Nuclear accent F 0 peak location: Effects of rate, vowel, and number of following syllables

Abstract

Reported here are results from an investigation of the alignment of speech segments with the fundamental frequency (F0) contour at the end of an intonational phrase. Findings suggest that the F0 peak on the main sentence stress (nuclear stress) occurs at some proportion of the length of the vowel, instead of at a fixed distance into the vowel. The vowel may be shortened by a faster speaking rate, an intrinsically shorter vowel, and added post-nuclear syllables. The F0 peak delay, however, is shortened by faster speaking rate and intrinsically shorter vowels, but lengthened or unaffected by added syllables. Thus vowel length and post-nuclear syllables interact to determine the location of the F0 peak.