Comparative study of English, Dutch and German prosodic features (fundamental frequency and intensity) as means of speech

Abstract

This paper reports on a comparative analysis of specific prosodic features (fundamental frequency and intensity) used as a means of speech influence in Germanic languages (English, Dutch, German,). The aim of the study is to compare the prosodic patterns of the languages mentioned above in order to find out whether these patterns are similar or they have some differences that are used only in a particular language. The conducted experiment included two types of analysis: acoustic analysis and perceptual analysis. The results obtained during the acoustic analysis supervised by R.K. Potapova testify to the fact that the languages use different prosodic features as a means of speech influence. © 2013 Springer International Publishing.