Teleut, Khakas and Russian intonation systems: comparative analysis

The paper presents the comparative study of the interaction of parameters of fundamental frequency and intensity in the statements of the Teleut language. The declarative statements, general and special questions with similar lexical structure are analyzed. The utterances: Palyқħüsħit. - ‘The fish swims’. - [pαlъq ªүsªit], Palyқħüsħit pa? - ‘Does the fish swim?’ - [pαlъq ªүsªit pα], Kajda palyқħüsħit? - ‘Where does the fish swim?’ - [qαjd™ pαlъq ªүsªit] were pronounced by ten Teleut speakers, who live in the village Bekovo, Belovo district, Kemerovo region, Russian Federation. We analyzed the phrases with the help of computer programs Speech Analyzer 3.01 and Wave Assistant using the audiovisual method, with speaker’s perception taken into account. The intonation of the statements of the Turkic languages of southern Siberia (the Khakas and Teleut) is identified as having typologically similar features that distinguish these languages from Russian. In the languages of the different structure (Russian and Turkic), common intonation patterns are found: rise-falling F0 contour in statements and special questions and rise-fall-rising F0 contour in general questions. The Teleut intonation is in accordance with the theory of intonation universals. The criteria were found by phoneticians for typological classification of languages based on intonation parameters and in connection with the development of models for speech synthesis. The unique intonation characteristics of the Teleut language are discovered. Question prosodic figures show intonation uniqueness of the Teleut language to a greater extent than statements. This conclusion partly agrees with the same prosodic characteristic of the Slavonic languages. For endangered Teleut language, some phenomena are stated as less phonological, in contrast to the Russian and Khakas. The Teleut intonation is described not only in terms of pitch direction of F0 contour but also as having different F0 ranges of an utterance, i. e. tonal levels of separate syllables realized in overall F0 contour, and they may not coincide sometimes. We express our sincere gratitude to native Teleut speakers for the great help in finding the material for research.

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