Focus highlights the fact that contextual alternatives are relevant for the interpretation of an utterance. For example, if someone says: “The meeting is on TUESDAY,” with focus marked by a pitch accent on “Tuesday,” the speaker might want to correct the assumption that the meeting is on Monday (an alternative date). Intonation as one way to signal focus was manipulated in a delayed-recall paradigm. Recall of contextual alternatives was tested in a condition where a set of alternatives was evoked by contrastive intonation. A control condition used intonation contours reported for broad focus in German. It was hypothesized that contrastive intonation improves recall, just as focus-sensitive particles (e.g., ‘only’) do, compared to sentences without such particles. Participants listened to short texts introducing a list of three elements from taxonomic categories. One of the three elements was re-mentioned in a subsequent critical sentence, realized with either a broad (H+!H*) or with a contrastive intonation contour (L+H*). Cued recall of the list elements was tested block-wise. Results show that contrastive intonation enhances recall for focus alternatives. In addition, it was found that the observed recall benefit is predominantly driven by females. The results support the assumption that contextual alternatives are better encoded in memory irrespective of whether focus is expressed prosodically or by a focus-sensitive particle. The results further show that females are more sensitive to pragmatic information conveyed through prosody than males.

焦点强调了上下文替代与话语的解释相关的事实。例如，如果有人说：“会议在星期二”，焦点以“星期二”的音调重音标记，则发言者可能想要更正会议在星期一（替代日期）的假设。语调作为一种信号集中的方式是在延迟回忆范式中操纵的。在对比语调唤起一组备选方案的条件下，测试了对上下文备选方案的回忆。使用语调轮廓的控制条件在德语中被广泛关注。假设对比语调可以提高回忆，就像对焦点敏感的粒子（例如，'only'）所做的那样，与没有这种粒子的句子相比。参与者听取了简短的文本，介绍了分类学类别中的三个元素的列表。这三个要素之一在随后的批评句中被重新提及，通过宽泛的 (H+!H*) 或对比语调轮廓 (L+H*) 实现。对列表元素的线索召回进行了逐块测试。结果表明，对比语调增强了对焦点替代方案的回忆。此外，发现观察到的回忆收益主要由女性驱动。结果支持这样的假设，即无论焦点是通过韵律表达还是由焦点敏感粒子表达，上下文替代物都更好地编码在记忆中。结果进一步表明，女性对通过韵律传达的语用信息比男性更敏感。这三个要素之一在随后的批评句中被重新提及，通过宽泛的 (H+!H*) 或对比语调轮廓 (L+H*) 实现。对列表元素的线索召回进行了逐块测试。结果表明，对比语调增强了对焦点替代方案的回忆。此外，发现观察到的回忆收益主要由女性驱动。结果支持这样的假设，即无论焦点是通过韵律表达还是由焦点敏感粒子表达，上下文替代物都更好地编码在记忆中。结果进一步表明，女性对通过韵律传达的语用信息比男性更敏感。这三个要素之一在随后的批评句中被重新提及，通过宽泛的 (H+!H*) 或对比语调轮廓 (L+H*) 实现。对列表元素的线索召回进行了逐块测试。结果表明，对比语调增强了对焦点替代方案的回忆。此外，发现观察到的回忆收益主要由女性驱动。结果支持这样的假设，即无论焦点是通过韵律表达还是由焦点敏感粒子表达，上下文替代物都更好地编码在记忆中。结果进一步表明，女性对通过韵律传达的语用信息比男性更敏感。对列表元素的线索召回进行了逐块测试。结果表明，对比语调增强了对焦点替代方案的回忆。此外，发现观察到的回忆收益主要由女性驱动。结果支持这样的假设，即无论焦点是通过韵律表达还是由焦点敏感粒子表达，上下文替代物都更好地编码在记忆中。结果进一步表明，女性对通过韵律传达的语用信息比男性更敏感。对列表元素的线索召回进行了逐块测试。结果表明，对比语调增强了对焦点替代方案的回忆。此外，发现观察到的回忆收益主要由女性驱动。结果支持这样的假设，即无论焦点是通过韵律表达还是由焦点敏感粒子表达，上下文替代物都更好地编码在记忆中。结果进一步表明，女性对通过韵律传达的语用信息比男性更敏感。结果支持这样的假设，即无论焦点是通过韵律表达还是由焦点敏感粒子表达，上下文替代物都更好地编码在记忆中。结果进一步表明，女性对通过韵律传达的语用信息比男性更敏感。结果支持这样的假设，即无论焦点是通过韵律表达还是由焦点敏感粒子表达，上下文替代物都更好地编码在记忆中。结果进一步表明，女性对通过韵律传达的语用信息比男性更敏感。