The Phonetics and Phonology of Tone and Intonation in Japanese

Bibliographic Data

ID5822786
AuthorsWilliam J Poser (Harvard College Observatory, corresponding author)
Year1990
Volume12
Issue1
Pages208-209
Publication date1990-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Japanese Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0197-3150 • E-ISSN: 2512-1413
PublisherDe Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/jjl-1990-0120
OpenAlexW1714605128
LanguageEN
Citations received113
References cited7

ruHiUment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.This tbesis prov.idesa .c,omprebensive,-though necessarily incomplete, description of the linguistic tactorsgov,erningtbefundamental frequencycootours of Japanese sentences and iD50 doing addresses several theoretical issues in -phonetics and phonology .. The topics addressed includetbe underlyingreprescntation of pikb accent.tbe nature or the tone association rules, the ch•aracteror tbe•morphological rules of 3£ceot placement, the organization ort,he phObO.logicaicomponent.tbe principles governing intonational phrasing, andtbe characterorpost-iexicalrules.Cbapter F'ive takes up the 'question of the phonetic implementati'onof tODesat the pbrasallevel Severalimportantresults ,ma)pbe summarized here.First, the typology ormorpbo-accentuaJ rules is cODsiderablyexpanded•and the attested rules are shown to besimply••described .intermsoCprimitivcs nec,essary Cor 'other types ofmorpbological rules.Second, severaJphenom,ena bear on issues cPDcerning tbeorga.nizationor the phonologicalcomponen't•oftbegrammar.These include a clearCOllDtcrexampleto the Adjacency Condition inmorpbology and an exanlpJeo( apos,f..lexiealruletbat,tequires reference to lexical information.Third, '3 strictly-Don..diacrjtic autosegmenta,lapproacb,to therepresentatioDof pitch accent is adopted and 3 Dumbet 01 cases,problematic either Cor aoondiacriticapproach or for 'purely .autosegmen,taltoneassociation rules are disposed or.Cbapter Five is devoted to an instrumental study orp,honetie itnplementationat the ph,rase!"'level•.wit,bpart.icularattentiontorundamental rrequency:downdriCt.Existing tbeories,o'r do\vndrirtaregenerallycastin ter.ms oCone or t\\'o mecba.nisms,takeDtobe:mutu;lUy exclusive.Onetnec,banism,u50a!ly re'ferted to as declination, is a globa:ltoDalreference liDe with respect to wbich:tl1:ndamentalJrequency values are computed .. •Tbe aiterD3tiveisa loc,aUy'computedphono-logicaUygoYe,rned shirting of the fuodamentalfrequencyregister,:usually ,referred to as downstep or do,v:ndritt.\Vbile pbonologicaldescriptions often refer .todownstep, pboneticdescriptioDS make at most exclusive useoC declination.A review of the experimentallitetature indicateslhat dow;n5t~ppla.ysadomin3.ntrole,and that no clear demonstration orthe,existc1lceor d•eclinatioD exists.'Tbedata' presented.•here .indicatethat in Japanese botb ',mecban:isrnsiare required.The dominant effect ,is lhact ordownstep, but even in the absence 0'( downstepasmalLbut . . .consistent decline in fundamental rre'quency is observed, which may be attributed to declination

Intonation · Tone (literature · Phonetics and Phonology Research