The Analysis Of The Pitch And Duration Pattern Of Focus In Chinese Sentence

To analyze the pitch and duration pattern of focus in Chinese sentences, this thesis investigates the declarative sentences with two to four prosodic words. Firstly, we analyze the pitch and duration pattern by comparing all the prosodic words’ pitch and duration in broad focus sentences. Then, we compare the pitch and duration of the prosodic words in broad and narrow focus sentences. Through this way, we analyze the influence of narrow focus to the pitch and duration of prosodic words on, before and after focus, as well as the influence to the declination and duration pattern of the entire sentences.The result of the experiment indicates that, all the broad focus sentences have the same pitch pattern. The maximum f0 of prosodic words decline obviously; the minimum f0 of prosodic words at the end of the sentences is the lowest; the pitch scope of prosodic words at the beginning of the sentences is the broadest. In the condition of different length of the sentences,their duration patterns are different.In the case of narrow focus sentences, the maximum f0 of the focus prosodic words rise, its pitch scope expand, and its minimum f0 doesn’t change consistently. The maximum f0 of the prosodic words before the focus fall, its pitch scope narrow, and its minimum f0 doesn’t change consistently. Both the maximum f0 and the minimum f0 of the prosodic words after the focus fall,and its pitch scope narrow. When the focus locates at the beginning of a sentence, the pitch of the entire sentence maintains declination. On the contrary, if the focus is located at other parts of the sentence, the pitch of most sentences would no more decline. In the meantime, the duration of the focus prosodic words extents, the duration of the prosodic words before the focus shorten, the duration of the prosodic words after the focus doesn’t change consistently. In the narrow focus sentences with two prosodic words, there is no regular duration pattern.Mostly, the duration pattern of the narrow focus sentences with three or four prosodic words would not change.