Narrow focus, i.e., focus on one word, is realized differently in native English and Cantonese. While it is signaled primarily by on-focus F0 changes such as F0 range expansion in English, it is marked essentially by lengthening of duration in Cantonese. Another difference is the pitch of the post-focus elements. While native English demonstrates post-focus F0 compression, Cantonese shows no significant post-focus pitch change. To investigate how narrow focus is realized in Hong Kong English (HKE), an emergent variety of English spoken by native speakers of Cantonese in Hong Kong, a controlled production experiment was conducted with 8 HKE speakers. Results showed that while the HKE speakers did realize foci with significant on-focus F0 range expansion, they exhibited no post-focus compression.
Cite as: Fung, H.S.H., Mok, P.P.K. (2014) Realization of Narrow Focus in Hong Kong English declarativesa Pilot Study. Proc. Speech Prosody 2014, 964-968, doi: 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2014-182
@inproceedings{fung14_speechprosody,
author={Holly S.H. Fung and Peggy P.K. Mok},
title={{Realization of Narrow Focus in Hong Kong English declarativesa Pilot Study}},
year=2014,
booktitle={Proc. Speech Prosody 2014},
pages={964--968},
doi={10.21437/SpeechProsody.2014-182}
}