title: Internal and contextual cues to tone perception in Medʉmba.
abstract: This study presents results of an identification experiment with speakers of Medʉmba, a Grassfields Bantu language, aimed at evaluating the relative effects of f0 and duration in cuing tonal contrasts, as well as the role of lexical vs non-speech pitch contexts in biasing tone perception. Results show that duration is a cue for tone perception, with the influence of duration strongest where target f0 values were lower. Lexical tone perception is also sensitive to the identity of a preceding lexical tone, but not to the presence of a preceding non-speech pure tone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago, 1115 East 58th Street, Room 224, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA kfranich@uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Kathryn H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Franich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010700:Phonetics; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception