Visual correlates to focal accent and their relation to the fundamental frequency contour

Abstract

Focal accent in speech is signaled by a fundamental frequency manifestation and by prolonged segment duration in connection with the manifestation. In the present investigation, the visual correlates to focal accent in read speech are studied and a computational model is hypothesized. The acoustics is synchronized with the head movements in order to relate the movements to the manifestations of the fundamental frequency contour. It is found that head movements are correlated to the primary stressed syllable of the word-carrying focal accent. The obtained data show that it is possible to model the movements by means of a second-order linear system.