The main acoustic correlates of "strength"
are pitch (the fundamental frequency and its modulations), intensity (relative
loudness) and duration (a strong syllable may be longer than a weak one, other
things being equal). Strength may also correlate with phonological prominence,
e.g. "full" vowel quality (often a full range of vowel contrasts is permissible
under stress only, which means that vowels are pronounced more "distinctly", or
in a more controlled way, in that environment) or extra consonantal strength (in
most English accents, for instance, fortis stops are perceptibly aspirated in
the onset of a stressed syllable, which reinforces the impression of a stronger
initiatory burst). Some of these cues may be absent in a particular case, but
primary stress typically requires the simultaneous occurrence of all the
acoustic signals available, especially of a pitch movement (constituting the
so-called nuclear intonation of a phrase). Of course in a language that employs
the fundamental frequency for different purposes (tone, pitch accent), it's less
freely available as a cue for stress.
(The fundamental frequency is what we
normally perceive as the basic pitch of a sound.)
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2001 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Stress.
What exactly is this
'rhythmic strength' physically ? Pitch accents has
to do with frequency of
the sound wave in question (I presume) ?