Estudio acústico de la entonación de enunciados con la función de acuerdo y reserva en inglés y catalán

Abstract

In this article we report an acoustic study of the intonational exponence of the meanings ‘agreement’ and ‘reservation’ in both English and Catalan. Three examples were constructed for English and then proyected into Catalan. All the examples, with alternative contextualizations for each type of meaning, were read aloud by 3 informants for each of the two languages involved. Our data for English confirm the use of falling intonation for agreement and falling-rising intonation for reservation, as previously attested by several authors. It was also found that the initial point of the falling tones was higher for reservation than for agreement. As regards Catalan, a fall is used for both agreement and reservation but for a scant use of the fall-rise for the latter meaning. The initial point of the fall, though, is higher for reservation than for agreement.