ISCA Archive Interspeech 2011
ISCA Archive Interspeech 2011

Uncovering the effect of imitation on tonal patterns of French accentual phrases

Amandine Michelas, Noël Nguyen

French accentual phrases (APs) are characterized by the presence of a typical final fo rise (LH*) and an optional/additional initial fo rise (LHi). This study tested whether between-speaker speech imitation influenced the realization of APs tonal patterns. The experiment was based on APs containing a function word plus a bisyllabic content word, whose tonal patterns differed in the potential placement of an optional/initial high tone (Hi). In two shadowing tasks (without/with explicit instructions to imitate the speaker's way of pronouncing the stimuli), participants produced more initial high tones when they heard a stimulus including both initial and final high tones relative to stimuli which only a final high tone was present. Thus, imitation influences the realization of APs tonal patterns in French.