Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Category
Social Sciences/Humanities
Abstract/Artist Statement
Cross-linguistically, the intonation of questions differs from the intonation of their declarative counterparts. For example, the intonation of an English question is normally raised at the end of the sentence, while the intonation of a statement is not. Also, in some languages the range of pitch is greater in questions than in statements. However, to my knowledge there are no intonation studies on Blackfoot that focus on questions, only on other elements of intonation, such as pitch movement, stress predictability, and rhythm. Using Praat, a program designed for acoustic speech analysis, I examined the intonation patterns of 19 statement-question pairs produced by a native speaker of Blackfoot. My research reports that sentence-final pitch raising does not occur in Blackfoot yes-no questions. I also examined the pitch range differences within each pair, and the results showed no significant differences between yes-no questions and their respective statements in Blackfoot. These findings suggest that speakers of Blackfoot do not use intonation to differentiate between questions and statements. This study has the following significances. (i) It contributes to the typological study of intonation in questions cross-linguistically. (ii) It also contributes to the descriptive study of pitch movement in Blackfoot by describing Blackfoot yes-no questions in terms of intonation. (iii) This study assists Blackfoot pedagogy with information on authentic pronunciation of yes-no question sentences: It informs language teachers and learners about how Blackfoot yes-no questions are pronounced in terms of intonation, specifically focusing on the absence of final pitch raising.
Mentor Name
Mizuki Miyashita
There is No Intonation Rule for Yes-No Questions in Blackfoot
UC 332
Cross-linguistically, the intonation of questions differs from the intonation of their declarative counterparts. For example, the intonation of an English question is normally raised at the end of the sentence, while the intonation of a statement is not. Also, in some languages the range of pitch is greater in questions than in statements. However, to my knowledge there are no intonation studies on Blackfoot that focus on questions, only on other elements of intonation, such as pitch movement, stress predictability, and rhythm. Using Praat, a program designed for acoustic speech analysis, I examined the intonation patterns of 19 statement-question pairs produced by a native speaker of Blackfoot. My research reports that sentence-final pitch raising does not occur in Blackfoot yes-no questions. I also examined the pitch range differences within each pair, and the results showed no significant differences between yes-no questions and their respective statements in Blackfoot. These findings suggest that speakers of Blackfoot do not use intonation to differentiate between questions and statements. This study has the following significances. (i) It contributes to the typological study of intonation in questions cross-linguistically. (ii) It also contributes to the descriptive study of pitch movement in Blackfoot by describing Blackfoot yes-no questions in terms of intonation. (iii) This study assists Blackfoot pedagogy with information on authentic pronunciation of yes-no question sentences: It informs language teachers and learners about how Blackfoot yes-no questions are pronounced in terms of intonation, specifically focusing on the absence of final pitch raising.