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The Acoustic Correlates of Stress-Shifting Suffixes in Native and Nonnative English Paul R

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The Acoustic Correlates of Stress-Shifting Suffixes in Native and Nonnative English Paul R St. Cloud State University theRepository at St. Cloud State Culminating Projects in English Department of English 5-2014 The Acoustic Correlates of Stress-Shifting Suffixes in Native and Nonnative English Paul R. Keyworth St. Cloud State University Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/engl_etds Part of the First and Second Language Acquisition Commons Recommended Citation Keyworth, Paul R., "The Acoustic Correlates of Stress-Shifting Suffixes in Native and Nonnative English" (2014). Culminating Projects in English. 4. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/engl_etds/4 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at theRepository at St. Cloud State. It has been accepted for inclusion in Culminating Projects in English by an authorized administrator of theRepository at St. Cloud State. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Acoustic Correlates of Stress-Shifting Suffixes in Native and Nonnative English by Paul R. Keyworth A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of St. Cloud State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in English: TESL March, 2014 Thesis Committee: Ettien Koffi, Chairperson Michael Schwartz Monica Devers 2 Abstract Although laboratory phonology techniques have been widely employed to discover the interplay between the acoustic correlates of English Lexical Stress (ELS)–fundamental frequency, duration, and intensity - studies on ELS in polysyllabic words are rare, and cross- linguistic acoustic studies in this area are even rarer. Consequently, the effects of language experience on L2 lexical stress acquisition are not clear. This investigation of adult Arabic (Saudi Arabian) and Mandarin (Mainland Chinese) speakers analyzes their ELS production in tokens with seven different stress-shifting suffixes; i.e., Level 1 [+cyclic] derivations to phonologists. Stress productions are then systematically analyzed and compared with those of speakers of Midwest American English using the acoustic phonetic software, Praat. In total, one hundred subjects participated in the study, spread evenly across the three language groups, and 2,125 vowels in 800 spectrograms were analyzed (excluding stress placement and pronunciation errors). Nonnative speakers completed a sociometric survey prior to recording so that statistical sampling techniques could be used to evaluate acquisition of accurate ELS production. The speech samples of native speakers were analyzed to provide norm values for cross-reference and to provide insights into the proposed Salience Hierarchy of the Acoustic Correlates of Stress (SHACS). The results support the notion that a SHACS does exist in the L1 sound system, and that native-like command of this system through accurate ELS production can be acquired by proficient L2 learners via increased L2 input. Other findings raise questions as to the accuracy of standard American English dictionary pronunciations as well as the generalizability of claims made about the acoustic properties of tonic accent shift. 3 Acknowledgements Whilst this thesis may bear my name, the credit belongs to so many others as well. The research process has been a long and often arduous journey interspersed with moments of joy and wonder. My heartfelt thanks goes to each and every person who has helped me along the way. First and foremost, I thank the many participants who gave up their free time to be recorded for my study. Without their contributions, this project literally would not have been possible. Also, I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation to the members of my thesis committee: Drs. Ettien Koffi (Linguistics), Michael Schwartz (TESL), and Monica Devers (Communication Disorders). Their invaluable comments, suggestions, and constructive criticisms have guided me through throughout my investigations. I admire them for their professionalism and am deeply appreciative of their keen insight and unwavering encouragement. In particular, I must thank my committee chair, Dr. Koffi, who first gave me the idea of analyzing the acoustical properties of words with stress-shifting suffixes. His passionate teaching style and personal mentoring have always been a great resource for me. Additionally, I wish to give the Office of Sponsored Programs a special mention for graciously awarding this research a grant through the university’s Student Research Fund. Also, thank you to Sara Broudeur and Joseph Sipe from the Statistics Consulting Center, led by Dr. Randal Kolb, for tolerating my often last-minute requests for help. A huge thank you also goes out to all my wonderful colleagues in the MA TESL program, particularly Erko Abdullahi for suggesting that I use Praat scripts, and Benjamin Kohler for his formatting expertise. Most of all though, I dedicate this thesis to my beloved betrothed, Chin-Yu (Vivian), for without her love, support, and kindness, I could never imagine completing this work. 4 “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” Samuel Johnson—Rasselas, 1759 5 Table of Contents Page List of Tables ................................................................................................................... 8 List of Figures .................................................................................................................. 11 Chapter I. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 15 Statement of Problem ..................................................................................... 15 Background and Need for the Study .............................................................. 15 Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................... 19 Research Questions ........................................................................................ 20 II. Review of the Literature ...................................................................................... 21 Significance of Lexical Stress in English ...................................................... 21 Implications of Isochrony to English L2 Learners .................................................................................................... 23 Role of Lexical Stress in Intelligibility and Comprehensibility .................................................................................... 27 Prosodic Information in the Lexicon ............................................................. 29 Physiology of Stress Production and Perception ................................................................................................ 31 Acoustical Phonetic Correlates of Stress in English ..................................................................................................... 33 Morphophonemic Attributes of English Derivational Suffixes ............................................................................... 36 A Generative Account of Stress-Shifting Suffixes .................................................................................................... 40 Corpus Frequencies of Stress-Shifting Suffixes ............................................ 43 6 Chapter Page Previous and Related Studies on Stress-Shifting Suffixes .................................................................................................... 43 Acoustic Studies on Mandarin L1 Nnes’ Productions of Stress ................................................................................ 52 Acoustic Studies on Arabic L1 Nnes’ Productions Of Stress ................................................................................................... 57 III. Methodology ........................................................................................................ 60 Restatement of Research Questions ............................................................... 60 Participants ..................................................................................................... 61 Materials ........................................................................................................ 62 Stimuli ...................................................................................................... 62 Recording Equipment and Environment .................................................. 63 Procedure ....................................................................................................... 64 Data Collection ........................................................................................ 64 Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 64 IV. Results .................................................................................................................. 71 Pronunciation and Stress Placement Errors ................................................... 71 Research Question 5a ............................................................................... 71 Main Dataset .................................................................................................. 76 Research Questions 1, 2, 3, and 4 ............................................................ 76 Research Questions 3 and 4 ..................................................................... 107 Research Question 5b .............................................................................. 110 Research Question 6 ...............................................................................
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