The Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast

The Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast Phonetik und Phonologie 8, Jena, 12.10.2012 Martine Grice 1, Horst Lohnstein 2, Christine T. Röhr 1, Stefan Baumann 1, Anika Dewald 2 1 IfL Phonetik, Universität zu Köln 2 FB: A Germanistik Linguistik, Bergische Universität Wuppertal DASS - DFG Projekt GR 1610/5

Overview Verum focus as contrastive focus Syntax Semantics Discourse pragmatics Intonation Are listeners able to distinguish a verum focus structure from a lexical contrast structure by intonational means? Perception experiment Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 2

Phenomenon According to Höhle (1992) verum focus in German is realized in three variants at the left sentence periphery: (1) On the finite verb (F-verum focus): (1) (Aber) Paul HAT die Katze gefüttert. (2) HAT er die Katze (denn) gefüttert? (3) WerHAT die Katze (denn nun) gefüttert? (2) On the complementizer (C-verum focus): (1) Maria glaubt, DASS er die Katze gefüttert hat. (3) On relative or embedded wh-phrases (R/W-verum focus): (1) [Das ist der Mann,] DER die Katze gefüttert hat. (2) [Jetzt will ich wissen,] WER die Katze gefüttert hat. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 3

Semantic Effect Höhle (1992: 112) The speaker announces that the thought expressed by proposition p is true: It is TRUE, that p. This characterization is problematic for several reasons: (1) Rather special case of focus interpretation (2) No relation to alternatives (regular focus interpretation) (3) No relation to sentence moods (cf. Höhle s analysis as IT-operator) (4) Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 4

Syntactic Structure No verum effect if head position is lexically filled: (1) DER hat die Katze gefüttert. (2) WER hat die Katze gefüttert? (3) [Das ist der Mann,] DER wo die Katze gefüttert hat. (4) [Ich weiß nicht,] WER dass die Katze gefüttert hat. R/W-verum focus does not exist Structure: Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 5

Discourse Function (1) Verum focused clauses are not possible out-of-the blue. (2) Discourse structures for Declaratives: Don t discuss yes or no. Believe me! Y/N-interrogatives: Don t discuss yes or no. Give me the true answer! WH-interrogatives: Don t discuss whether Peter, Fred or Mary did it. Give me the true answer! Imperatives: Don t hesitate to do p. Do it! (3) Sentence mood: declarative interrogative imperative Function: believe p give a true answer (select from a partition) make p a fact in w (the actual world) Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 6

Structure of Mood Phrase (MP) Assume CP to be a mood phrase MP determining the (illocutionary) force of a clause (cf. Lohnstein 2000, 2007): Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 7

Hypothesis Hypothesis (Lohnstein 2012) Verum focus results from the interaction of two different grammatical means in a regular and compositional fashion: sentence mood focus assignment Verum focus is a contrastive focus which reduces the alternatives to sentence mood functions in the discourse situation. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 8

Expectation (1) Verum focus accents should share relevant properties with contrastive focus accents. (2) Differences are expected in view of distinctions concerning... lexical vs. functional categories kinds of focus: Lexical contrast (XP-bound focus) (i) Was hat der Junge mit der Katze gemacht? (ii) Der Junge hat die Katze gefüttert. (iii) Focus: (gefüttert) Focus projection (propositional P- or FinP-focus) (i) Was war los? (ii) Der Junge hat die KATze gefüttert. (iii) Focus: FIN(füttern([der Junge], [die Katze])) Verum focus (clausal MP-focus) (i) Man munkelt, der Junge habe die Katze gefüttert? (ii) Der Junge HAT die Katze gefüttert. (iii) Focus: DECL(FIN(füttern([der Junge], [die Katze]))) This expectation will be tested with regard to the respective intonation of focus accents. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 9

Prosodic marking: contrast Most common accent type: L+H* For example reported for German in: Féry 1993 Alter, Mleinek, Rohe, Steube & Umbach 2001 Steube 2001 Baumann, Grice & Steindamm 2006 Hermes, Becker, Mücke, Baumann & Grice 2008 Kügler & Gollrad 2011 Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 10

Prosodic marking: verum Turco, Dimroth & Braun, to appear Production of verum focus in German (picture-difference task): Negation picture: Affirmation picture: Auf meinem Bild hat das Mädchen den Geldschein nicht zerrissen. Auf meinem Bild [hat]f das Mädchen den Geldschein zerrissen. Monosyllabic auxiliary hat realized with H+L* or H* L- But: segmental material [hat] is not optimal for distinguishing amongst accent types. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 11

Perception experiment Intonational marking of two types of focus in German: Hypotheses: verum focus & lexical contrast (1) Different accent types will be preferred for the two types of focus. (2) L+H* will be appropriate for lexical contrast. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 12

Test stimuli 5 target words/sentences: 4 finite full verbs: lebe, lerne, nähe, wohne 1 finite modal verb: wollte 3 accent types: H* L+H* L*+H 2 contexts: Verum focus Lexical contrast Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 13

Test corpus Verum focus: A: Du LEBST doch gar nicht auf Rügen. B: Doch! Ich LEBE auf Rügen. A: Du LERNST doch gar kein Spanisch. B: Doch! Ich LERNE Spanisch. A: Du NÄHST dein Kostüm doch gar nicht. B: Doch! Ich NÄHE mein Kostüm. A: Du WOHNST doch gar nicht in Köln. B: Doch! Ich WOHNE in Köln. A: Du WOLLTEST den Hund doch gar nicht füttern. B: Doch! Ich WOLLTE den Hund füttern. Lexical contrast: A: Du MACHST doch URLAUB auf Rügen. B: Nein. Ich LEBE auf Rügen. A: Du UNTERRICHTEST doch Spanisch. B. Nein. Ich LERNE Spanisch. A: Du KAUFTST doch dein Kostüm. B: Nein. Ich NÄHE mein Kostüm. A: Du ARBEITEST doch in Köln. B: Nein. Ich WOHNE in Köln. A: Du MUSSTEST doch den Hund füttern. B: Nein. Ich WOLLTE den Hund füttern. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 14

Test stimuli A: Du LEBST doch gar nicht auf Rügen. B: Doch! verum focus A: Du MACHST doch URLAUB auf Rügen. B: Nein. lexical contrast Ich LEBE auf Rügen. H* L+H* L*+H Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 15

Method: onlinefragebogen (ofb) How well does the melody of the target sentence fit the respective context? not at all somewhat medium fairly well very well 1 2 3 4 5 Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 16

Results: acceptability scores More appropriate L*+H Subjects: 78 native German speakers L+H* L+H* Less appropriate H* H* accent type * focus type p < 0.001 Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 17

Results: acceptability scores More appropriate Less appropriate accent type * focus type * target word p < 0.001 Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 18

Summary How well does the melody of the target sentence fit the respective context? Verum focus: L*+H > L+H* > H* Lexical contrast: L+H* > H* > L*+H Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 19

Discussion H* and L+H* involve a rise up to the accented syllable: H* L+H* < Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 20

Discussion Rising onglide as perceptual cue to contrast with a gradient dimension (Grice, Mücke & Ritter 2012; Ritter, Riester & Grice 2012) The larger the onglide, the more likely the perception of contrast. Reflected in a preference of L+H* over H* for both verum focus and lexical contrast. Pointing to a relatedness between verum focus and lexical contrast. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 21

Discussion L*+H preferred as marker of verum focus, but less preferred for lexical contrast. Verum focus: L*+H > L+H* > H* Lexical contrast: L+H* > H* > L*+H Pointing to a distinction between verum focus and lexical contrast. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 22

Discussion Verum focus and lexical contrast Both show aspects of the intonation of contrast. Rising onglide: L+H* > H* Both can be realized by two distinct pitch accents. Verum focus: L*+H Lexical contrast: L+H* Although there is an overlap in their intonational marking, different accent types are preferred for a verum focus structure and a lexical contrast structure. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 23

Conclusion The analysis of verum focus as contrastive sentence mood focus leads to a coherent picture of the following levels of grammatical description: Syntax Semantics Discourse pragmatics Intonation Thank you for your attention! Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 24

Acknowledgements This study is part of the DASS - DFG Projekt GR 1610/5. We thank: Simon Ritter who realized the test stimuli for the perception experiment. Timo Röttger for his help with the statistical analysis. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 25

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References 2/2 Lohnstein, H. (2000). Satzmodus kompositionell. Zur Parametrisierung der Modusphrase im Deutschen. Berlin: Akademie Verlag (= studia grammatica 49). Ritter, S., A. Riester & M. Grice. (2012). Onglides von Nuklearakzenten: Brauchen wir Leading Tones? Talk at Workshop DIMA II, Konstanz University, 21-22 March. SoSciSurvey. 2011. ofb - der onlinefragebogen. https://www.soscisurvey.de. Steube, A. (2001). Correction by Contrastive Focus. Theoretical Linguistics, 27. 215 249. Stommel, H. (2011). Verum-Fokus im Deutschen. Marburg: Tectum. Truckenbrodt, Hubert (2006). On the semantic motivation of syntactic verb movement to C in German. Theoretical Linguistics, 32. 257-306. Turco, G., C. Dimroth & B. Braun. (to appear). Intonational means to mark Verum Focus in German and French. Language and Speech. Intonation of Verum Focus and Lexical Contrast 27