Prosodic encoding and perception of focus in Tibetan (Anduo Dialect)

The prosodic realization of focus and its perception in Tibetan (Anduo dialect) were experimentally investigated. Using the question-and-answer paradigm, the speakers were asked to read aloud two target sentences in different focus conditions. Systematic acoustic analysis and statistical tests showed that, [1] On-focus F₀ was raised sharply in medial and final focus conditions, but not much in initial focus. In addition, post-focus compression (PFC) occurred in initial and medial focus conditions. [2] Duration lengthening was found (about 11%) in focused words, but not in pre-focus or post-focus words. [3] Intensity was increased significantly (about 1.2 dB) in on-focus words, and decreased in post-focus words (about 0.5 dB). [4] In perception, correct focus identification was near 80% for medial focus, 63.3% for final focus, but only about 40% for initial focus. Overall, except for initial focus, the production and perception of focus in Tibetan were similar to those in Mandarin and English.