Discourse-level contours in Nehiyawewin

This study describes declination and discourse-sized intonation contours in Nehiyawewin, an Algonquian language whose pitch and intonation systems have not been previously studied. The study draws on 270 min of recordings of two female Nehiyaw elders telling their life stories to another Nehiyawewin native speaker. Data is analyzed by using Praat’s default algorithm to generate f0 curves for each breath group. Preliminary results indicate: (1) When breath-group internal pitch peaks are considered, an obvious downward trend of f0 occurred in fewer than half the breath groups analyzed (about 40% or 37/90). This raises questions about the role of classical declination in natural discourse [Umeda, Journal of Phonetics 10 (1982)]. (2) When we abstract away from declination within a breath group by computing mean f0 and mean pitch peak for each breath group and tracking trends for these means, larger patterns seem to emerge; breath groups can be grouped into larger units based on raising and lowering trends. These units have a mean peak range of 150 Hz with a 30 Hz change from one breath group to the next and correspond to a domain of around five clauses (about 3–4 breath groups, about 45 syllables).