Controlling Pitch for Prosody: Sensorimotor Adaptation in Linguistically Meaningful Contexts

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined how speakers adapt to fundamental frequency ( f o ) errors that affect the use of prosody to convey linguistic meaning, whether f o adaptation in that context relates to adaptation in linguistically neutral sustained vowels, and whether cue trading is reflected in responses in the prosodic cues of f o and amplitude. Method: Twenty-four speakers said vowels and sentences while f o was digitally altered to induce predictable errors. Shifts in f o (±200 cents) were applied to the entire sustained vowel and one word (emphasized or unemphasized) in sentences. Two prosodic cues— f o and amplitude—were extracted. The effects of f o shifts, shift direction, and emphasis on f o response magnitude were evaluated with repeated-measures analyses of variance. Relationships between adaptive f o responses in sentences and vowels and between adaptive f o and amplitude responses were evaluated with Spearman correlations. Results: Speakers adapted to f o errors in both linguistically meaningful sentences and linguistically neutral vowels. Adaptive f o responses of unemphasized words were smaller than those of emphasized words when f o was shifted upward. There was no relationship between adaptive f o responses in vowels and emphasized words, but adaptive f o and amplitude responses were strongly, positively correlated. Conclusions: Sensorimotor adaptation occurs in response to f o errors regardless of how disruptive the error is to linguistic meaning. Adaptation to f o errors during sustained vowels may not involve the exact same mechanisms as sensorimotor adaptation as it occurs in meaningful speech. The relationship between adaptive responses in f o and amplitude supports an integrated model of prosody. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25008908