Shaping the intonation of Wh-questions: information structure and beyond

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Shaping the intonation of Wh-questions
information structure and beyond

• Aoju Chen
• Max Planck institute for psycholinguistics

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 31 March, 2008
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Introduction (1)
There will be a flea market this weekend.
HL
LH
Where will Marina want to sell her mandolin?
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Introduction (2)

• Accent placement

WH-word
Open Sentence (OS) (Lambrecht Michaelis 1998)
Where
will Marina sell her mandolin?
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Introduction (3)

• Information structure (IS) governs accent
  placement in WH-questions
• Information (or proposition) new to the hearer
  vs. information known to the hearer
• Focus vs. topic/background
• In WH-questions
• The WH-word is the focus (because )
• The OS is the topic
• e.g. As to the fact that Marina will sell her
  mandolin somewhere, I want to be told where this
  will be.
• Previous approaches differ in the how part
• Must the WH-word be accented (because it is
  focal)?
• If not, when does the WH-word get accented?
• When does a constituent in the OS get accented?

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Two opposing views

• The right-asymmetry view (Lambrecht Michaelis
  1998, for English)
• The WH-word is typically not accented its focal
  status is marked by its form and position
• Accenting the WH-word only if the propositions in
  the OS have been intensively under discussion
  before (i.e. ratified)
• Constituents in the OS get accented only if the
  propositions conveyed have only been touched upon
  in the previous discourse

• The left-asymmetry view (Haan 2001,for Dutch)
• The WH-word must be accented, regardless of the
  IS of the OS, because it is focal
• Constituents in the OS can be focal (focus of
  introduction) and therefore get accented

Waar wil Marina haar mandoline verkopen?
Where will Marina want to sell her mandolin?
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Haan (2001)

• A corpus of 200 tokens of 2 WH-questions recorded
  by 10 native speakers of Dutch (repeated reading)
• WH-question preceded or followed by a context
  sentence
• 186 tokens included for analyses

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Waar wil Marina haar mandoline verkopen?

• Role of information structure is hard to assess
  in repeated reading
• The WH-word is accented regardless of IS,
  supporting Haan
• Or the proposition in the OS is ratified,
  supporting LM
• But why accenting constituents in the OS?

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Hedberg and Sosa (2002)

• A corpus of 35 WH-questions selected from
  American television shows
• 34 WH-questions without negator not
• In 29 cases, the proposition in the OS could be
  traced back in the earlier context
• In 5 cases, the proposition in the OS was new
• In 33 of the cases, the WH-word was accented
  constituents in the OS were also accented,
  supporting both Haans left-asymmetric view

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What do we know now?

• It is still unclear how accent placement is
  governed by information structure in natural
  context
• LM rely heavily on carefully constructed
  WH-questions in made-up contexts
• Haan repeated reading
• Hedberg and Saosa the status of the proposition
  in the OS may be too generally analysed

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A corpus of naturally occurring Dutch
WH-questionsChen (2006)

• 90 naturally occurring WH-questions from the
  Spoken Dutch Corpus (CGN)
• Criteria for selection
• A balanced representation of different types of
  WH-questions
• Waarom (why)
• Wanneer (when)
• Wat (wat)
• Why these three types?
• Mostly uttered by speakers from the regions where
  a variety close to the standard variety is spoken
• Discourse type suitable for reliable analysis of
  information structure
• Mostly broadcast interviews, discussions, and
  debates
• Occasionally spontaneous face-to-face or
  telephone conversations
• Clear speech signal
• Function as real questions, uttered to require
  information from the hearer(s)

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The distribution of regions and discourse types
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Annotation of intonation

• The ToDI notation (Gussenhoven 2005)

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The inter-annotator agreement test A

• A second annotator
• Native speaker of Dutch
• Not aware of the purpose of this study
• Received a short tutorial on ToDI
• Annoated intonation of the WH-words in terms of
  accented vs. not accented
• Inter-annotator agreement
• 87 for accent placement on the WH-word.

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First step towards a clearer picture

• If the WH-word must be accented (because of its
  focal status) regardless of the IS in the OS, as
  claimed by Haan, we should see the WH-word is
  accented all the time.
• Question 1 How frequently is the WH-word
  accented in natural speech in Dutch?

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Q1 How frequently is the WH-word accented?
Table 1. The frequency of WH-questions
with/without an accent on the WH-word.

• Although the WH-word is frequently accented, it
  is unaccented in 23 of the WH-questions on
  average
• This is contra Haans view

• Most frequently accented in waarom-questions an
  effect of question type ( But why waarom?)

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• Recall The intonation of the WH-word is related
  to the information structure of the OS (LM 1998
  for English)
• Q2 Is the intonation of the WH-word dependent on
  the information structure of the OS in Dutch
  WH-questions?

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Propositions in the Open Sentence

• Status before the WH-question is uttered
• Having been intensively under discussion
• Having been briefly touched upon
• Having not been discussed at all

Topicality Presupposition (TP)
Knowledge Presupposition (KP)
Neither TP or KP
LM (1998)
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Accent WH-word
KP TP
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Q2 Is the intonation of the WH-word dependent on
the information structure of the OS?

• Does the sameness of the KP and the TP make it
  more likely for the WH-word to be accented than
  unaccented?
• Does discrepancy between the KP and the TP make
  it more likely for the WH-word to be unaccented
  than accented?

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The inter-annotator agreement test B

• A second annotator
• Native speaker of Dutch
• Not aware of the purpose of this study
• Received a short tutorial on ToDI.
• Annoated intonation of the WH-words in terms of
  accented vs. not accented
• Received readings on the basic concepts of LM
  model
• Annotated information structure of the OS in
  terms of TP, KP and neither
• Inter-annotator agreement
• 87 for accent placement on the WH-word
• 73 for labels of information structure

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Q2A If KPTP, will the WH-word be more often
accented?
Table 2. Frequencies of WH-questions with/without
an accent on the WH-word when KP TP in the OS.

• The WH-word is nearly always accented when the KP
  and the TP are identical, arguably according with
  LMs claim

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KPTP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 1- 1.waarom_fn000042_48_N00028_Rivieren
• Context The interviewer was talking to Marianne
  Schlaman, an expert in Dutch studies in Nijmegen,
  about a series of evening presentations given by
  Dutch writers. Mrs. Schlaman went to the
  presentations on the first evening.
• Interviewer Maar waarom was je naar de avond
  gegaan?
• But why did you go to this
  evening?
• TP you went to this evening

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KPTP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 2 2.waarom_fn007514_58_N03402_Utrecht
• Context Oscar, interviewee, explained to the
  interviewers (there were two) that men and women
  were more alike than the feminists would like to
  admit.
• Male interviewer Waarom zouden feministen dit
  vervelend vinden eigenlijk?
• Why would feminists find this
  annoying actually?
• TP feminists would find this annoying

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KPTP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 3 10.waarom_fn007252_83_N03115_Nholland
• Context The interviewee was Jacques Booy, a
  member of the Federation of Dutch tax advisors.
  Mr Booy talked to the interviewer about Minister
  of Finance Mr. Zalms new tax plan (for 2001) and
  in particular, commented on the weak points of
  this plan. The most discontenting weak point was
  that Mr. Zalm and his vice-minister Mr. Vermeend
  were rushing this very important plan through
  Parliament.
• Interviewer Waarom hebben ze zoveel haast?
• Why are they in such a hurry?
• TP they are in a hurry

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KPTP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 4 11.waarom_fn007489_10_N03131_Zholland
• Context The interviewee was Herman Vuijsje, a
  sociologist and political commentator. Mr.
  Vuijsje told the interviewer that it was not the
  time yet for tip-off lines but people were at
  last ready to discuss this issue. This was
  different a few years ago because people tended
  to associate tip-off lines with betrayals during
  the Second World War.
• Interviewer Waarom komen mensen altijd met die
  oorlog aanzetten?
• Why do people always start mentioning the
  war?
• TP people always start mentioning the war

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Q2B If KP ? TP, will the WH-word be more often
unaccented?
Table 3. Frequencies of WH-questions with/without
an accent on the WH-word when KP?TP in the OS.

• The WH-word is observably more frequently
  accented than unaccented

• This trend is the strongest in waarom-questions
  an effect of question type

• Discrepancy between the KP and the TP does not
  prevent the WH-word from being accented more
  often, contra LM

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KP?TP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 5 5.waarom_fn007297_62_N03024_Zholland
• Context The interviewee was Remco Meijer, the
  author of the book Aan het hof . He described to
  the interviewer the organization of the court.
  The interviewer then brought up that Queen
  Beatrix reorganised the court after she was
  crowned.
• Interviewer Waarom was dat nodig?
• Why was that necessary?
• TP that (reorganizing the court)
• KP was necessary

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KP?TP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 6 19.waarom_fn007338_52_N03011_Nholland
• Context The interviewee talked about the problem
  that many asylumseekers claimed falsely to be
  younger than 18 in order to be treated as
  underage asylumseekers. He told the interviewer
  the medical examination conducted to establish
  whether someone was younger than 18 in doubtful
  cases.
• Interviewer Maar waarom vinden ze t zo
  belangrijk om zich uit te geven voor
  achttien in plaats van uh tweeëntwintig?
• But why do they find it so important to
  pretend to be 18 instead of 22?
• TP they and pretended to be 18
• KP find it important to pretend to be 18
  instead of 22

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KP?TP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 7 8.waarom_fn007150_30_N03020_Nholland
• Context The interviewer talked to Hans van
  Wissen, who published a provocative article in de
  Volkskrant about the scandal that crown prince
  Willem-Alexander promised not to run for the IOC
  but nevertheless has become a member of the IOC.
  Mr. van Wissen found this very disappointing
  because it was not how things should work.
• Interviewer Ja waarom heeft u zich dan niet wat
  journalistiek terughoudener opgesteld?
• Yes why didnt you reacted
  journalistically in a more reserved
  manner?
• TP you (Hans van Wissen)
• KP were not journalistically reserved

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KP?TP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 15 30.wanneer_fn006711_21_N05003_noInter
  view_Nholland
• Context Speaker N01163 talked to speaker N05003
  what she and her family could do in their (ski)
  holiday if there would not be enough snow.
• N05003 En wanneer gaan jullie weg?
  And when are you leaving?
• TP you
• KP are leaving

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KP?TP accented WH-word vs. unaccented WH-word

• Example 16 9. wanneer_fn008143_39_N08108_noInter
  view_Nholland
• Context Speaker N08108 told speaker N08109 that
  Eric called him yesterday. They then recalled
  what they did together with Eric on Queens day
  and tried to establish when Eric went home.
  Speaker N08109 believed that Eric either left
  before him or a bit after him.
• N08108 En en en uh uh wanneer ben jij dan naar
  huis gegaan?
• And and and uh uh when did you go home then?
• TP went home
• KP you (N08109)

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Q2 Is there a relationship between the
intonation of the WH-word and the information
structure of the OS?

• The intonation of the WH-word is NOT independent
  of the information structure of the OS, contra
  Haan (2001)
• When KPTP, the WH-word is nearly always accented
• Intriguingly, the sameness of the KP and TP is
  not a necessary condition for the WH-word to get
  accented, contra LM
• The WH-word gets accented (64) also when KP?TP
• Probably communicative motivation for the
  speaker to accent the WH-word
• Accenting shows a strong desire to obtain the
  information required via the WH-word (e.g.
  why-questions)

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Accent assignment in the OS
The left-asymmetry view (Haan 2001)
The right-asymmetry view (LM 1998)

• An accent can be assigned to a TP and a KP
• The accents in the OS tend to be realised with a
  smaller pitch range than the accent on the
  WH-word

• An accent cannot be assigned to a TP
• The accents in the OS are not formally different
  from the accent on the WH-word

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Q3 Can TP constituents be accented?

• TP constituents are accented in 34 of the
  WH-questions.
• This supports Haan but not LM
• Example 2 2.waarom_fn007514_58_N03402_Outrecht
• HL on vervelend
• Example 3 10.waarom_fn007252_83_N03115_Nholland
• LH on haast

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Q4 Are the accents in the OS realised with a
reduced pitch range?

• Yes, sometimes.
• Reduced pitch accent (14 of WH-questions with an
  accented WH-word)
• Pitch setup (17)

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Q5 Are accents in the OS only assigned to KP and
TP? (1)

• NO.
• In 13 of the WH-questions an accent is assigned
  to an adverb the WH-word is not accented
• These adverbs have no topical relation to the
  presupposition in the OS they introduce a new
  meaning element to the discourse
• These adverbs are
• eigenlijk actually
• juist exactly
• nou now
• precies precisely
• specifiek specifically
• toch nevertheless
• wel well
• zo so

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Q5 Are accents in the OS only assigned to KP and
TP? (2)

• Observed functions of these adverbs
• Intensify the contrast between the current
  proposition and the set of possible propositions
  (e.g. specifiek)
• Affirm the truth value of the proposition (e.g.
  wel)
• Highlight a shift of attention from the topic at
  utterance time to a different one (e.g.
  eigenlijk actually)
• Common effect of these accented adverbs
• The speaker sounds more engaged and eager to find
  out the information required via the WH-word

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Conclusions

• The intonation of the WH-word is to some extent
  related to the information structure of the OS,
  contra Haan (2001)
• Communicative motivation may play a role in
  accent assignment
• TP constituents can be accented sometimes
  accents in the OS can be realised with a reduced
  pitch range or pitch step-up
• Accents are also assigned to a group of adverbs
  in the OS that appear to introduce a new meaning
  dimension
• Lack of accent on the WH-word (to avoid accent
  clash)

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• Thank you!