Spectral balance as a cue in the perception of linguistic stress

Agaath M. C. Sluijter; Vincent J. van Heuven; Jos J. A. Pacilly

doi:10.1121/1.417994

journal article Jan 01, 1997

Spectral balance as a cue in the perception of linguistic stress

Agaath M. C. Sluijter Vincent J. van Heuven Jos J. A. Pacilly

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 101 No. 1 pp. 503-513 · Acoustical Society of America (ASA)

View at Publisher Save 10.1121/1.417994

Abstract

In this study, the claim that intensity, as an acoustic operationalization of loudness, is a weak cue in the perception of linguistic stress is reconsidered. This claim is based on perception experiments in which loudness was varied in a naive way: All parts of the spectrum were amplified uniformly, i.e., loudness was implemented as intensity or gain. In an earlier study it was found that if a speaker produces stressed syllables in natural speech, higher frequencies increase more than lower frequencies. Varying loudness in this way would therefore be more realistic, and should bring its true cue value to the surface. Results of a perception experiment bear out that realistic intensity level manipulations (i.e., concentrated in the higher frequency bands) provide stronger stress cues than uniformly distributed intensity differences, and are close in strength to duration differences.

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Metrics

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Citations

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References

Details

Published: Jan 01, 1997
Vol/Issue: 101(1)
Pages: 503-513

Authors

A

Agaath M. C. Sluijter

Holland Institute of Generative Linguistics, Phonetics Laboratory, Leiden University, Cleveringaplaats 1, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

V

Vincent J. van Heuven

Holland Institute of Generative Linguistics, Phonetics Laboratory, Leiden University, Cleveringaplaats 1, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

J

Jos J. A. Pacilly

Holland Institute of Generative Linguistics, Phonetics Laboratory, Leiden University, Cleveringaplaats 1, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

Cite This Article

Agaath M. C. Sluijter, Vincent J. van Heuven, Jos J. A. Pacilly (1997). Spectral balance as a cue in the perception of linguistic stress. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 101(1), 503-513. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.417994

Spectral balance as a cue in the perception of linguistic stress

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