The issue of the focal accentuation of contextually given travel domain concepts in task-related Swedish dialogues is examined. An explanation for this focal accentuation is proposed using concepts within Centering theory, i.e. it is assumed that it is domain-related Backward Centers that are associated with the prominent focal accents. The variation in the timing of the focal H¯ is further accounted for by relating it to different orderings of the Optimality theory Align XP and constraints with respect to Align Focus. Support for the theoretical assumptions is obtained from a perception test using constructed manmachine Initiative-Response dialogues where the machine Responses vary as to the type of F0 contour on the Backward Centers (focal vs non-focal and early vs. late timing of the focal H¯).
Cite as: Horne, M., Hansson, P., Bruce, G., Frid, J., Jönsson, A. (1999) Accentuation of domain-related information in Swedish dialogues. Proc. ETRW on Dialogue and Prosody, 71-76
@inproceedings{horne99_diapro,
author={Merle Horne and Petra Hansson and Gösta Bruce and Johan Frid and Arne Jönsson},
title={{Accentuation of domain-related information in Swedish dialogues}},
year=1999,
booktitle={Proc. ETRW on Dialogue and Prosody},
pages={71--76}
}