Lexical stress representation in spoken word recognition

According to a popular model of speech production, stress is underspecified in the lexicon, that is, it is specified only for words with stress patterns other than the default, termed the “default metrics” assumption. Alternatively, stress may be fully specified in the lexicon as part of every lexical representation. In the current study the two accounts are tested in the perceptual domain using behavioral and eye-tracking data in Greek. In a first experiment, cross-modal fragment priming was used in a lexical decision task. According to default metrics, priming should occur for targets with antepenultimate- or final-syllable stress but not for targets with the default penultimate-syllable stress. The same word pairs were used in two subsequent visual world experiments. Default metrics predicts an asymmetric pattern of results, namely that incoming spoken words with the default stress pattern should inhibit the activation of lexical representations with nondefault stress, whereas the converse should not be observed; that is, spoken words with nondefault stress should not inhibit representations of words with the default stress. None of the results provided support for the idea of default metrics, leading to alternative conceptualizations regarding the representation of stress.

Onset glottal stop deletion in Suva Rotuman

This paper studies onset glottal stop deletion in the speech of Suva Rotumans, Fiji. The speech of 18 speakers was analysed and seven factors were tested to identify their prediction on glottal stop deletion. The linguistic factors tested were preceding sound segment, grammatical class, syllable stress, and style, while the social factors were age, gender, and denominational affiliation. Results reveal a change in progress, but towards glottal stop retention. Younger Rotumans and older Rotuman women are deleting glottal stops less compared to middle-aged women and older men. The low incidence of deletion by younger speakers is most probably due to identity, language education in Rotuman, and their increased awareness of their role in preserving the language. Additionally, older women are deleting glottal stops less, which could be attributed to contact, identity, and their consciousness of the standard.

Juan de Mena’s arte mayor verse in Laberinto de fortuna: Identifying and describing a Spanish dolnik

The metre used by the Spanish writer Juan de Mena in his long allegorical work Laberinto de fortuna has been puzzling metrists for over five centuries. Usually identified as a variety of the verse called arte mayor, this metre has been analysed, among other things, as a divided line – one systematically allowing internal extrametricality – and as an amphibrachic line. Here it will be argued that the arte mayor exemplified by Mena’s Laberinto does not allow internal extrametricality and that it is a dolnik, a syllable-stress form not usually discussed in connection with the Spanish language. At the same time as it introduces the main problems encountered by traditional approaches, this article analyses the constant and necessary characteristics of the metre used in Mena’s composition, advocating the reliance on the notion of the metrical maximum. Next come some comments on other phenomena that are constant in Laberinto but not necessary in other kinds of arte mayor, and on several characteristics displayed by those other kinds but absent from Mena’s work. The Conclusion offers a series of suggestions for further research into the limits of this metre.

Effects of Fundamental Frequency, Vocal Intensity, Sample Duration, and Vowel Context in Cepstral and Spectral Measures of Dysphonic Voices

Purpose Smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPS) and harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) are acoustic measures related to the periodicity, harmonicity, and noise components of an acoustic signal. To date, there is little evidence about the advantages of CPPS over HNR in voice diagnostics. Recent studies indicate that voice fundamental frequency (F0) and intensity (sound pressure level [SPL]), sample duration (DUR), vowel context (speech vs. sustained phonation), and syllable stress (SS) may influence CPPS and HNR results. The scope of this work was to investigate the effects of voice F0 and SPL, DUR, SS, and token on CPPS and HNR in dysphonic voices. Method In this retrospective study, 27 Brazilian Portuguese speakers with voice disorders were investigated. Recordings of sustained vowels (SVs) /a:/ and manually extracted vowels (EVs) /a/ from Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice sentences were acoustically analyzed with the Praat program. Results There was a highly significant effect of F0, SPL, and DUR on both CPPS and HNR ( p < .001), whereas SS and vowel context significantly affected CPPS only ( p < .05). Higher SPL, F0, and lower DUR were related to higher CPPS and HNR. SVs moderately-to-highly correlated with EVs for CPPS, whereas HNR had few and moderate correlations. In addition, CPPS and HNR highly correlated in SVs and seven EVs ( p < .05). Conclusion Speaking prosodic variations of F0, SPL, and DUR influenced both CPPS and HNR measures and led to acoustic differences between sustained and excised vowels, especially in CPPS. Vowel context, prosodic factors, and token type should be controlled for in clinical acoustic voice assessment.

Towards Modeling Second Dialect Speech Learning: The Production of Bogota [s] in Ciudad Bolivar by Speakers of Three Different Varieties of Colombian Spanish

This study investigates the second dialect production of Bogota Spanish /s/ in coda position by speakers of three different varieties of Colombian Spanish, who have been in contact in Ciudad Bolivar, a community located in Bogota, Colombia. The study has three aims. First, it will examine the role of phonetic distance in the acquisition of /s/ production. Second, it will determine the linguistic factors that constrain the realization of /s/ sound by the speakers of the three varieties studied. Third, it will look into the role of extralinguistic factors in the production of /s/. A total of 2322 tokens extracted from sociolinguistic interviews with 50 participants were acoustically analyzed in PRAAT. Statistical analyses were conducted using GoldVarb. The results showed the highest rate of [s] was produced by the speakers of the Eastern Andean variety, followed by the Western Andean, and then by the Coastal variety, suggesting that first dialect phonological processes may affect the acquisition of second dialect sounds. Consistent with previous studies that have examined /s/ variation and change, the linguistic factors position in the word, following segment, and syllable stress were also predictors of /s/ in second dialect production. The extralinguistic factors of age of arrival, age, and gender also had a significant effect on /s/ production in this study. Implications are discussed for models of second dialect speech learning.

An Analysis of English Speaking Syllable Words Stress Errors by The Students of English Education Study Program of University of Bengkulu

This research was aimed at finding out the errors of English speaking syllable stress by the students of English Education Study Program, University of Bengkulu. The subject of this study was 19 students with highest GPA and speaking and Phonetic phonology score or both of them of English Program. The method of data collection was recorded. The data were collected by recording their pronunciation in reading words stress and Audacity program to analysze the data. The result of this research showed that English Students pronunced syllable words stress in the first syllable and second syllable with average predicate and 2 stresses in a word with low predicate. Meanwhile, this research also found that a lot of students put the stress on the first syllable.

Children’s Vowel Spelling in Derived Words: Item-, Word- and Child-Level Predictors

In spelling English words, vowels pose perhaps the greatest difficulty, especially thereduced vowels typically found in unstressed syllables. In morphologically complex words, however, the identity of reduced vowels can often be recovered by considering morphologically-related words. In this brief report, we used item-level analyses to explore predictors of 110 4th and 5th graders’ vowel spelling in derived words (the a and o in majority) as a function of spelling performance on those same vowels in morphologically-related base words (the a and o in major). Variance was partitioned between child and vowel predictors. Significant child predictors were phonemic awareness, prosodic awareness, morphological awareness, and priming by the base word. The significant vowel predictor was syllable stress. Significant interactions were observed between syllable stress and prosodic awareness, and between syllable stress and phonemic awareness. We discuss insights for spelling and reading to be gleaned from linking morphology and prosodic phonology.