An Experimental Analysis of the Relative Importance of Pitch, Quantity, and Intensity as Cues to Phonemic Distinctions in Southern Swedish

This paper, following introductory comments on previous experiments involving prosodic features of speech, reports an experiment designed to indicate the relative importance of pitch, quantity, and intensity as cues for syllabic prominence in Southern Swedish. Spectrographic analysis of the particular minimal pair used in this experiment revealed that one, or any combination, of three possible prosodic features, pitch, quantity, and intensity, could account for the contrast in meaning of the pair, the written representation of which is HÄLSA PA. Stimuli were prepared in which all possible binarily opposed combinations of pitch, quantity, and intensity in the last syllable were represented. Additional stimuli were prepared to test whether the contrastive pitch level of the first syllable might also contribute to the identification of the minimal pair. Native speakers of Swedish were asked to identify each stimulus item as either greet or visit, the two concepts which the written form HÄLSA PA represented. Analysis of the results showed that pitch provided the primary cue for identifications. Significantly, the pitch of the first syllable was the most potent cue, overriding opposing cues of pitch, quantity, and intensity on the final syllable. Accordingly, the conclusion was drawn that perception followed primarily the first syllable, that subjects made their identifications on the basis of the pitch of the first syllable, and that they could not be dissuaded in their identifications by contradictory information present in the prosody of the final syllable. It could not be established with certainty which of the two remaining cues, quantity or intensity, was the more important.