Discreteness and Gradience in Intonational Contrasts

Bibliographic Data

ID10255293
AuthorsCarlos Gussenhoven (0000-0002-3263-162X, University of Nijmegen,, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume42
Issue2-3
Pages283-305
Publication date1999-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage and Speech (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0023-8309 • E-ISSN: 1756-6053
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00238309990420020701
OpenAlexW2167997639
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited25

The intonation systems of many languages apparently allow gradient linguistic categories by the side of discrete or categorial contrasts. It is argued that these gradient meanings arise when the intonational phonology leaves a certain amount of unused phonetic space, which may be exploited by speakers to convey “meanings” which are naturally associated with nonlinguistic pitch variation. Because these meanings are often similar to the linguistic meanings attached to the phonological intonational categories, the issue of gradience versus discreteness is more difficult inintonation than in other linguistic domains. Three experimental techniques that can be used to investigate the gradient or discrete nature of intonational differences, the “semantic task,” the “imitation task,” and the “pitch range task,” are discussed and evaluated. In addition, it is pointed out, following an earlier discussion by Newport, that categorical perception is a sufficient, but not a necessary, property of phonological discreteness

Categorical variable · Imitation · Intonation (linguistics · Linguistics · Perception · Phonological rule · Phonology · Property (philosophy · Salient · Task (project management · Variation (astronomy · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology

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