The weighting of vowel quality in perception of English lexical stress.

2008 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 2498-2498
Author(s):  
Yanhong Zhang ◽  
Alexander Francis
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Vowel Quality

Phonetic and phonological vowel reduction in Central Catalan

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianna Nadeu
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Reduction ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Noun Compounds

In Central Catalan, phonological vowel reduction causes the stressed seven-vowel system to reduce in number in unstressed position, where only the three reduced vowels [iəu] can occur. Exceptionally, full vowels (typically expected in a stressed syllable only) can appear in unstressed syllables in certain contexts. This study explores the acoustic characteristics of phonologically unreduced vowels found exceptionally in unstressed position in Central Catalan and compares them to stressed full vowels and corresponding unstressed (phonologically reduced) vowels. Results show that, contrary to traditional descriptions, presumably phonologically unreduced vowels in verb + noun compounds sporadically undergo phonological vowel reduction. When they do not, they are shorter than stressed vowels and more centralized in the F1*F2 vowel space. In addition, stressed full vowels do not differ in accented vs. unaccented contexts in duration or vowel quality, indicating that vowels are hyperarticulated under lexical stress, but not when they receive intonational pitch accent. The findings contribute to a body of cross-linguistic research dealing with the influence of prosody at the segmental level.

scholarly journals Typological variation in the phonetic realization of lexical and phrasal stress: Southern British English vs. Tunisian Arabic

Loquens ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Bouchhioua
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
British English ◽  
World Languages ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Spectral Balance ◽  
Typological Variation ◽  
Phonetic Realization ◽  
Tunisian Arabic

Results of phonetic experiments on the acoustic correlates of lexical stress (word-level prominence) and phrasal stress (phrase-level prominence = accent) as two separate concepts in two typologically different languages, Southern British English (SBE) and Tunisian Arabic (TA), are reported in this study. Because of the confusion in the literature between the terms stress and accent, their acoustic correlates were muddled, too. To avoid this confusion, the data in this study are elicited using an experimental paradigm which allows careful investigation of the correlates of each concept independently. The duration, spectral balance, and vowel quality cues are measured. Results show cross-linguistic similarities and differences between the two languages. Unlike most world languages, duration in TA is not a correlate of stress. It is rather a correlate of accent. In the absence of focus on the target words in TA, the only phonetic characteristics of lexical stress that come in the foreground are spectral balance and F1 lowering. However, when the word is focused, Tunisian speakers rely mainly on duration and spectral balance to signal accent. SBE signals stress through three acoustic correlates which are duration, spectral balance, and vowel quality. More similarity is found for accent detection between speakers of the two languages.

scholarly journals Acoustic correlates of lexical stress in Moroccan Arabic

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Anna Bruggeman ◽  
Nabila Louriz ◽  
Rana Almbark ◽  
Sam Hellmuth
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Stress System ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Centre Of Gravity ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Moroccan Arabic ◽  
Target Words

Presently there is no consensus regarding the interpretation and analysis of the stress system of Moroccan Arabic. This paper tests whether the acoustic realisation of syllables support one widely adopted interpretation of lexical stress, according to which stress is either penultimate or final depending on syllable weight. The experiment reports on word-initial syllables that differ in presumed stress status. Target words were embedded in a carrier sentence within a scripted mock dialogue to ensure that the measurements reflect lexical stress rather than phrase-level prominence. Results from all four acoustic parameters tested (f0, duration, Centre of Gravity and vowel quality) showed that there were no differences as a function of presumed stress status, thus failing to support an interpretation according to which stressed syllables are acoustically differentiated. We consider the results in relation to previous claims and observations, and conclude that the absence of acoustic correlates of presumed stress is compatible with the view that Moroccan Arabic lacks lexical stress.

Age-Related Differences in Processing Dynamic Information to Identify Vowel Quality

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 892-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Allen Fox ◽  
Lida G. Wall ◽  
Jeanne Gokcen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Perceptual Cues ◽  
Dynamic Information ◽  
Process Dynamic ◽  
Center Condition ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Control Version ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Whole Word

This study examined age-related differences in the use of dynamic acoustic information (in the form of formant transitions) to identify vowel quality in CVCs. Two versions of 61 naturally produced, commonly occurring, monosyllabic English words were created: a control version (the unmodified whole word) and a silent-center version (in which approximately 62% of the medial vowel was replaced by silence). A group of normal-hearing young adults (19–25 years old) and older adults (61–75 years old) identified these tokens. The older subjects were found to be significantly worse than the younger subjects at identifying the medial vowel and the initial and final consonants in the silent-center condition. These results support the hypothesis of an age-related decrement in the ability to process dynamic perceptual cues in the perception of vowel quality.

Lexical Stress Effects in Silent Reading

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara E. Breen ◽  
Charles E. Clifton
Keyword(s):  
Silent Reading ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Stress Effects
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