Variability and stability of F0 movements in Russian under changes in speech rate

This Paper reports the results of experiments, which investigated what properties of Russian rising accents were constant under changes in segmental duration brought about by modifications of speech rate. The results showed that 1) duration of F0 rise was not constant and was dependent on the duration of the accented syllable，2) both beginning and end of the rise are stably anchored with specific points in the segmental string, 3) rate had inconsistent effects on F0 excursion and slope of the rise was not constant. The findings in this study revealed the stability of the alignment of the beginning and end of the rise, and presented evidence for the view that analyzes intonational contour as consisting of primitive level tones.