A perceptual study on Russian questions and statements

Abstract

This paper presents the results of perception experiments designed to investigate the contribution of f0-peak rise, height and alignment to signaling interrogative vs. declarative sentence mode in Russian. The results of the study show that the major perceptual cues for this category distinction are the f0-peak alignment and the slope of the rise. According to the results, the primary perceptual cues for questions are a steep rise and a late peak alignment at the offset of the accented vowel, whereas the more gradual rise and early f0-peak alignment at the onset of the accented vowel are strong cues for a declarative mode. The height of the f0-peak has no influence on the category distinction. The results are discussed in terms of the phonological modeling of Russian intonation as well as in terms of the frequency code for universal meanings in intonation.