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The duration of stressed and unstressed vowels in Spanish
Berkovcová, Zuzana ; Skarnitzl, Radek (advisor) ; Šturm, Pavel (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to examine the issue of acoustic correlates of word stress in Spanish. The literature reviewed shows conflicting opinions among scholars engaged in this subject. Most of them traditionally consider intensity or fundamental frequency changes as determining features of prominent vowels, whereas duration is regarded as playing a minor role. The core of this thesis is to be found in the research that deals with the way duration behaves with both Spanish stressed and unstressed vowels analyzed in three different speech styles. Recordings of four Castilian Spanish native speakers were made, featuring two-syllable and three-syllable words which were analyzed with various positions of stressed vowels. On the whole, the results showed trends of major duration of stressed vowels in comparison with unstressed ones only in three-syllable words. No significant differences were observed in two-syllable words. No direct link between duration of stressed and unstressed vowels and each specific speech style could be established either, due to unequal values measured in two-syllable and three-syllable words. Key words: word stress, acoustic correlates, duration, speech styles, Spanish
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The duration of stressed and unstressed vowels in English speakers of Spanish
Kubánková, Eliška ; Skarnitzl, Radek (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
The thesis discusses the topic of word stress in Spanish and its acoustic correlates. The fact that studies in the last decades have shown conflicting opinions regarding the subject demonstrates the complexity of the phenomenon. Stress is not only language-specific, but also bound to context. When acquiring a second language, speakers have the tendency to transmit the phonetic and phonological system of their mother tongue to the target language. The aim of the thesis is to examine the acoustic correlate of duration in the Spanish of English speakers, considering the impact of language transfer. Twelve English speakers were recorded speaking Spanish. The duration of vowels in both stressed and unstressed syllables was measured in disyllabic, trisyllabic and quadrisyllabic words with different positions of the stressed syllable. The results indicated variation across stress schemes. Overall, a longer duration of the vowel in stressed syllable was found in disyllabic and trisyllabic oxytone words, and in quadrisyllabic paroxytone words. In trisyllabic paroxytone and proparoxytone words, the relative difference of vowel durations between stressed and unstressed syllables was less significant, likely due to the tendency of final syllable lengthening, which was recorded in all word types. No significant...
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