Obstruent co-intrinsic pitch and other demands on the larynx: Revisiting the mechanisms behind co-intrinsic pitch in Danish

Abstract

Obstruent consonants often exert a localized influence on pitch level in following segments, such that pitch is higher following phonologically voiceless obstruents. The underlying mechanisms of such co-intrinsic pitch effects remain disputed, and it remains unclear how they interact with other demands on the larynx. We revisit co-intrinsic pitch effects in Danish, a language with two series of voiceless stops that differ in the magnitude and extent of glottal spreading, and accordingly, in the duration of positive voice onset time. Danish is further interesting because it has a phonological voice quality contrast (stød) which places complex demands on the larynx, and there is regional variation in where intonational pitch peaks occur relative to stressed syllables. We elicit alternative question sentences from speakers of two dialects of Danish, which allows us to tease apart how co-intrinsic pitch effects behave when there are multiple series of voiceless stops, when the global pitch target is high versus low, and when there are competing demands on the larynx from a voice quality contrast or a local pitch target. We find that pitch is uniformly raised in both series of stops relative to a neutral baseline, but the duration and magnitude of the effect differs by stop category, suggesting co-intrinsic pitch effects that are scalar rather than categorical. This effect is modulated in complicated ways by other prosodic sources of high pitch, which may be either synergistic or antagonistic to co-intrinsic pitch depending on their phonological source.