Pitch accent variation and realization in interactive discourse in Australian English

Abstract

This paper examines pre-nuclear and nuclear pitch accent variation and realization in map task interactions for Standard Australian English. An analysis of pitch accent choice in accented words reveals that pitch accent type is not always critical to the realization of information structure categories; for instance in the case of informational focus participants often use a range of pitch accent shapes. Nevertheless nuclear bitonal accents (e.g. L+H* pitch accents) are scaled higher than simple H* pitch accents across the board in line with previous findings for other English varieties. Furthermore there is evidence of an interaction between dialog act, pitch accent choice and realization wi..