Stress and focus in Catalan and Spanish: patterns of duration and vowel quality

Stress and focus in Catalan and Spanish: patterns of duration and vowel quality Marta Ortega-Llebaria & Pilar Prieto U. of Texas- Austin & ICREA-UAB

Introduction • Goal: • To investigate the effects of intonational pitch accents and focus on durational, pitch and vowel quality patterns in Catalan and Spanish. • More generally, to study the relation between stress and accent in Catalan and Spanish. • Definitions: • Stress: prominence of a syllable compared to other syllables in a word. Example: comento-comentó. • Accent: the prominence of a word in a phrase. Examples: Pedro comentó el examen (accented) No aprobaré –comentó Pedro (unaccented)

Relation between stress and accent • Accentual prominence is phonetically different in ‘stress accent’ languages vs. ‘non-stress accent’ languages. • In stress-accent languages, accentual prominence is conveyed by a number of phonetic correlates, including pitch, duration and intensity. • In non-stress accent languages pitch is the only correlate of accent (Elordieta & Hualde 2001, 2003). • Examples: • Stress accent languages: English, Spanish. • Non-stress accent languages: Japanese, Bizkaian Basque.

Hypothesis Stress Accent Lgs Non-Stress Accent Lgs Cues to Pitch Pitch Accent Duration Hypothesis: Stress accent differs phonetically from non-stress accent in that it uses to a greater extent material other than pitch. (Beckman, M. 1986. Stress and Non-Stress Accent. Foris Publications, Holland, page 1).

Non-stress accent: Northern Bizkaian Basque Txakurren dxatekúa da (‘it’s the dog’s food’) Txakúrren dxatekúa da (‘it’s the dogs´ food’) Same duration Example from Elordieta and Hualde (2003)

Non-stress accent: Northern Bizkaian Basque Txakurren dxatekúa da (it’s the dog’s food) Txakúrren dxatekúa da (it’s the dogs’ food) Same duration Example from Elordieta and Hualde (2003)

Stress-accent languages • The relationship between duration and pitch is not completely understood in stress-accent languages. • Problem for ‘stress accent’ languages: cues to stress prominence have been studied in words containing a pitch accent, while the other intonational contexts (no accent) have not been examined (for Spanish, Navarro Tomás 1964, Quilis 1971, 1978, Llisterri et al 2003, de la Mota 1995; for Catalan, Recasens 1991; Solé, 1984). • In this study, we will try to disentangle which phonetic cues (F0, duration) define which phonological units (accent, stress).

Research Questions • Question 1: how do pitch and duration cues relate to stress and accent in Catalan and Spanish? Hypothesis: duration cues relate to stressed syllables regardless of having or not a pitch accent • Question 2: similarly, how does vowel quality cue both accent and stress? Hypothesis:Due to the fact that Catalan has vowel reduction cues, it will perhaps rely less on duration to mark stressed syllables and focused contexts • Question 3: do focal accents increase the duration cues? Hypothesis: duration is amplified in focalized words.

Materials • Key: finding materials where syllables bearing stress, focus, and accent can be compared to syllables that only bear stress. • 15 four-syllable verbs ended in –minar, i.e. determinar, abominar, denominar, etc. which are cognates in Catalan and Spanish in different intonation contexts, for a total of 480 utterances.

Example of experimental item (Spanish) • Determinar • Contexto: • La profesora Carmona determinó la masa del átomo y publicó sus resultados en una importante revista científica. • Preguntas: • En su último artículo, ¿qué determinó sobre el átomo la profesora Carmona? • ¿Determinó Carmona la masa del átomo? • ¿Hizo sólo una leve aproximación de la masa del átomo? • ¿Qué dijo la profesora? • Respuestas: • Determinó la masa. • Sí, Carmona la determinó. • No, Carmona la DETERMINÓ • —La masa del átomo es medible – determinó complacida.

Materials and Research Questions 1 and 2 • Compare syllables with stress and accent (declaratives) with unaccented stressed syllables (parenthetics) • In oxytone and paroxytone positions. • Respuestas: • Determinó la masa. • Sí, Carmona la determinó. • No, Carmona la DETERMINÓ • —La masa del átomo es medible – determinó contenta.

Materials and Research Questions 1 and 2 • Compare syllables with stress and accent (declaratives) with unaccented stressed syllables (parenthetics) • In oxytone and paroxytone positions. • Respuestas: • Determinó la masa. • Sí, Carmona la determinó. • No, Carmona la DETERMINÓ • —La masa del átomo es medible – determinó contenta. Accented Unaccented

Materials and Research Question 3 • Compare syllables with nuclear broad focus and syllables with narrow (contrastive) focus. • In oxytone and paroxytone positions. • Respuestas: • Determinó la masa. • Sí, Carmona la determinó. • No, Carmona la DETERMINÓ. • —La masa del átomo es medible – determinó contenta. Nuclear broad focus Nuclear narrow (contrastive) focus

Measurements • Pitch: • F0 marks at the beginning, middle and end of target syllables • F0 valley and peak (tonal range) • Duration: • Each of the segments in target syllables mi and no/na: • In milliseconds • In percentages • Vowel Quality: • F1, F2 and F3 measures at 3 points in target vowels

Subjects • Four native speakers of Spanish and Catalan. • 2 from Sabadell (Catalan) and 2 from Barcelona (Spanish speakers). • 3 females, 1 male. • 20-36 years old. • Spanish speakers spoke this language with their parents and siblings, and learnt Catalan later in school.

Pitch range differences Pitch is practically flat in parenthetic phrases. Spanish Catalan

Pitch range differences Pitch is practically flat in parenthetic phrases. Accented Accented Unaccented Unaccented Spanish Catalan

Results: Intonation • Declarative sentences: • There are pitch-accents because there is F0 variation. • Parenthetic sentences: • There are NO pitch-accents because there is NO F0 variation.

Duration of V1: /i/ Stressed /i/ is longer than unstressed /i/ This effect is maintained across intonation contexts, and in parenthetics Spanish Catalan

Duration of V1: /i/ Stressed /i/ is longer than unstressed /i/ This effect is maintained across intonation contexts, and in parenthetics Unaccented Unaccented Accented Accented Spanish Catalan

Duration of C1: /m/ Spanish Catalan Stress effect: /m/ is longer when stressed (paroxytone, i.e. míno), across the two intonation contexts.

Duration of C1: /m/ Spanish Catalan Unaccented Unaccented Accented Accented Stress effect: /m/ is longer when stressed (paroxytone, i.e. míno), across the two intonation contexts.

Duration of V2: Spanish /o/ - Catalan /a/ Spanish Catalan V2 is longer in stressed positions, both in accented and accented syllables.

Duration of V2: Spanish /o/ - Catalan /a/ Spanish Catalan Unaccented Unaccented Accented Accented V2 is longer in stressed positions, both in accented and accented syllables.

Duration of C2: /n/ Spanish Catalan Stress effect: /n/ is longer when placed in the stressed syllables.

Duration of C2: /n/ Spanish Catalan Unaccented Unaccented Accented Accented Stress effect: /n/ is longer when placed in the stressed syllables.

Duration in milliseconds • Stressed segments were longer than unstressed segments. • This pattern was significant for each segment except for /m/ in each language.

o m m i n i n Relative Duration Relative measures: Each segment was calculated as a percentage of mino. oxytones paroxytones Intonation 1 o

v2 c1 m o v1 n i c2 Relative Measures Relative measures: Each segment was calculated as a percentage of mino. paroxytones oxytones Intonation 1

o m c1 v2 i c2 v1 n Relative Measures Relative measures: Each segment was calculated as a percentage of mino. oxytones paroxytones Intonation 1

Duration: statistical analysis • ANOVA on duration measurements. Main factors: • Intonation: declarative vs. parenthetic; • Stress: oxytone vs paroxytone • The main factor of stresshad an effect on the duration of segments. • The main factor of intonationhad not an effect on duration

Duration: Summary • Stress effect: Both absolute and relative duration cues differentiate oxytonic words from paroxytonic words regardless of the presence of a pitch accent. • Lack of intonation effect: the presence of a pitch accent does not consistently amplify duration cues.

Question 2: Vowel quality • Is vowel quality a cue for both accented and stressed vowels? • Measures given in F2-F1 distance

Vowel quality of V1: /i/ No vowel reduction for /i/ in any language Spanish Catalan

Vowel quality of V1: /i/ No vowel reduction for /i/ in unstressed positions Spanish Catalan Unaccented Unaccented Accented Accented

Vowel quality: Sp. /o/, Cat. /a/ Vowel reduction in unstressed positions in both languages Spanish Catalan

Vowel quality: Sp. /o/, Cat. /a/ F1 and F2 increase their distance in unstressed positions (paroxytonic words) regardless of the intonation context. Spanish Catalan Unaccented Unaccented Accented Accented

Vowel quality: Sp. /o/, Cat. /a/ No effect of presence of a pitch accent on vowel reduction Spanish Catalan Unaccented Unaccented Accented Accented

Vowel quality: statistical analysis • ANOVA on F2-F1 measurements. Main factors: • Intonation: declarative vs. parenthetic • Stress: oxytone vs paroxytone • The main factor of stresshad an effect on vowel quality • The main factor of intonationhad not an effect on vowel quality • In Catalan vowel reduction takes place in all inton contexts

Vowel quality: Reduction patterns • In Spanish, /o/ raises towards /u/ by decreasing F1 values. • In Catalan, /a/ becomes // by decreasing F1 and increasing F2. F2 i u o F1 a

Vowel quality: Reduction patterns • In Spanish, /o/ raises towards /u/ by decreasing F1 values. • In Catalan, /a/ becomes // by decreasing F1 and increasing F2. F2 Spanish /o/  // i u  o F1 a Catalan /a/  //

Vowel Quality: Summary • Stress effect: Vowel quality cues differentiate oxytonic words from paroxytonic words regardless of the presence of a pitch accent. —The vowel reduction due to stress is very consistent in each language, regardless of the phonological status of the phenomenon in Catalan. • Lack of intonation effect: the presence of a pitch accent does not consistently amplify vowel quality cues.

Question 3: focal accent and duration • Does the increase of pitch range that characterizes contrastive focus is accompanied by an increase in duration? • Examples: • Sí, Carmona la determina (broad focus) vs. • No, Carmona la DETER MI NA (contr. focus)

Question 3: focal accent and duration • Does the increase of pitch range that identifies contrastive focus is accompanied by an increase in duration? • Examples: • Sí, Carmona la determina (broad focus) vs. • No, Carmona la DETER MI NA (contr. focus)

Stress and focus in Catalan and Spanish: patterns of duration and vowel quality