Lexical stress: trends of the acoustic correlates

Abstract

Three  physical  parameters  have  been  reported  as  acoustic  correlates  of lexical stress both in English and in Spanish: “fundamental frequency (F0), intensity and vowel duration”. (Llisterri et al., 2003:163). However, there has been no agreement as to what extent these three parameters interact in the production and perception of the lexical stress in Spanish. This ex-perimental study describes the behaviour of the acoustic correlates found in the production of the lexical stress in native speakers of Spanish from Concepcion, Chile. The trends observed, allow a preliminary assumption of a possible interrelation among F0, intensity and vowel length for three of the vowels under study /i-a-u/. Finally, we present suggestions to consider in further research on the topic.