2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Mechanisms of stress variation occurrences
| Project/Area Number |
15520310
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
English linguistics
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| Research Institution | Mie University |
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Principal Investigator |
HATTORI Noriko Mie University, Department of Humanities, Professor, 人文学部, 教授 (00198764)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | Phonetics / Phonology / English / Language change / Word stress |
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| Research Abstract |
This research focuses on the factors that trigger variation in stress patterns in present-day British English. A detailed analysis of inter- and intra-speaker variation of several adjectives suggests that both syntactic and phonetic factors are at work. ‘Phonetic factors' means the measurement of distance between stressed syllables. The use of ‘syntactic factors' refers to the structure of the noun phrase in which the adjective in question appears. In cases where both factors seem to interact, the notion of ‘phrase boundary' is employed to explain the distribution of stress variation.
Through analyzing the distribution of stress variation in several adjectives, three points arise. Firstly, there are two types of variation, one in which both inter- and intra-speaker variation are observed, and another in which intra-speaker variation is not observed. Secondly, where both inter- and intra-speaker variation is found, variation tends to occur when the adjective in question has a right-branching sister node. Thirdly, when both prosody (stress shift) and syntax (right-branching structure) are present, prosody seems to outweigh syntax in determining the final stress pattern of an adjective.
When an adjective that may show stress variation occurs in connected speech, it can receive rhythmic pressures from either sides ; that is, if a verb preceding the adjective has main stress on the last syllable, and also if a noun following the adjective has main stress on the first syllable, pressure from the left and the right can be observed. Basically, rhythmic pressure does not go beyond a noun phrase boundary. I suggest that the speaker can indicate to the hearer the existence of a phrase boundary by shifting the position of main stress. Stress variation is not a peripheral phenomenon but a useful tool to indicate syntactic structures to the hearer.
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