Shaping phrase-final rising intonation in German
Ernst Dombrowski, Institute of Phonetics and Digital Speech Processing (IPDS), University of Kiel, Germany
Oliver Niebuhr, Institute of Phonetics and Digital Speech Processing (IPDS), University of Kiel, Germany
In German, the course of phrase-final rising intonation can be modelled by an interpolation between three points in the pitch contour, giving a more appropriate description than current approaches to German intonation that only include the alignment of rises and their pitch range. Within this 3-point model, the parameter range proportion produces different contour shapes: concave and convex. The perceived meaning of concave and convex rises is studied using the semantic differential technique, starting with the functional distinction of activating vs. restricting contours. Communicative meaning differences between concave and convex contour shapes are supported by data of 31 listeners.