Intonation: Theory, Models, and Applications Athens, Greece September 18-20, 1997

Intonation Features as a Form of Dialectal Distinction in Venezuelan Spanish

Elsa Mora (1), Daniel Hirst (2), Albert Di Cristo (2)

(1) Departamento de Linguistica, Universidad de Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela
(2) Institut de Phonetique d'Aix en Provence, Laboratoire "Parole et langage", France

This study presents the results of a melodic analysis which brings to light the role of certain intonative phenomena in showing dialectal variation in Venezuelan Spanish. The signal was digitised and analysed using MES (Motif Editor for Speech-signal) [1]. The f0 was analysed and modelled as a sequence of target points [2]. The values, in Hertz, obtained from the sample spoken signals were transformed into normalized values expressed in ERB [3]. The target points were then coded symbolically using INTSINT [2]. The registers attained by each tone in the different dialects and the melodic variability of the emission were observed. The statistical analysis supported the conclusion that both variables are important indices to use when establishing melodic differences between dialects.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Mora, Elsa / Hirst, Daniel / Cristo, Albert Di (1997): "Intonation features as a form of dialectal distinction in venezuelan Spanish", In INT-1997, 247-250.