On the phrase-level function of f0 in Estonian

•Pitch accent indicates sentence focus in Estonian.•Pitch-accenting is independent of word order.•Word order that is probably indicating theme-rheme structure is well compatible with prosodic sentence focus.

In intonation languages, prominence-lending pitch movements are frequently aligned with sentence focus. In some free word order languages f0 may act as an acoustic correlate of focus together with focus-sensitive variation in word order. With respect to Estonian, a flexible word order language, this raises the question of how word order, which is sensitive to focus structure, interacts with intonation. This study explored how focus and word positioning affect f0 via a production experiment involving elicitation of laboratory speech. The results showed that independently of word order, the focal word was aligned with prominence-lending f0 movement, thus demonstrating that in Estonian narrow focus is related to f0, as is typical in intonation languages.