Question Intonation in Greek: the processing of phrase accents (QUINT-G)

• Applicant: Dr. Maria Lialiou
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 575609292

This project investigates the effect of phrase accents – intonational tones that have properties of both pitch accents and edge tones – on the perception and processing of the words bearing them. The language under investigation is Greek, a language with acoustically prominent phrase accents, which can occur after the nuclear pitch accent. The project explores the effect of language competence on the perception and processing of these phrase accents and to what extent expectations from listeners' native language informs their metalinguistic judgements of prominence and orients their attention to phrase accent-bearing words during online processing. Intonation conveys pragmatic functions, including marking individual words and constituents as highlighted and indicating questionhood on a whole phrase. This project is concerned with both of these functions. It is well known that pitch accents are crucial for highlighting information and facilitating processing, and recent findings suggest that edge tones also contribute to these functions. Yet no studies have addressed the perception or processing of words solely bearing phrase accents. In Greek, the phrase accent constitutes an important component of question intonation. Although the phonetics and phonology of phrase accents have been extensively studied, both in Greek and cross-linguistically, their contribution to prominence perception and their role in speech processing remain unexplored. By addressing this gap, QUINT-G will shed light on the relation between the phonological association of tones and their functions and offer further insights into the role of intonation in attention orienting.

• DFG Programme: Fellowship
• International Connection: Greece, Netherlands
• Hosts: Professorin Dr. Amalia Arvaniti; Professorin Dr. Spyridoula Varlokosta