Abstract
It has been reported that prosody contributes to the identification of utterances which lack lexico-syntactic indicators of interrogativity but do have characteristic prosodic correlates (e.g. Vion and Colas 2006. Pitch cues for the recognition of yes-no questions in French. Journal of Psycholinguistics Research 35. 427–445). In Persian wh-in-situ questions, the interrogativity device (the wh-phrase) does not move to the sentence-initial position, and the pre-wh part is characterized by specific prosodic correlates (Shiamizadeh et al. 2016. Do Persian native speakers prosodically mark wh-in-situ questions? Manuscript submitted for publication). The current experiment investigates the role of prosody in the perception of Persian wh-in-situ questions as opposed to declaratives. To this end, an experiment was designed in which Persian native speakers were asked to choose the correct sentence type after hearing only the pre-wh part of a sentence. We hypothesized that prosody guides perception of wh-in-situ questions independent of wh-phrase type. The results of the experiment corroborate our hypothesis. The outcome is discussed in terms of Ohala´s frequency code, and Bolinger´s claim about the universal dichotomous association between relaxation and declarativity on the one hand and tension and interrogativity on the other hand.
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Appendix
Structure and word constituents of the sentences from which the stimuli of this experiment is extracted. Only the pre-wh part (subject and the adverb) comprise the stimuli of this experiment.
| Subject | Adverb | 3rd constituent of the sentence | Verb | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wh-phrase | DWCa | |||
| 1) mohæmædʔæmin | 1) pæriruz | 1) tʃi (what) | Inanimate DOb | tæʔmir kærdæn |
| (Mohamadamin) | (two days ago) | 1) kæfʃ (shoe) | (repair) | |
| 2) kif (bag) | ||||
| 2) mohæmædʔæli | 2) ki (who) | Animate DO | dæʔvæt kærdæn | |
| (Mohamadali) | 1) jɑs (Yas) | (invite) | ||
| 2) nɑz (Naz) | ||||
| 3) kodʒɑ (where) | Adjuct of Placec | bɑzi kærdæn (play) | ||
| 1) dʒængæl (jungle) | ||||
| 2) kutʃe (street) | ||||
| 4) kej (when) | Adjunct of Time | ʃenɑ kærdæn (swim) | ||
| 1) zohr (noon) | ||||
| 2) ʔæsr (afternoon) | ||||
| 5) tʃetori (how) | Adjunct of Manner | sohbæt kærdæn (talk) | ||
| 1) bɑ ʔænduh (sadly) | ||||
| 2) bɑ deqæt (carefully) | ||||
aDWC refers (declarative wh-phrase counterpart) to the categories which replace the wh-phrase in declaratives.
bDO refers to direct object. The object marker “ra” occurs after direct object in declaratives and wh-in-situ questions.
cThe preposition “tu” which means “at” precedes the adjunct of place in declaratives but not in wh-in-situ questions.
Descriptive statistics of the prosodic correlates of the stimuli across sentence types.
| Variable | M SD (Decl) | M SD (Wh-q) | N |
|---|---|---|---|
| F0 onset (ERB) | 5.082 | 5.928 | 40 |
| 1.303 | 0.774 | ||
| Subject Pitch Excursion (ERB) | 1.025 | 1.740 | 40 |
| 0.420 | 0.354 | ||
| Adverb Pitch Excursion (ERB) | 0.622 | 1.430 | 40 |
| 0.109 | 0.222 | ||
| Slope of regression line of the pre-wh part (ERB/sec) | 0.143 | 0.954 | 40 |
| 0.102 | 0.211 | ||
| F0 mean of the pre-wh part (ERB) | 4.903 | 5.666 | 40 |
| 1.120 | 0.951 | ||
| Duration of the pre-wh part (in sec) | 1.360 | 1.043 | 40 |
| 0.072 | 0.069 |
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