Welby Pauline
The Ohio State University, Department of Linguistics, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Lang Speech. 2003 Mar;46(Pt 1):53-81. doi: 10.1177/00238309030460010401.
This paper examines predictions made by two theories of the relationship between pitch accent and focus. The empirical evidence presented suggests that listeners are sensitive to a variety of factors that may affect the focus projection ability of pitch accents, that is the ability of a pitch accent on one word to mark focus on a larger constituent. The findings suggest that listeners' interpretation of focus structure is most sensitive to the presence or absence of a pitch accent on a focused constituent and the deaccenting of following unfocused material (pitch accent position). Preliminary evidence suggests that the status of a pitch accent as nuclear or prenuclear may also affect listeners' interpretations, though to a lesser extent than accent position. Finally, the results show that focus projection is affected only minimally, if at all, by the type of pitch accent (at least for the two accent types compared (H* vs. L + H*)).
本文考察了两种关于音高重音与焦点之间关系的理论所做出的预测。所呈现的实证证据表明，听众对多种可能影响音高重音焦点投射能力的因素很敏感，也就是说，一个单词上的音高重音标记更大成分上焦点的能力。研究结果表明，听众对焦点结构的解读对聚焦成分上是否存在音高重音以及后续非聚焦材料的去重音（音高重音位置）最为敏感。初步证据表明，音高重音作为核心重音或核前重音的地位也可能影响听众的解读，尽管程度小于重音位置。最后，结果表明，焦点投射受音高重音类型的影响极小（如果有影响的话）（至少对于所比较的两种重音类型（H与L+H）而言）。
