Acoustic cues of surprise in Russian questions

Abstract

This study investigates the production of neutral(unemotional)and surprised(emotional)‘yes/no’questions in spoken Russian.The paper compares acoustic parameters across these two questions types in three-syllable one-word sentences with the terminal rise-fall tone.The study takes account of traditional intonation parameters as well as pitch event alignment data.The study demonstrates the existence of statistically significant differences between the following parameters of neutral and emotional questions:total word(=sentence)duration, pitch peak height, characteristics of the accented syllable(duration, pitch heights at the onset and offset of the stressed vowel, intervals of pitch movements).The study suggests the existence of language-specific acoustic cues in the expression of emotions.The study also shows that despite the existence of speaker-independent ways of expressing surprise, there is also a considerable degree of intra-speaker variability.The results have direct implications for speech processing and communication systems, natural language processing, speech synthesis and recognition.