<<mother3>>

Question: How to distinguish among the following 
competing analyses?

I've told you    a million times!
      H*          L+H*
I've told you ][ a million times!
      H*     L-     H*
      H*     L-   L+H*

Answer:
Rely on cues like the timing of the H peak and the
slope of the rise from the L- toward that H peak.
Def: Slope of rise (i.e., the a1 term in y = a0 + a1 * x)
is steeper (a1 is bigger) in L+H* than in L* H* sequence.
When there are only one or two syllables in between,
as here, this can be more or less phonetically 
ambiguous -- cf. discussion in Beckman, 1996.

Question: If these can be ambiguous, does it mean 
that there is potential for misinterpreting the 
meaning?  
Answer: Yes, compare the segmental ambiguity in:
The stuffy nose.  The stuff he knows.

Question:
Re relative timing of H target in H* versus L+H*: Can
you ever get H* realized later than the end of the
syllable?
Answer:
Yes, but it's typically not as late as L+H* can be,
and never as pronounced a rise to it.

Question:
What is the prosodic unit which is relevant for 
talking about the alignment of H tone targets?
Answer:
This is a controversial topic which is of much 
interest currently.  See papers by (among others)
D'Imperio.


For L+H* (on earlier phrases) versus L* H* on last
phrase in this utterance, compare the L* H* L-L%
on <<kmitchOMG>>.

In <<kmitchOMG>> is the low pitch in "Oh my" due to
a L* accent or to the leading L tone in L+H*?  If the
former, is there any argument for the accent in "god"
being H* rather than L+H*? 
Look at the (implicit) slope of the rise into the 
peak on "god".  There is an ambiguity between:

Oh my  god!
   L*   H*
   L* L+H*


<<experience1>>
Question:
Is there really a H* on "somebody"?  Can't we account 
for the level high pitch there just with interpolation
between the H* on "hire" and the H- at the end of this
phrase?
Answer:
This is exactly like the ambiguity in the hat pattern:
H* (H*) H* L- L%

We took a poll of the native and near-native speakers
in the class, and the five echt native speakers and 
one of the near-native speakers said no accent, and
therefore the near-native speaker who gave the 
"answer" is outvoted.  The "answer" will be changed.

Note the spurious "fall in F0" at the end, due to the
falling subglottal pressure.

Could the boundary tone at the end be L%?  Seems hard 
to account for the steep rise, sort of plateau, and
further rise at end if we say that.