that are in principle made available by grammatical (i.e., syntactic and morphological) structure. Rather, they are localized in a small set of domains that arc phonological in nature, even though defined in reference to grammatical structure, and that turn out to play a decisive role in language after language. The model that developed in response to this central finding is prosodic hierarchy theory (Selkirk, 1978; Nespor and Vogel, 1983; lnkclas, 1989: 4, etc.), building on key insights in earlier work (such as Halliday, 1960 and Pike, 1967): Speech is organized into a set of prosodic domains that form a hierarchy of containment, with each non-terminal constituent made up of a sequence of constituents at the next level down (the Strict Layer Hypothesis, sec Selkirk, 1984 and Ncspor and...
The Minor Phrase (MiP, aka accentual phrase) is the prosodic constituent that immediately dominat... more The Minor Phrase (MiP, aka accentual phrase) is the prosodic constituent that immediately dominates the prosodic word (PWd) in the prosodic structure hierarchy; it may consist of one or more PWd. In Japanese all MiPs are marked by an initial LH rise. This paper examines the scaling of the initial rise in single-word MiPs in Japanese as a function of the syllable/mora length of the word constituting the MiP, the position of the MiP with respect to edges of prosodic major phrase (MaP), and the composition of MiP in terms of lexical accent. These rises are found to be subject to two types of scaling: (i) local, edge-based scaling, specifically the upward "resetting" of f0 seen at the left edge of MaP (aka intermediate phrase) [1, 2 3], and (ii) global, lookahead-based scaling, in this case the upward scaling of the f0 of MiP-initial peaks as a function of the overall length of the MiP in terms of syllables/moras. Word length also turns out to have an indirect influence on loc...
F0 shape Phonetic representation Acoustic signal Phonetic implementation Acc. boost. norm Downste... more F0 shape Phonetic representation Acoustic signal Phonetic implementation Acc. boost. norm Downstep norm. SR informs of phonological information on lexical accent status in both production and perception. Lexicon Production Perception Underlying phonological representation (UR)
In this paper we show a significant contrast in the realization of the Minor Phrase-initial rise ... more In this paper we show a significant contrast in the realization of the Minor Phrase-initial rise in Japanese as a function of the XP vs. nonXP status of the syntactic branching structure at the left edge of which the rise is located. Sentences examined consisted of a sequence of lexically unaccented nouns followed by an accented verb. F0 values of both the L and the H edge tones of Minor Phrase are found to be more extreme at left XP edge, understood to be a prosodic Major Phrase edge. These differences produce an initial rise at Major Phrase edge that is significantly larger than that at Minor Phrase edge. In sequences consisting only of unaccented lexical items, the only tonal events reliably present are instances of the initial LH rise that is found at the left edge of any MiP. Some MiP edges also coincide with the edge of the higher order MaP. The results of our experiment show that there are indeed differences in the realization of the initial rise between cases that are Major ...
Kubozono [1] found that in sequences of four accented words in a syntactic-phrase-internal unifor... more Kubozono [1] found that in sequences of four accented words in a syntactic-phrase-internal uniformly left-branching (LB) structure, the f0 peak of the third word is realized at the same height as or higher than the preceding word, showing no apparent catathesis (or downstep). He argues for an f0 raising effect, called rhythmic boost, that is the consequence of the organization of this 4-word syntactic structure into (recursive) two prosodic minor phrases (MiP, aka accentual phrase) that branch into two MiPs each. In this paper we report on two experiments. Experiment 1 demonstrates the rhythmic boost effect experimentally, giving solid evidence for Kubozono’s claim about boost in these sequences. We find that the rise at the third word in LB sequences of four accented words is significantly higher than at the third accented word of 3-word phrase-internal LB sequences, and we find too that this rise is also significantly lower than the one found with a third word that initiates a syn...
This paper addresses the question of whether there is a systematic difference between the propert... more This paper addresses the question of whether there is a systematic difference between the properties of argument and adjunct constructions in the Japanese intonation system. Based on results from an experiment I show that argument and adjunct are intonationally distinguished from one another in Japanese. There is also certain degree of inter-speaker variation in how these two structures are intonationally differentiated, and the distinction is neutralized under certain circumstances pertaining to prosodic constituent length. To explain the intonational argument–adjunct distinction as well as the variation and neutralization, I give an optimality theoretic (OT, Prince and Smolensky 1993) account, utilizing a expanded version of Selkirk’s focus prominence constraints (Selkirk 1999) and a small set of markedness constraints on prosodic structure that interact with them. More specifically, I show that the approach of focus prominence constraints that require certain syntactic categories...
In this paper we show a significant contrast in the realization of the Minor Phrase-initial rise ... more In this paper we show a significant contrast in the realization of the Minor Phrase-initial rise in Japanese as a function of the XP vs. nonXP status of the syntactic branching structure at the left edge of which the rise is located. Sentences examined consisted of a sequence of lexically unaccented nouns followed by an accented verb. F0 values of both the L and the H edge tones of Minor Phrase are found to be more extreme at left XP edge, understood to be a prosodic Major Phrase edge. These differences produce an initial rise at Major Phrase edge that is significantly larger than that at Minor Phrase edge.
ABSTRACT In previous studies of Japanese intonational phonology, levels of prosodic constituents ... more ABSTRACT In previous studies of Japanese intonational phonology, levels of prosodic constituents above the Major Phrase have not received much attention. This paper argues that at least two prosodic levels exist above the Major Phrase in Japanese. Through a detailed investigation of the intonation of gapping and coordination in Japanese, we argue that each syntactic clause projects its own Intonational Phrase, while an entire sentence constitutes one Utterance. We show that the Intonational Phrase is characterized by tonal lowering, creakiness and a pause in final position, as well as a distinctive large initial rise and pitch reset at its beginning. The Utterance defines a domain of declination, and it is signaled by an even larger initial rise, as well as a phrasal H tone at its right edge. Building on our empirical findings, we discuss several implications for the theory of intonational phonology.
This study shows that lexical accent status affects perceived prominence of fundamental frequency... more This study shows that lexical accent status affects perceived prominence of fundamental frequency (F0) peaks in Japanese. In Japanese, word accent type can be identified from two different sources: lexical accent status and phonetic F0 contour shape. This study examines whether listeners compensate for the accentual boost of an accented word based only on the word's lexical accent status, when no F0 contour information is available. A perceptual experiment was conducted in which participants judged the relative prominence between two F0 peaks. The experiment showed that for a given second F0 peak height, the first F0 peak height was higher when the first word was lexically accented than when it was lexically unaccented in order for the two words to be equal in perceived prominence. This suggests that the accentual boost of an accented word is subtracted in perception. However, it is also pointed out that another account based on a perceptual compensation for downstep is possible. It is concluded that lexical accent status as phonological knowledge affects perceived prominence of F0 peaks.
Phonetica, 2008
In previous studies of Japanese intonational phonology, levels of prosodic constituents above the... more In previous studies of Japanese intonational phonology, levels of prosodic constituents above the Major Phrase have not received much attention. This paper argues that at least two prosodic levels exist above the Major Phrase in Japanese. Through a detailed investigation of the intonation of gapping and coordination in Japanese, we argue that each syntactic clause projects its own Intonational Phrase, while an entire sentence constitutes one Utterance. We show that the Intonational Phrase is characterized by tonal lowering, creakiness and a pause in final position, as well as a distinctive large initial rise and pitch reset at its beginning. The Utterance defines a domain of declination, and it is signaled by an even larger initial rise, as well as a phrasal H tone at its right edge. Building on our empirical findings, we discuss several implications for the theory of intonational phonology.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2005
Cognition, Sep 26, 2017
Infant-directed speech (IDS) is known to differ from adult-directed speech (ADS) in a number of w... more Infant-directed speech (IDS) is known to differ from adult-directed speech (ADS) in a number of ways, and it has often been argued that some of these IDS properties facilitate infants' acquisition of language. An influential study in support of this view is Kuhl et al. (1997), which found that vowels in IDS are produced with expanded first and second formants (F1/F2) on average, indicating that the vowels are acoustically further apart in IDS than in ADS. These results have been interpreted to mean that the way vowels are produced in IDS makes infants' task of learning vowel categories easier. The present paper revisits this interpretation by means of a thorough analysis of IDS vowels using a large-scale corpus of Japanese natural utterances. We will show that the expansion of F1/F2 values does occur in spontaneous IDS even when the vowels' prosodic position, lexical pitch accent, and lexical bias are accounted for. When IDS vowels are compared to carefully read speech (...
Lingua, 2011
Introduction 1.1. Category mapping in loanword adaptation and the role of perception Korean has t... more Introduction 1.1. Category mapping in loanword adaptation and the role of perception Korean has the well-known three-way laryngeal contrast lenis-fortis-aspirated. Our study investigated the relationship between perception patterns of the more common two-way laryngeal contrasts of Japanese, French, English and Chinese plosives by speakers of Korean and Korean loanword forms involving those laryngeal contrasts in Japanese, French and English. Two concerns motivate this research. One is to explore on an acoustic basis how two-way laryngeal contrasts are accommodated in loanwords of a three-way contrast system. Recent studies that have addressed this issue include Kenstowicz and Suchato (2006) on English-to-Thai three-way contrast, Ito et al. (2006), Amino et al. (2007) and Kim (2008) on Japanese-to-Korean adaptation, Ito and Kenstowicz (2008) on Mandarin Chinese-to-Yanbian Korean (Northeastern China) adaptation, and many other studies on the English laryngeal contrast to Korean adaptation (Kang, 2008; Oh, 2009; among others). The other motive is more basic. Our study aims to provide empirical evidence for an unsettled question on the role of acoustic perception in the loanword adaptation process. The issue of the relationship between loanword grammar and sound
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Papers by Takahito Shinya