Perceptual cues to Yes/No question intonation in kabardian

Abstract

This paper reports results of a perception study of yes/no question intonation in Kabardian as spoken by the diaspora community in Turkey. This study argues that stimuli were more likely to be judged questions as the terminal F0 points were lowered. Furthermore, question responses became more numerous as the steepness of the drop in F0 from the stressed syllable to the following word increased. The effect of lowering the terminal F0 values and increasing the slope of the post-accentual F0 fall was cumulative in inducing question judgments.