WHAT IS COMPOUND STRESS?

Gero Kunter & Ingo Plag
Universität Siegen

ID 1383
[full paper]

This paper investigates the implementation of stress in English noun-noun compounds. First, a perception experiment examines how listeners perceive prominence in compounds. After that, significant acoustic correlates of prominence are established. Finally, a cluster analysis is described that classifies compounds on the basis of their phonetic features and which is capable of separating different stress categories. The results demonstrate how gradient acoustic measurements and discrete phonological contrasts can be mapped onto each other.