The phenomenon of final (Nuclear) intonational rises on statements in Northern Varieties of British and Irish English (including Belfast and Glasgow) has attracted attention for some time (e.g. Cruttenden 1997, Ladd 2008), but surprisingly little empirical work. Here I present interim results from continued analysis of data from an experiment I conducted in Autumn 2009. There are two key research questions:
Results so far show a clear difference between Belfast and Glasgow. Belfast speakers produce a simple rise contour from the Nuclear syllable until the end of the utterance. Glasgow speakers produce a 'rise-slump' (Cruttenden 1997) contour by contrast. The Alignment of the L and H targets is earlier in Glasgow than in Belfast reflecting this difference in contour shape. Within the Belfast variety, questions generally display earlier Alignment of both L and H than statements. There is also a noticeable increase in pitch range in the Belfast questions compared with the statements. The underlying goal of this work is to try to understand potential intonational change in these Belfast and Glasgow rises.