- Email: [email protected]
Intonation of questions in Polish
Journal of Phonetics (1976) 4, 247-253
Short Communication Intonation of questions in Polish Michael J. Mikos Department of Linguistics, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Jsland02912, U.S.A. Received 9th February 1976
Abstract:
This study, based on the source-filter theory of speech production and the feature breath-group [BG], deals with intonation contours of interrogative sentences in Polish. The analysis of 150 spectrograms indicates that questions in Polish fall into three categories in terms of their acoustic structure: yes-no questions corresponding to [+BG], alternative questions corresponding to [-BG], and wh- questions.
Chomsky and Halle (1968) describe the study of intonation (prosodic features) in one paragraph and conclude that their investigations of these features have not progressed to a point where a discussion in print would be useful. Wierzchowska (1965) discusses Polish studies of intonation and states that intonation patterns have not been fully explored in Polish. An explicit model of intonation, based on the source-filter theory of speech production and the phonetic feature of the breath-group, is presented by Lieberman (1967, 1975). The aim of the present experiment has been to analyze the intonation of questions in Polish in relation to Lieberman's model. The source-filter theory of speech production, as interpreted by Lieberman, postulates the phonetic feature of the breath-group, based on physiological pro~esses of respiration, oxygen transfer to the bloodstream, and the alveolar pressure in the lungs. Speech is organized, as a secondary function, in terms of the expiratory airflow from the lungs in minimal deviation from the respiratory activity that is necessary to sustain life. The fundamental frequency of phonation (F0 ) is directly proportional to the subglottal air pressure (P. 1). If the tension of the vocal cord muscles remains constant, then the F0 is determined by the P. 1 and falls at the end of expiration. The falling F 0 at the end of the breath-group is a consequence of a state of minimal departure from the vegetative state of the organism. The notation of -breath-group [-BG] is used for sentences with the falling fundamental frequency contours. When the speaker adjusts and tensions the laryngeal muscles to counteract the falling air pressure, he produces sentences with the rising fundamental frequency contours. These sentences are designated as +breath-group [+BG].
The falling fundamental frequency contour is used to signal the end of declarative sentences and some interrogative ones, while the rising contour is employed in yes-no questions. According to Lieberman's physiological and acoustic data (1967), questions may be subdivided into two major categories:
248
M.J. Mikos I Pitch falls at the end of sentence
II Pitch rises
Russian French English (1) Special particle or Serbo-Croatian Japanese phrase or word Finnish Mandarin Chinese Swedish French English German
A. Word order inversion
(2)
English French Russian Czech Spanish Serbo-Croatian Thai Yoruba Chengtu
B. No changes in word order
Experiment For the purpose of this experiment, questions in Polish have been divided into three major groups: (1) Yes-no questions- affirmation or negation in reply. (2) Wh- questions-an item of information in reply. (3) Alternative questions- one of two or more options in reply. Examples: (I) Czy to byl tw6j plan? Czy dostales juz paczk~? Idziemy do kina? Czy on rna samoch6d? Czy ktos dzwonil wczoraj? Wracamy do domu? Byles wczoraj w Warszawie?
Dostales bilety? Mog~ wyjsc? Czy Andrzej juz wr6cil?
Was it your idea? Have you got the parcel? Are we going to the movies? Has he got a car? Did anybody call yesterday? Are we going back home? Did you go to Warsaw yesterday? Have you got the tickets? May I go out? Has Andrew got back?
Intonation of questions in Polish
249
(2) Jak sit< czujesz dzisiaj? Kto byl na wykladzie? Czyja to gazeta? 0 kt6rej wychodzimy? Czemu nie zadzwoniles? Kiedy wracasz do domu? Jak bylo na zabawie? Jak czt
How are you today? Who went to the lecture? Whose paper is it? What time are we going out? Why didn't you call? When are you going home? How was the party? How often does the mailman come? What are you~ plans for tomorrow? Which way are we going back to Warsaw?
Kt6rt
Are we going on foot or by bus? (3) Idziemy pieszo czy jedziemy? On sit< urodzil w Gdyni czy Was he born in Gdynia or w Gdansku? Gdansk? Are you going or not? Idziesz czy nie? Wolisz lody czy truskawki? Do you prefer ice cream or strawberries? Jedzie pani statkiem czy Do you go by boat or by plane? samolotem? To jest dla nas czy dla dzieci ? Is it for us or for the kids? Is she coming back or not? W r6ci czy nie? Kupujemy st6l czy telewizor? Are we buying the table or the TV set? To jest Polka czy Amery- Is she Polish or American? kanka? In a pilot study, two native speakers of Polish recorded the sentences. The subsequent spectrographic analysis of 60 sentences indicated that the questions display regular intonation contours and the analysis was continued. Thirty ·questions, as listed above, and arranged in random order, were recorded by five monolingual male native speakers of Polish who were not aware of the nature of the experiment and who were instructed only to "Read the following sentences". Each speaker recorded 10 alternative questions, 10 wh- questions, and 10 yes-no questions for a total of 50 questions of each type. Additionally, speaker 1 read 30 declarative sentences corresponding to the yes-no questions, analyzed as control. One hundred and fifty spectrograms were made on a Kay Sonograph, using the narrow band (45Hz) filter. The last 200 ms of all spectrograms was measured, assuming that the fundamental frequency had continued through the voiceless period. Five spectrograms for each sentence were traced to indicate the inter-speaker variability for each question and yielded 30 figures of intonation contours. The analysis of harmonics and intonation contours produced the following results: Fifty yes-no questions recorded by five speakers display a uniform contour of rising terminal intonation. The typical Fo contours for all speakers are shown in Fig. 1. All 50 utterances by five speakers show the rise of F0 contours, with an average rise of 76·4 Hz in the last 200 ms.
250
M.J. Mikos 400300N
I
;:o 200 ;:<: 0-:: 100
;;;:x=;x-
~-
~-~
-x-x-x-x:::..x-x- -x-
/ _, . /
·
__...,
,x --=:--_
1·5
0·5 Time (s)
Figure 1
Sentence 18: Dostales bilety? (Have you got the tickets?) Fo contours for the five speakers : Speaker I(--); 2 (--- -); 3 (-o-o-); 4 (-x-x-); 5(- ·-·-).
The questions of group 2 (wh- questions) show varying terminal intonation. The average fall for fifty sentences in the last 200 ms is 1·2 Hz. The typical Fo contours for all speakers are shown in Fig. 2.
N
I
"-0 100
1·5
0·5 Time (s)
Figure 2
Sentence 20: Jak sic:; czujesz dzisiaj? (How are you today?) F0 contours for the five speakers. Key as Fig. 1.
The sentences in group 3 (alternative questions) display falling intonation contours. The average fall in the last 200 ms is 31·2 Hz. A typical pattern of the intonation contours is shown in Fig. 3.
'-1·5
0·5 Time (s)
Figure 3
Sentence 21 : Wolisz lody czy truskawki? (Do you prefer ice-cream or strawberries?) F 0 contours for the five speakers. Key as Fig. I.
A summary of the means and standard deviations for each speaker as well as for all five speakers in all sentences is presented in Table I:
Intonation of questions in Polish
251
Table I
Speaker 1 2 3 4 5
All
Yes-no
Wh
Alternative
~
~
~
Mean 57 60 70 97 98 76·4
S.D .
Mean
17·4 -14 16·1 -16 10·9 2 19·4 21 23·5 1 -1.2 24·73
S.D.
Mean
17·9 -43 20·5 -39 26·7 -23 -39 23 10·4 -12 24·43 -31·2
S.D.
Declarative . Mean S.D.
..---....
-37·3 26 19·7 14·8 24·6 17·7 24·08
29-4
To assess the subject variation for all sets of sentences, t-tests were applied . For the five speakers, the difference between the two means for all types of questions is significant at better than the 0·002 level. The same is true for individual speakers for the difference between the two means of yes-no and wh- questions as well as yes-no and alternative questions . The results for the differences between wh- and alternative questions for individual speakers are : Speaker !-significant at the O·Ollevel 2-0·05 3-0·02 4--better than 0·002 5-0·1
Conclusions (1) This study indicates that questions in Polish may be divided into three categories in terms of their acoustic structure. (2) Yes-no questions display a uniform rising intonation contour, with substantial terminal rises averaging 76·4 Hz. These questions correspond to the questions (2), Bin Lie bermanno changes in word order, and II-rising pitch. Although there are no changes in word order, one should note the optional presence of the particle czy at the beginning of these questions. In other words, one may ask the questions : To byl tw6j plan?
This was your idea?
Czy to byl tw6j plan? On rna samoch6d?
He has a car?
or
or
Czy on rna samoch6d? In both cases-with or without an optional czy-the intonation is rising. Since five questions were constructed with the particle czy and five without it, it was possible to compare both groups. The average rise in 25 questions with czy in the last 200 ms is 74·8 Hz, and 78 Hz for 25 questions without it. (3) Wh- questions in Polish; with a special phrase or word at the beginning have a falling terminal intonation of average 1·2 Hz in 50 sentences produced by five speakers. They
252
M.J. Mikos
do not fully conform to the group (I), I in Lieberman, where the pitch falls at the end of the sentence. (4) The alternative questions display terminal falling intonation contours of the average 31 ·2 Hz, characteristic of [-BG] in (1), I. Thirty declarative sentences recorded by Speaker I display falling intonation contours characteristic of [-BG], averaging a drop of 37·3 Hz. Discussion
Yes-no questions in Polish show a uniformly rising F 0 contour characteristic of [+BG]. In view of the grammatical structure of Polish, the [+BG] pattern plays an important role in these questions, since it is the only cue which distinguishes the interrogative sentences from the declarative ones. The intonation becomes the sole marker to signal the distinctions between the sentences: (A) Wracamy do domu. (We're going back home.) Mog~
wyjsc.
(I may go out.)
(B) Wracamy do domu? (Are we going back home?) Mog~
wyjsc ? (May I go out?)
Since the structure (B) is a normal and frequent one in Polish, the intonation cue is obligatory. In the data analyzed here all yes-no questions had [+BG] and all declarative sentences [-BG], indicating the importance of this distinction. One would expect a smaller intonation rise in yes-no questions with the particle czy, since it marks these questions unambiguously. The rise is indeed smaller (74·8 Hz with czy vs 78Hz without it), but the difference is not significant. Since, however, czy is an optional particle, it may be treated as a redundant feature . The wh- and alternative questions are lexically and grammatically different from yes-no questions and declarative sentences and cannot be confused with them. The structures: *Kto byl na wykladzie. *Czyja to gazeta. *Jak si~ czujesz dzisiaj.
(Who went to the lecture.) (Whose paper is it.) (How are you today.)
*Idziesz teraz czy p6iniej. *To jest dla nas czy dla dzieci. *Wolisz lody czy truskawki.
(You are going now or later.) (This is for us or for the kids .) (You prefer ice-cream or strawberries.)
or
are ungrammatical in Polish and cannot be confused with the declarative sentences. The presence of the special particle or phrase makes them also distinct from yes-no questions. Since the distinction is lexical and grammatical, the intonation in wh- and alternative questions is not the only cue and it should not matter what the terminal intonation pattern of these questions is. But following the physiological description of speech and of [-BG] (minimal effort exerted), one would expect the wh- and alternative questions to be unmarked and together with declarative sentences in Polish to have a falling F 0 contour that contrasts clearly with the rising F 0 contour of the yes-no questions. This is indeed the case in the alternative questions. Although the terminal fall of the alternative questions (31·2 Hz) is relatively small , it contrasts with the +76·4 Hz F0 contour of the yes- no questions. Together with the declarative sentences (-37·3 Hz for one
Intonation of questions in Polish
253
speaker and assumed consistent for all of them), the alternative questions contrast with the terminal rising fundamental frequency contour of [+BG]. The wh- questions, however, do not fall in with the general pattern of [-BG]. The acoustic data and t-tests for individual speakers and for the whole group indicate that whquestions are significantly different from both yes-no questions and alternative ones, suggesting a three way split among Polish questions. Although the overall average is -1·2 Hz and 23 out of 50 wh- questions end in falling intonation contours, the remaining 27 questions end either in level or rising contours. This study indicates that Polish questions fall into three categories in terms of their acoustic structure. The yes-no questions form a category of [+BG] and alternative questions form a category of [-BG], conforming to the grammatical structure of the language and supporting Lieberman's model. The wh- questions in Polish form a distinct category and additional studies or refinements of the model are required. In view of the limitations in the research on intonation mentioned in the opening paragraph, the empirical testing of the model offers a fruitful approach to the study of language. I would like to thank Philip Lieberman for his suggestions and comments on this paper and Stephen Ritz and Lew Shea for their help with statistical analysis. References Atkinson, J. E. (1973). Aspects of Intonation in Speech : Implications from an Experimental Study of Fundamental Frequency. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Connecticut. Chomsky, N . & Halle, M. (1968). The Sound Pattern of English. New York : Harper. Jassem, W. (1962). Akcent jezyka polskiego. Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich. Liberman, A.M., Cooper, F. S., Schankweiler, D.P. & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1967). Perception of the Speech Code. Psychological Review, 74, 6. Lieberman, P. (1963). On the acoustic basis of the perception of intonation by linguists. Words 21,40-54. Lieberman, P. (1967). Intonation, Perception, and Language. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press. Lieberman, P. (1975). On the Origins of Language. New York: Macmillan. Wierzchowska, B. (1965). Wymowapolska. Warszawa, PZWS.
Short Communication Intonation of questions in Polish Michael J. Mikos Department of Linguistics, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Jsland02912, U.S.A. Received 9th February 1976
Abstract:
This study, based on the source-filter theory of speech production and the feature breath-group [BG], deals with intonation contours of interrogative sentences in Polish. The analysis of 150 spectrograms indicates that questions in Polish fall into three categories in terms of their acoustic structure: yes-no questions corresponding to [+BG], alternative questions corresponding to [-BG], and wh- questions.
Chomsky and Halle (1968) describe the study of intonation (prosodic features) in one paragraph and conclude that their investigations of these features have not progressed to a point where a discussion in print would be useful. Wierzchowska (1965) discusses Polish studies of intonation and states that intonation patterns have not been fully explored in Polish. An explicit model of intonation, based on the source-filter theory of speech production and the phonetic feature of the breath-group, is presented by Lieberman (1967, 1975). The aim of the present experiment has been to analyze the intonation of questions in Polish in relation to Lieberman's model. The source-filter theory of speech production, as interpreted by Lieberman, postulates the phonetic feature of the breath-group, based on physiological pro~esses of respiration, oxygen transfer to the bloodstream, and the alveolar pressure in the lungs. Speech is organized, as a secondary function, in terms of the expiratory airflow from the lungs in minimal deviation from the respiratory activity that is necessary to sustain life. The fundamental frequency of phonation (F0 ) is directly proportional to the subglottal air pressure (P. 1). If the tension of the vocal cord muscles remains constant, then the F0 is determined by the P. 1 and falls at the end of expiration. The falling F 0 at the end of the breath-group is a consequence of a state of minimal departure from the vegetative state of the organism. The notation of -breath-group [-BG] is used for sentences with the falling fundamental frequency contours. When the speaker adjusts and tensions the laryngeal muscles to counteract the falling air pressure, he produces sentences with the rising fundamental frequency contours. These sentences are designated as +breath-group [+BG].
The falling fundamental frequency contour is used to signal the end of declarative sentences and some interrogative ones, while the rising contour is employed in yes-no questions. According to Lieberman's physiological and acoustic data (1967), questions may be subdivided into two major categories:
248
M.J. Mikos I Pitch falls at the end of sentence
II Pitch rises
Russian French English (1) Special particle or Serbo-Croatian Japanese phrase or word Finnish Mandarin Chinese Swedish French English German
A. Word order inversion
(2)
English French Russian Czech Spanish Serbo-Croatian Thai Yoruba Chengtu
B. No changes in word order
Experiment For the purpose of this experiment, questions in Polish have been divided into three major groups: (1) Yes-no questions- affirmation or negation in reply. (2) Wh- questions-an item of information in reply. (3) Alternative questions- one of two or more options in reply. Examples: (I) Czy to byl tw6j plan? Czy dostales juz paczk~? Idziemy do kina? Czy on rna samoch6d? Czy ktos dzwonil wczoraj? Wracamy do domu? Byles wczoraj w Warszawie?
Dostales bilety? Mog~ wyjsc? Czy Andrzej juz wr6cil?
Was it your idea? Have you got the parcel? Are we going to the movies? Has he got a car? Did anybody call yesterday? Are we going back home? Did you go to Warsaw yesterday? Have you got the tickets? May I go out? Has Andrew got back?
Intonation of questions in Polish
249
(2) Jak sit< czujesz dzisiaj? Kto byl na wykladzie? Czyja to gazeta? 0 kt6rej wychodzimy? Czemu nie zadzwoniles? Kiedy wracasz do domu? Jak bylo na zabawie? Jak czt
How are you today? Who went to the lecture? Whose paper is it? What time are we going out? Why didn't you call? When are you going home? How was the party? How often does the mailman come? What are you~ plans for tomorrow? Which way are we going back to Warsaw?
Kt6rt
Are we going on foot or by bus? (3) Idziemy pieszo czy jedziemy? On sit< urodzil w Gdyni czy Was he born in Gdynia or w Gdansku? Gdansk? Are you going or not? Idziesz czy nie? Wolisz lody czy truskawki? Do you prefer ice cream or strawberries? Jedzie pani statkiem czy Do you go by boat or by plane? samolotem? To jest dla nas czy dla dzieci ? Is it for us or for the kids? Is she coming back or not? W r6ci czy nie? Kupujemy st6l czy telewizor? Are we buying the table or the TV set? To jest Polka czy Amery- Is she Polish or American? kanka? In a pilot study, two native speakers of Polish recorded the sentences. The subsequent spectrographic analysis of 60 sentences indicated that the questions display regular intonation contours and the analysis was continued. Thirty ·questions, as listed above, and arranged in random order, were recorded by five monolingual male native speakers of Polish who were not aware of the nature of the experiment and who were instructed only to "Read the following sentences". Each speaker recorded 10 alternative questions, 10 wh- questions, and 10 yes-no questions for a total of 50 questions of each type. Additionally, speaker 1 read 30 declarative sentences corresponding to the yes-no questions, analyzed as control. One hundred and fifty spectrograms were made on a Kay Sonograph, using the narrow band (45Hz) filter. The last 200 ms of all spectrograms was measured, assuming that the fundamental frequency had continued through the voiceless period. Five spectrograms for each sentence were traced to indicate the inter-speaker variability for each question and yielded 30 figures of intonation contours. The analysis of harmonics and intonation contours produced the following results: Fifty yes-no questions recorded by five speakers display a uniform contour of rising terminal intonation. The typical Fo contours for all speakers are shown in Fig. 1. All 50 utterances by five speakers show the rise of F0 contours, with an average rise of 76·4 Hz in the last 200 ms.
250
M.J. Mikos 400300N
I
;:o 200 ;:<: 0-:: 100
;;;:x=;x-
~-
~-~
-x-x-x-x:::..x-x- -x-
/ _, . /
·
__...,
,x --=:--_
1·5
0·5 Time (s)
Figure 1
Sentence 18: Dostales bilety? (Have you got the tickets?) Fo contours for the five speakers : Speaker I(--); 2 (--- -); 3 (-o-o-); 4 (-x-x-); 5(- ·-·-).
The questions of group 2 (wh- questions) show varying terminal intonation. The average fall for fifty sentences in the last 200 ms is 1·2 Hz. The typical Fo contours for all speakers are shown in Fig. 2.
N
I
"-0 100
1·5
0·5 Time (s)
Figure 2
Sentence 20: Jak sic:; czujesz dzisiaj? (How are you today?) F0 contours for the five speakers. Key as Fig. 1.
The sentences in group 3 (alternative questions) display falling intonation contours. The average fall in the last 200 ms is 31·2 Hz. A typical pattern of the intonation contours is shown in Fig. 3.
'-1·5
0·5 Time (s)
Figure 3
Sentence 21 : Wolisz lody czy truskawki? (Do you prefer ice-cream or strawberries?) F 0 contours for the five speakers. Key as Fig. I.
A summary of the means and standard deviations for each speaker as well as for all five speakers in all sentences is presented in Table I:
Intonation of questions in Polish
251
Table I
Speaker 1 2 3 4 5
All
Yes-no
Wh
Alternative
~
~
~
Mean 57 60 70 97 98 76·4
S.D .
Mean
17·4 -14 16·1 -16 10·9 2 19·4 21 23·5 1 -1.2 24·73
S.D.
Mean
17·9 -43 20·5 -39 26·7 -23 -39 23 10·4 -12 24·43 -31·2
S.D.
Declarative . Mean S.D.
..---....
-37·3 26 19·7 14·8 24·6 17·7 24·08
29-4
To assess the subject variation for all sets of sentences, t-tests were applied . For the five speakers, the difference between the two means for all types of questions is significant at better than the 0·002 level. The same is true for individual speakers for the difference between the two means of yes-no and wh- questions as well as yes-no and alternative questions . The results for the differences between wh- and alternative questions for individual speakers are : Speaker !-significant at the O·Ollevel 2-0·05 3-0·02 4--better than 0·002 5-0·1
Conclusions (1) This study indicates that questions in Polish may be divided into three categories in terms of their acoustic structure. (2) Yes-no questions display a uniform rising intonation contour, with substantial terminal rises averaging 76·4 Hz. These questions correspond to the questions (2), Bin Lie bermanno changes in word order, and II-rising pitch. Although there are no changes in word order, one should note the optional presence of the particle czy at the beginning of these questions. In other words, one may ask the questions : To byl tw6j plan?
This was your idea?
Czy to byl tw6j plan? On rna samoch6d?
He has a car?
or
or
Czy on rna samoch6d? In both cases-with or without an optional czy-the intonation is rising. Since five questions were constructed with the particle czy and five without it, it was possible to compare both groups. The average rise in 25 questions with czy in the last 200 ms is 74·8 Hz, and 78 Hz for 25 questions without it. (3) Wh- questions in Polish; with a special phrase or word at the beginning have a falling terminal intonation of average 1·2 Hz in 50 sentences produced by five speakers. They
252
M.J. Mikos
do not fully conform to the group (I), I in Lieberman, where the pitch falls at the end of the sentence. (4) The alternative questions display terminal falling intonation contours of the average 31 ·2 Hz, characteristic of [-BG] in (1), I. Thirty declarative sentences recorded by Speaker I display falling intonation contours characteristic of [-BG], averaging a drop of 37·3 Hz. Discussion
Yes-no questions in Polish show a uniformly rising F 0 contour characteristic of [+BG]. In view of the grammatical structure of Polish, the [+BG] pattern plays an important role in these questions, since it is the only cue which distinguishes the interrogative sentences from the declarative ones. The intonation becomes the sole marker to signal the distinctions between the sentences: (A) Wracamy do domu. (We're going back home.) Mog~
wyjsc.
(I may go out.)
(B) Wracamy do domu? (Are we going back home?) Mog~
wyjsc ? (May I go out?)
Since the structure (B) is a normal and frequent one in Polish, the intonation cue is obligatory. In the data analyzed here all yes-no questions had [+BG] and all declarative sentences [-BG], indicating the importance of this distinction. One would expect a smaller intonation rise in yes-no questions with the particle czy, since it marks these questions unambiguously. The rise is indeed smaller (74·8 Hz with czy vs 78Hz without it), but the difference is not significant. Since, however, czy is an optional particle, it may be treated as a redundant feature . The wh- and alternative questions are lexically and grammatically different from yes-no questions and declarative sentences and cannot be confused with them. The structures: *Kto byl na wykladzie. *Czyja to gazeta. *Jak si~ czujesz dzisiaj.
(Who went to the lecture.) (Whose paper is it.) (How are you today.)
*Idziesz teraz czy p6iniej. *To jest dla nas czy dla dzieci. *Wolisz lody czy truskawki.
(You are going now or later.) (This is for us or for the kids .) (You prefer ice-cream or strawberries.)
or
are ungrammatical in Polish and cannot be confused with the declarative sentences. The presence of the special particle or phrase makes them also distinct from yes-no questions. Since the distinction is lexical and grammatical, the intonation in wh- and alternative questions is not the only cue and it should not matter what the terminal intonation pattern of these questions is. But following the physiological description of speech and of [-BG] (minimal effort exerted), one would expect the wh- and alternative questions to be unmarked and together with declarative sentences in Polish to have a falling F 0 contour that contrasts clearly with the rising F 0 contour of the yes-no questions. This is indeed the case in the alternative questions. Although the terminal fall of the alternative questions (31·2 Hz) is relatively small , it contrasts with the +76·4 Hz F0 contour of the yes- no questions. Together with the declarative sentences (-37·3 Hz for one
Intonation of questions in Polish
253
speaker and assumed consistent for all of them), the alternative questions contrast with the terminal rising fundamental frequency contour of [+BG]. The wh- questions, however, do not fall in with the general pattern of [-BG]. The acoustic data and t-tests for individual speakers and for the whole group indicate that whquestions are significantly different from both yes-no questions and alternative ones, suggesting a three way split among Polish questions. Although the overall average is -1·2 Hz and 23 out of 50 wh- questions end in falling intonation contours, the remaining 27 questions end either in level or rising contours. This study indicates that Polish questions fall into three categories in terms of their acoustic structure. The yes-no questions form a category of [+BG] and alternative questions form a category of [-BG], conforming to the grammatical structure of the language and supporting Lieberman's model. The wh- questions in Polish form a distinct category and additional studies or refinements of the model are required. In view of the limitations in the research on intonation mentioned in the opening paragraph, the empirical testing of the model offers a fruitful approach to the study of language. I would like to thank Philip Lieberman for his suggestions and comments on this paper and Stephen Ritz and Lew Shea for their help with statistical analysis. References Atkinson, J. E. (1973). Aspects of Intonation in Speech : Implications from an Experimental Study of Fundamental Frequency. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Connecticut. Chomsky, N . & Halle, M. (1968). The Sound Pattern of English. New York : Harper. Jassem, W. (1962). Akcent jezyka polskiego. Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich. Liberman, A.M., Cooper, F. S., Schankweiler, D.P. & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1967). Perception of the Speech Code. Psychological Review, 74, 6. Lieberman, P. (1963). On the acoustic basis of the perception of intonation by linguists. Words 21,40-54. Lieberman, P. (1967). Intonation, Perception, and Language. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press. Lieberman, P. (1975). On the Origins of Language. New York: Macmillan. Wierzchowska, B. (1965). Wymowapolska. Warszawa, PZWS.