Focus prosody in Qassimi Arabic: acoustic analysis and computational modeling.
- 1Department of English, College of Language Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- 2Department of Human Communication Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
- 3Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan.
Abstract
This study investigates focus intonation in Qassimi Arabic (QA) with two aims: to examine focus-related prosodic changes in the focused word and surrounding regions, and to identify the functional factors shaping intonation and their relative contributions. The analysis considers maximum, minimum, and mean F ₀, excursion size, duration, and intensity. The data comprise 1,800 utterances produced by ten native speakers in neutral-focus, information-focus, and contrastive-focus contexts. The acoustic results show that focus is realized primarily through enhancement of the focused word, especially through F ₀-register raising and, in some positions, increased pitch excursion. These effects are strongest in sentence-initial and sentence-penultimate positions, while sentence-final focus shows more limited register raising. The pre-focus region remains largely stable. In the broad post-focus region, information and contrastive focus are followed by significant intensity attenuation but no consistent changes in F ₀, excursion size, or duration. However, localized analysis of the post-focus word following sentence-penultimate focus reveals reduced excursion size after contrastive focus, but not after information focus. The results therefore indicate cue- and position-specific post-focus modification rather than general post-focus F ₀ compression. No consistent acoustic distinction emerges between information and contrastive focus across measures and positions. PENTAtrainer modeling reproduced major properties of the observed F ₀ contours, including on-focus prominence, declination, phrase-final lowering, and condition-dependent post-focus modification. Function-removal analyses showed that prosodic-word structure and discourse focus contributed most strongly, whereas syllable weight contributed least. Overall, the findings support a multi-functional account of Qassimi Arabic focus prosody and the applicability of the PENTA framework to Arabic intonation.
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BibTeX
@article{alzaidi2026focus,
title = {{Focus prosody in Qassimi Arabic: acoustic analysis and computational modeling.}},
author = {Muhammad Swaileh A Alzaidi and Yi Xu and Buthainah M Al Thowaini and Mohammad A S Bani Younes},
journal = {Frontiers in human neuroscience},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2026.1928391},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908714},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Focus prosody in Qassimi Arabic: acoustic analysis and computational modeling.
AU - Muhammad Swaileh A Alzaidi
AU - Yi Xu
AU - Buthainah M Al Thowaini
AU - Mohammad A S Bani Younes
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Frontiers in human neuroscience
DO - 10.3389/fnhum.2026.1928391
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908714
AB - This study investigates focus intonation in Qassimi Arabic (QA) with two aims: to examine focus-related prosodic changes in the focused word and surrounding regions, and to identify the functional factors shaping intonation and their relative contributions. The analysis considers maximum, minimum, and mean F ₀, excursion size, duration, and intensity. The data comprise 1,800 utterances produced by ten native speakers in neutral-focus, information-focus, and contrastive-focus contexts. The acoustic results show that focus is realized primarily through enhancement of the focused word, especially through F ₀-register raising and, in some positions, increased pitch excursion. These effects are strongest in sentence-initial and sentence-penultimate positions, while sentence-final focus shows more limited register raising. The pre-focus region remains largely stable. In the broad post-focus region, information and contrastive focus are followed by significant intensity attenuation but no consistent changes in F ₀, excursion size, or duration. However, localized analysis of the post-focus word following sentence-penultimate focus reveals reduced excursion size after contrastive focus, but not after information focus. The results therefore indicate cue- and position-specific post-focus modification rather than general post-focus F ₀ compression. No consistent acoustic distinction emerges between information and contrastive focus across measures and positions. PENTAtrainer modeling reproduced major properties of the observed F ₀ contours, including on-focus prominence, declination, phrase-final lowering, and condition-dependent post-focus modification. Function-removal analyses showed that prosodic-word structure and discourse focus contributed most strongly, whereas syllable weight contributed least. Overall, the findings support a multi-functional account of Qassimi Arabic focus prosody and the applicability of the PENTA framework to Arabic intonation.
SN - 1662-5161
ER -