Comparison of acoustic features of word accent in English and Japanese

Abstract

In order to determine the universal and language-specific characteristics for word accent, its acoustic manifestations were analyzed and compared in the disyllabic words of English (“permit,” “record,” “object” etc.) and in the two-mora words of Japanese (“ame”). Analyses on the fundamental frequency contours (Fo contours) of these words were made using the functional model of Fo contour generation proposed by one of the authors. While a marked similarity was observed between F0 contour characteristics of English and Japanese in cases of both first-syllable accented and second-syllable accented, individual differences were much greater in the accent command for English words with an accented first syllable. Segmental and syllabic durations were measured on the speech waveform, and it was found that the accentual changes in duration occur mainly in the second syllable in Japanese, while in English they tend to be complementary in the first and the second syllables. The intensity and formant frequencies of syllabic nuclei were also analyzed. The results of these analyses indicated that duration, intensity and formant frequencies are less stable than Fo contour as correlates for the word accent both in English and in Japanese. © 1986, Acoustical Society of Japan. All rights reserved.