A Preliminary Investigation of Certain Aspects of Intonation

Abstract

Intonation is the linguistic form in which the speaker organizes certain kinds of information. It is well-known that intonation is related to the fundamental frequency pattern of the speech wave, but it must also be related to changes along other acoustic dimensions because the intonation “tones” are still recognisable in whispered speech. The fundamental frequency, intensity, spectrum and duration changes associated with six intonation “tones” were investigated. The need for further work of this kind was indicated. The relation of acoustic variables and intonation was further investigated by using speech synthesis. Syllables with the same spectrum and intensity were generated in which the fundamental frequencies were controlled by the intensity variations of humanly-produced syllables spoken on six different intonation “tones”. The test established that the synthesized syllables conveyed some of the information about the intonation of the humanly-produced syllables. Methods for carrying out experiments on intonation with phonetically untrained subjects were investigated. The need for further experiments using methods of speech analysis and synthesis along lines indicated is pointed out. The importance for analysis-synthesis telephony of more extensive knowledge about intonation is discussed in some detail.