Structural influences on accentual lengthening in English

Abstract

Results of four experiments suggest modifications of Turk and Sawusch's 1997 hypothesis that accentual lengthening occurs throughout a within-word foot-sized domain, and is blocked by its boundaries. Instead, results suggest that (1) a relatively large amount of accentual lengthening occurs on the syllable (primarily its onset and nucleus) with which the pitch accent is associated, (2) there are relatively large rightward effects on syllables adjacent to the pitch accented syllable within a word, and (3) small leftward effects within a word for some speakers. These effects are attenuated, but not necessarily blocked, by the boundaries of a unit the size of an orthographic word, perhaps a prosodic word or clitic group. Both the left edge of a pitch accented syllable and the left and right edges of a word-sized unit thus appear to attenuate the spread of accentual lengthening, which can extend throughout all syllables in a trisyllabic word with primary stress on the initial syllable.