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.

The role of vowel parameters in defining lexical and subsidiary stress in Ukrainian

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Łukaszewicz ◽  
Janina Mołczanow
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Stress System ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Secondary Stress ◽  
Primary Stress ◽  
The Third ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Initial Syllable

Abstract Recent work suggests that Ukrainian represents a typologically rare bidirectional stress system with internal lapses, i.e. sequences of unstressed syllables in the vicinity of primary stress (Łukaszewicz and Mołczanow 2018a, b). The system is more intricate than the hitherto known bidirectional systems (e.g. Polish), and thus interesting from the theoretical perspective, as it involves interaction between free lexical stress and secondary stresses. Lexical and subsidiary prominence in Ukrainian have been shown to be expressed acoustically in terms of increased duration of the whole syllable. This leaves open the question of the role of classic vowel parameters in shaping prominence effects in this language. The present study fills this gap by investigating vowel duration, intensity, and F0 as potential acoustic correlates of primary and secondary stress in Ukrainian. It focuses on words with primary stress on the fifth syllable. Such words are predicted to have secondary stress on the first and third syllables. The results point to statistically significant lengthening of vowels carrying lexical stress as well as of those in the initial syllable, but not in the third syllable. A possible explanation is that other parameters, e.g. consonant duration, may be crucial in the case of word-internal subsidiary stress in Ukrainian.

Implicit knowledge of lexical stress rules: Evidence from the combined use of subjective and objective awareness measures

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICKY K. W. CHAN ◽  
JANNY H. C. LEUNG
Keyword(s):  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Stress System ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Combined Use ◽  
Weight Learning

ABSTRACTDespite the growing interest in the phenomenon of learning without intention, the incidental learning of phonological features, especially prosodic features, has received relatively little attention. This paper reports an experiment on incidental learning of lexical stress rules, and investigates whether the resultant knowledge can be unconscious, abstract, and rule based. Participants were incidentally exposed to a lexical stress system where stress location of a word is mainly determined by the final phoneme, syllable type, and syllable weight. Learning was assessed by a pronunciation judgment task. Results indicate that participants were able to transfer their knowledge of stress patterns to novel words whose final phoneme was not previously encountered, suggesting that participants had acquired abstract and potentially rule-based knowledge. The combined use of subjective and objective measures of awareness in the present study provides a strong piece of evidence of the acquisition of implicit knowledge.

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.

Acoustic correlates of lexical stress in Uyghur

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahire Yakup ◽  
Joan A. Sereno
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Stress Patterns

The present study examined lexical stress patterns in Uyghur, a Turkic language. The main goal of this research was to isolate and determine which acoustic parameters provide cues to stress in Uyghur. A number of studies have investigated the phonetic correlates of lexical stress across the world's languages, with stressed syllables often longer in duration, higher in pitch, and greater in amplitude. The present study systematically investigated the acoustic cues to stress in Uyghur, examining duration, fundamental frequency, and amplitude. Three experiments were conducted: one utilizing minimal pairs in Uyghur, one examining disyllabic nouns in Uyghur that contrasted in the first syllable, and one investigating the interaction of lexical stress with Uyghur sentence intonation. The data consistently show that duration was a robust cue to stress in Uyghur, with less consistent effects for intensity. The data also clearly show that fundamental frequency was not a cue to lexical stress in Uyghur. Uyghur does not use the fundamental frequency to distinguish stressed from unstressed syllables. The results suggest that Uyghur does not pattern like a pitch-accent language (e.g. Turkish), but rather like a stress-accent language.

THE IMPACT OF RECASTS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY STRESS IN A SYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER-MEDIATED ENVIRONMENT

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Özgür Parlak ◽  
Nicole Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Information Exchange ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Primary Stress ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Impact

Although previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of recasts on second language (L2) morphology and lexis (e.g., Li, 2010; Mackey & Goo, 2007), few studies have examined their effect on learners’ phonological development (although see Saito, 2015; Saito & Lyster, 2012). The current study investigates the impact of recasts on the development of lexical stress, defined as the placement of emphasis on a particular syllable within a word by making it louder and longer, in oral synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) and face-to-face (FTF) interaction. Using a pretest-posttest design, intermediate learners of English were randomly assigned to one of four groups: FTF recast, SCMC recast, FTF control, or SCMC control. Pre- and posttests consisted of sentence-reading and information-exchange tasks, while the treatment was an interactive role-play task. Syllable duration, intensity, and pitch were used to analyze learners’ development of stress placement. The statistical analyses of the acoustic correlates did not yield significant differences. However, the observed patterns suggest that there is need for further investigation to understand the relationship between recasts and development of lexical stress.

scholarly journals Retrieving L2 word stress from orthography: Evidence from word naming and cross-modal priming

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 409-442
Author(s):  
Amanda Post da Silveira
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Mixed List ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Word Naming ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Moderate Frequency ◽  
Lexical Perception ◽  
Target Words

In this paper we investigated how L1 word stress affects L2 word naming for cognates and non-cognates in two lexical stress languages, Brazilian Portuguese (BP, L1) and American English (AE, L2). In Experiment 1,  BP-AE bilinguals named a mixed list of disyllabic moderate frequency words in L1 (Portuguese) and L2 (English). In Experiment 2, Portuguese-English bilinguals named English (L2) disyllabic target words presented simultaneously with auditory Portuguese (L1) disyllabic primes. It is concluded that word stress has a task-dependent role to play in bilingual word naming and must be incorporated in bilingual models of lexical production and lexical perception and reading aloud models.

Acoustic correlates of stress in Turkish Kabardian

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon ◽  
Ayla Applebaum
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Acoustic Study

This paper reports results of an acoustic study of stress in the Turkish dialect of the Northwest Caucasian language, Kabardian. Stressed syllables were found to have consistently higher fundamental frequency and characteristically greater duration and intensity than unstressed syllables. No evidence was found for secondary stresses. Schwa and, to a lesser extent, /ɐ/ were shown to undergo slight raising as their duration in unstressed syllables decreased. This gradient raising is likely due to coarticulatory overlap with adjacent consonants rather than a categorical shift in vowel quality. Considerations of articulatory effort rather than perceptual dispersion predict both the categorical alternation between stressed /aː/ and unstressed /ɐ/ in Kabardian and the non-categorical raising of schwa and /ɐ/ in unstressed syllables.

Phonological default in the lexical stress system of Russian: Evidence from noun declension

Lingua ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 150 ◽  
pp. 363-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia Lavitskaya ◽  
Barış Kabak
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Stress System

Non-durational acoustic correlates of word-initial consonant gemination in Kelantan Malay: The potential roles of amplitude and f0

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-60
Author(s):  
Mohd Hilmi Hamzah ◽  
John Hajek ◽  
Janet Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Rare Word ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Closure Duration ◽  
Disyllabic Words ◽  
Consonant Gemination ◽  
Manner Of Articulation ◽  
Magnitude Difference

This study reports on non-durational acoustic correlates of typologically rare word-initial consonant gemination in Kelantan Malay (KM) by focusing on two acoustic parameters – amplitude and f0. Given the unusual characteristics of the word-initial consonant contrast and its potential maintenance in domain-initial environments, this study sets to examine the extent to which amplitude and f0 can potentially characterise such a contrast in KM in addition to the cross-linguistically established acoustic correlate of closure duration. The production data involved elicited materials from sixteen KM native speakers. RMS and f0 values were measured at the start of the vowel following stops and sonorants produced in isolation (i.e. utterance-initial position) and in a carrier sentence (i.e. utterance-medial position). Results indicate that the consonant contrast is reflected in systematic differences in (i) vowel onset amplitude and f0 following the target consonant and (ii) the ratios of amplitude and f0 across two syllables of disyllabic words. There are also effects of utterance position, manner of articulation and voicing type on the magnitude of contrast between singletons and geminates with utterance-initial voiceless stops generally showing the greatest magnitude difference. The conclusion is drawn that the KM word-initial singleton/geminate consonant contrast can be associated with a set of acoustic parameters alongside closure duration.

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