The edge tones inventory in Standard Russian prosody: are phrase accents required?

This paper discusses the structure and inventory of edge tones in the intonational phonology of Standard Russian. Based on the qualitative analysis of four Russian tunes elicited in experimental conditions, we argue that the position of postnuclear pitch targets in these tonal configurations can be better modelled if the notion of phrase accent is employed. Three configurations of edge tones are discussed: H-L%, H-H% and L-L%. According to the data, Russian phrase accents tend to demonstrate boundary-seeking behaviour when a long postnuclear stretch of syllables is available. Either edge tone truncation or vowel lengthening are attested when postnuclear segmental material is lacking. The choice of tune-text negotiation strategy is presumably determined by the need to preserve distinctive pragmatic meaning (in the case of H-L%) and by the alignment within the nucleus (in the case of L-L%).