The acoustic and perceptual basis of stress shift

Abstract

The acoustic and perceptual basis of stress shift was examined in 24 noun phrases in sentence context. Acoustic analyses involved the comparison of word‐initial syllable duration, amplitude, and fundamental frequency in words which either undergo or do not undergo stress shift as required by the rhythm rule. In addition, the time course of a perceptual stress effect found in earlier work with a short‐term memory probe task [D. W. Gow and P. C. Gordon, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 86, S80 (1989)] was investigated. Subjects responded to a probe syllable either the offset of target syllables, the offset of target‐bearing words, or 450 ms after the offset of target‐bearing words. Responses associated with probes at different post‐target latencies and stress conditions were analyzed to examine the role of post‐syllable context on stress assignment. The results of both sets of analyses were used to evaluate the psychological reality and processing implications of the rhythm rule. [Work supported by AFOSR.]