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Patterns of late rising in New Zealand English: Intonational variation or intonational change?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2005

Paul Warren
Paul Warren
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington
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Abstract

A combination of observational and experimental data from recent research into the intonation of New Zealand English highlights generational differences in rising intonation patterns. As well as a general increase in the incidence of rising intonation in statement utterances, the data reveal a shift from late rises in mid-age speakers to earlier rise onsets in younger speakers. These differences are discussed in the context of the intonational phonology of New Zealand English and in terms of the functional need for a distinction between question and statement rises.The author would like to thank participants at the 2003 UK Language Variation and Change conference for comments on an oral presentation of the data discussed in this article, and the Royal Society of New Zealand for financial support under Marsden grant VUW604. Special thanks go to Bob Ladd for insightful observations on an earlier version of this article.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , July 2005 , pp. 209 - 230
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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