EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

STRESS LOCATION IN A SPOKEN DIALOG

ALBA DE BENITO MARCOS FONETICA SUPRAGMENTAL 5FILOLOGA INGLESA

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

INDEX

INTRODUCTION 3 STRESS LOCATION 4-6 FIRST SECTION: INTONATION GROUPS.6-15 SECOND SECTION: AUDACITY FILES DEALING WITH PAUSES..16 DEALING WITH ACCENT & STRESS..17 CONCLUSION.18 BIBLIOGRAPHY.19

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

INTRODUCTION The elected dialog to study the location of English stress has been taken from the film Before Sunrise (David Linkarter, 1992). It is a 1 minute long conversation between the main characters of the film Sarah & Nick-. Sarah is a Belgium girl who speaks very good English, while Nick is American.

Before analyzing the stress location within the dialog, which is the aim of this experimental approach, it happened several obstacles, most of them related to the cutting of the dialog. To start with, the film format was divx. I used the handiest tool I had at that moment to cut it: windows movie maker. It was simple, the problem arises when neither audacity nor wasp could read it properly. It was a 30 seconds unintelligible sound instead of a quiet 2 minutes dialog. Hence, I tried to improve the sound quality by using the menu options of both programs audacity and wasp- but it was useless, I couldnt understand why windows media player could read the sketch perfectly but the programs I had to work with couldnt.

After a long period of investigation I found out that the problem relied on the original film format divx-. The solution was to convert divx into mp3 or wav, so that I surfed the internet searching for a free program that allowed me to convert the film into mp3. Eventually I found AimOne

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

All to MP3 Converter -at www.softonic.com-, which was a great help as well as AimOne AVI Cutter & Joiner. The latter was the perfect tool to select the exact part of the dialog I wanted to analyze; it allowed me to suppress long silences I didnt need and to cut and join it all as a whole. Whereas the former program converted this section into MP3, so I could work on it through Audacity.

STRESS LOCATION According to Cruttenden A. (Intonation 1997, Chapter 3, page 44): We need to distinguish four degrees of stress/accent in English: (i) PRIMARY STRESS/ACCENT involving the principal pitch

prominence, i.d. the NUCLEOUS (ii) SECONDARY STRESS/ ACCENT involving a subsidiary pitch prominence in an intonation-group, i.e. a non-nuclear pitch accent (iii) TERTIARY STRESS involving a prominence produced principally by length and/or loudness. (This is not referred to as tertiary accent because the term accent is reserved for pitch prominences) (iv) UNSTRESSED (the term unaccented covers (iii) and (iv))

This experimental approach is basically based on the above definition of stress/accent. There are twenty-one intonation-groups
4

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

extracted from the already-mentioned dialogue which have been analyzed following Cruttendens Stress/Accent Distinction.

During the next pages it will be shown how I worked on the intonation-groups. Every intonation-group has a number that indicates its position within the dialog. Nevertheless, some intonation groups, whose boundaries delimitation has been more problematic, have a letter besides the number. Although it is a separated intonation group, the boundary marking cannot be understood out of the context of the complete sentence. From my point of view it is simpler to study these intonation groups, which, in deed, are part of a whole if I have a written reference that clearly shows which group they belong to. For example: 15b. The number 15 would be the group, this is to say the context reference of a smaller intonation group. And therefore b will be that small part, the intonation group whose origins rely on a bigger sequence.

The work of every intonation group is divided into two different sections. The first one consists of the intonation group transcription and a brief explanation of how every stress has been located and why it has been assigned to a determined syllable and not to another. Three different colors, besides black, can be seen in some syllables of the transcription in order to mark the three main stresses: Red for Primary Accent; Green for Secondary Accent and Yellow for Tertiary Stress. Black covers the remaining unstressed syllables.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

The second one is the Audacity audio file which shows the sound wave and its respective labeling. If you open any of the audacity files, which are numbered according to the first section explanations, you can listen to a determined sequence while you see the sound wave. Below the sound wave it is placed a labeling bar which contains numbers from 1 to 3 to nominate the different kinds of stress or accent according to Cruttenden. I used the Audacity menu options proyect and then add a label so I could write the number I consider necessary (1 for Primary Stress/Accent; 2 for Secondary Stress/Accent; 3 for Tertiary Stress) at the corresponding point of the wave.

FIRST SECTION: INTONATION GROUPS Once we know how this work is organized we can go through the files: 1 . Do you have any idea what they were arguing about? Here we have two different intonation groups. I had some trouble to distinguish the boundary between one another but eventually I realized about the anacrustic syllables what they were. The sudden acceleration beginning at what indicates that these syllables are anacrustic and therefore, that a new intonation group is beginning. 1a. DO you have Any iDEa

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

The first intonation group (IG1a) has a primary stress, which involves the principal pitch prominence and consequently is named nucleus, on any. A secondary stress involving a subsidiary pitch prominence in an intonation-group on do and a tertiary stress whose prominence is produced by loudness, not by pitch, on idea. 1b. what they were ARguing aBOUT? The second intonation group (IG2b) primary stress goes after the anacrustic syllables, this is on the first syllable of the main verb ar. There is also a tertiary stress on the second syllable of the last word, a lengthening can be appreciated.

2.Dodo you speak English? The third intonation group starts with a hesitation, do which carries the secondary stress. From my viewpoint it cannot be regarded as an intonation group by its own because there is not such a pause. We perceive the first do and the hesitation filled pause as a continuum where the highest pitch accent falls on the monosyllable speak. There is a down-from movement and then there is a tertiary stress on the following syllable realized by length and loudness alone.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

3. Yes This intonation group is constituted by only one word which obviously has pitch accent and is the nucleus.

4. No Again a monosyllabic intonation group labeled as primary accent.

5. Im sorry Firstly I did not think this to be one separate intonation group but a whole together with the 5b sequence. Nevertheless the lengthening of the last syllable gave me the hint to divide it into two different tonal groups. IG5 has just one primary accent in the first syllable of sorry.

5b. My German is not very good. The primary accent is clearly distinguished here due to the higher pitch of the first syllable of german. On the contrary the rest of the intonation group prominence is quite balanced and from my point of view the words is, not and good share a secondary accent.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

6. Have you ever heard that Heard is simultaneously the syntactic and intonation nucleus of this sentence. It has pitch accent and consequently primary accent. Secondary accent falls on the first syllable of the sequence ha- and finally there is a tertiary stress in that.

7a. as couples get older Primary accent is in the first syllable of the subject couples and secondary accent is in get. There is also a tertiary stress in the first syllable of older which is lengthened. 7b. They lose their Ability to hear each other? Higher pitch accent can be perceived in the first syllable of ability so a- has the primary accent. There is a secondary accent in the first syllable of the last word other. And eventually a tertiary stress in hear.

8. No As a monosyllabic intonation group there is only one primary accent.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

9. Well Here we have a discourse marker which constitutes an intonation group on its own. It has primary accent and a falling intonation which invited the listener to expect what is going to be said.

10. Supposedly This is an adverb that also acts as a discourse marker within this context. The primary accent is in the second syllable. But there are some peculiarities we can remark about this sequence taking into account the information Cruttenden gives in Cruttenden A. 1997 Intonation page 43 because the example he explains is very similar to this one. We can see an accent down-from followed by an accent up-from ( fall-rise in British contour analysis). This sort of pitch pattern is very common on adverbials occurring in clause-initial position. There is an accent involving a combination of step up-to and down-from on posed. A rise in pitch then occurs on ly which is an unstressed syllable in the word and then potentially accented as part of the realization of the tune following the accent on posed.

11a. Men lose their Ability IG 11 has a primary accent in the first syllable of the last word -a. Then a secondary accent at the beginning, in men and at the end we can

10

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

appreciate a lengthening of the usually unstressed final -i in ability, so it might be a case of tertiary stress. 11b. to hear higher pitch sounds The distinction between IG11a and IG11b can be established due to the anacrusis that occurs from to till higher. The next word: pitch carries the pitch accent and has the primary accent. It is also perceived a secondary accent in the word sounds

12. and women eventually lose hearing on the low end Primary accent stays in the discourse marker eventually. There is a secondary accent in woman and a tertiary stress in hearing.

13. I guess they sort of nullify each other or something I know IG13 seems too long to be just one intonation group. Nevertheless we have to take into account the fact that after the secondary stress nullify the intonation contour continues to fall down reaching a point where pitch, loudness and length are completely diminished. The final words or something are almost unperceivable. The higher pitch accent in this sequence falls on guess.

11

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

14. I guess IG14 is a two syllables intonation group. Primary accent is in guess. The speaker uses this discourse marker and then makes a deliberate pause, not because he has to breathe but to make his speech more interesting.

15a. Natures way of allowing couples Primary accent lies on allowing, whereas secondary accent is present in two different syllables: the first one nature and the last word couples, both of them, as we can see in the sound contour, have the same frequency. There is also a tertiary accent in way 15b. to grow old together The second syllable of together exceeds among the rest of the intonation group because of its pitch, so it has the primary stress. Besides, there is a secondary stress on old we can appreciate in the sound wave. 15c. without killing each other If we go to the audio file we see a primary accent in the last syllable of the first word -out and there is also a secondary accent in the first syllable of killing.

12

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

16. What are you reading? In spite of the uniformity of this sequence we can appreciate two slight changes of pitch, one of them at the beginning of the question: what sounds louder and in comparison to the rest of the sequence, except for the first syllable of reading, it has a higher pitch but not as high as rea- which is the primary accent.

17. Ah yeah This very short sequence has its highest pitch in yeah. The sound preceding the primary accent might be a filled pause taking into account the use of a central vowel.

18. How about you? There is a Primary Accent in the second syllable of about, a Secondary Accent in the first syllable of the sequence how and a Tertiary Stress in the last word of the utterance you. We can appreciate a step-up on -bout and a movement down-from on you

13

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

19a. Look Here there is a discourse marker with high pitch accent and which is separated from the rest of the utterance by a pause as it is shown in the audio file 19. 19b. I was thinking about going to the lounge car The Primary accent falls on the first syllable of the syntactic nucleus thinking. Then we have a down-from movement and a tertiary stress in about and finally a step-up secondary accent in lunch.

20. sometime soon IG20 is distinguished from IG19 because there is a pause between them. The highest pitch is found in the last word soon. But firstly, we have a compound word: sometime, as we know this type of words have only one main stress, which is some in this case. It has a secondary stress within the intonation group. And time could have a tertiary stress.

21. Would you like to come with me? In this sequence it is necessary to point the speed which with it is uttered. Like is a step-up and the highest pitch word followed by come which is the secondary accent with a down-from movement. The sequence continues falling to such an extent that we cannot here the last word me.

14

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

DEALING WITH PAUSES: One of the relevant aspects I had to face working on this spoken dialog was the division of the whole sequence into different intonation groups. Pause has been the most frequent element I found to distinguish one intonation group from another. Most of them have been unfilled pauses or silences, which are appreciated visually in the sound wave of the Audacity audio files. Something I wanted to remark about pauses is that breathing is the consequence of it, instead of the reason for what we stop our discourse. For example the lapse of time between IG14 and IG15a does not take place because the speaker was choking but because he wanted to create certain degree of expectation for his next words. Between IG19b and IG20 we see again a voluntary pause that we can interpret in this case as a lack of confidence or shyness. Furthermore, the presence of anacrusis in the dialogue has been other boundary marker as well as the lengthening

DEALING WITH ACCENT & STRESS: I realized that the location of stress in natural speech is something arbitrary because there arent any fixed intonation patterns that could be assigned to Sarah and Nick. On the contrary, they change their pitch accent degree from one sentence to another, from the start to the end of the sequences depending on several factors. The importance of the words,

15

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

their mood, the impression they want to cause in the other person and their inner feelings like shyness and insecurity are underlying factors of their intonation. For example in the last sentence (IG21), the boy is afraid of the girls answer to be negative. He speaks very fast so as to not being understood. I know it sounds paradoxical because if he doesnt want to be understood, why is he saying anything? Well, the speed with which he asked the question reflects the inner conflict he is dealing with. He wants the girl to go with him, but he would feel disappointed if she refuses him. The likelihood of disappointment makes him feel insecure and consequently, he partly wants to avoid the question, so he throws it out of his mouth as if it was a bad coffee. Analyzing the sequence we see that the highest pitch is in the verb like while the secondary accent falls on the verb come. It could be deduced that he gives more importance to the girls opinion than to the action he is proposing. Moreover, the last words cannot be forgotten despite of the lowness of his pitch and the lack of loudness and even length. The very last word me seems not to be said. He doesnt give importance to himself because of his insecurity. If the same sentence would have been said by a very self-confident man, the distribution of the accents would have been absolutely different: Would you like to come with me?

16

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

This supposed self-confident individual would have remarked the action he wanted to do by assigning the highest pitch to it and, of course, his person would have received the second highest pitch of the intonation group pushing the girls likes and dislikes into the background. As we can see, the distribution of Primary, Secondary Accent and Tertiary Stress within a spoken dialog does not follow any pattern. The only rule we can rely on is the division of the discourse into different intonation groups, so we can study in detail every part of the dialog. Nevertheless, tone groups existence is also up in the air for some writers and analysts. Anyway, while they continue to be a useful tool that allows us to study and analyze the intonation field they will exist.

CONCLUSION The aim of this approach is the stress location within a spoken dialog. I took an excerpt from the film Before Sunrise from where 21 intonation groups were extracted so I could study the distribution of pitch degree among the syllables. The boundary markers existent between the intonation groups are pauses (mainly unfilled), anacrusis and lengthening. Thanks to the division of the connected speech into tone groups I could study all of them in detail through the pc program Audacity. I could listen to them while watching the sound wave, which allows me to have a complete idea of how the sound behaves. Therefore I could assign the accent/stress degree

17

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

based on what I saw plus what I heard. This resulted on the observation of an absolutely different pattern for almost every intonation group. To sum up, although there are basic intonation patterns in English like the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables within a sequence; in natural speech any thing can happen. This is due to several factors that might influence intonation like the context, the mood, the desires, and the feelings of the speakers.

18

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
STRESS LOCATION IN SPOKEN DIALOG Alba de Benito Marcos

BIBLIOGRAPHY Cruttenden A. (1997) Intonation, Chapter 3 (class notes)

BOLINGER, D. (1998) "Intonation in American English"

Audacity Manual

KENT, R.D. (1992) The Acoustic Analysis of Speech, London

WEBGRAPHY www.youtube.com/watch?v=-toSnwSqqz0 www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender www.softonic.com

19