Exploring Multidimensionality: Acoustic and Articulatory Correlates of Swedish Word Accents

This study investigates acoustic and articulatory correlates of South Swedish word accents (Accent 1 vs. 2) – a tonal distinction traditionally associated with F0 timing. The study is motivated by previous findings on (i) the acoustic complexity of tonal prosody and (ii) tonal-articulatory interplay in other languages. Acoustic and articulatory (EMA) data from two controlled experiments are reported (14 speakers in total; pilot EMA recordings with 2 speakers). Apart from the well-established F0 timing pattern, results of Experiment 1 reveal a longer duration of a post-stress consonant in Accent 2 than in Accent 1, a higher degree of creaky voice in Accent 1, as well as a deviant (two-peak) pitch pattern in Accent 2 for one of eight discourse conditions used in the experiment. Experiment 2 reveals an effect of word accent on vowel articulation, as the tongue body gesture target is reached earlier in Accent 2. It also suggests slight but (marginally) significant word-accent effects on word-initial gestural coordination, taking slightly different forms in the two speakers, as well as corresponding differences in word-initial formant patterns. Results are discussed concerning their potential perceptual relevance, as well as with reference to the c-center effect discussed within Articulatory Phonology.