Focus on meaning and focus on forms in English intonation categorisation

Abstract

This study investigated the categorisation of two nuclear pitch accents in English by River Plate Spanish speakers using two different listening modes: listening with a focus on intonational meaning or function and listening with a focus on intonational forms. Thirty-two participants listened to intonational minimal pairs differing in nuclear pitch accents, the forms H* L- L% and H* L- H%. In the first test, they were asked to decide between two pragmatic meanings conveyed by the speaker: making a statement/telling or asking/checking. In the second test, with the same stimuli, they had to decide if the nuclear pitch accent was either falling or falling-rising. The results showed that focus on form promoted a more successful categorisation of H* L- L% as statement, but hindered the categorisation of H* L- H% as question. On the other hand, a focus on forms facilitated the categorisation of the H* L- H% form as falling-rising, whereas it hindered the categorisation of H* L- L% as falling. In view of the L2LP model, it was concluded that a focus on forms promotes more accurate perception of the boundary tone H% within the new scenario., whereas it may lead to an erroneous cue weighting in the similar scenario. A focus on meaning promotes a more accurate categorisation of forms in the similar scenario, but not in the new scenario. Thus, a new L2 form becomes more or less readily accessible depending on the listening modality.