Cross-linguistic differences between accented vs. unaccented vowels durations

Paolo Mairano (1) , Fabian Santiago (2) , Antonio Romano (3)

1 University of Warwick [Coventry]
2 LPP - LPP - Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie - UMR 7018
3 UNITO - Università degli studi di Torino = University of Turin

This study compares durational measures of accented vs unaccented vowels for data of 5 languages (4 speakers per language read translations of the same passage). Results show clear cross- language differences: accented vowels in our data of British English are more marked in terms of duration than in data of Mexican Spanish and Parisian French (data of German and Italian take a somewhat intermediate position). Direct durational measures of accented vs unaccented vowels yield a useful insight in aspects of speech rhythm that are only partially addressed by global measures of V variability (as provided by various popular rhythm metrics). Such results may have implications in rhythm typology and might help understand why stresses are perceived to occur at roughly regular intervals of time in so-called stress-timed languages.

Mots clés: prominence; timing; rhythm; duration; accent

Domaines: Linguistique

Paolo Mairano, Fabian Santiago, Antonio Romano. Cross-linguistic differences between accented vs. unaccented vowels durations. 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2015), Aug 2015, Glasgow, United Kingdom. ⟨halshs-01440315⟩