Language differences in the perceptual weight of prominence-lending properties

A Bulgarian and a German sentence were presented to Bulgarian and German listeners together with a question which either expected an early narrow focus or a late narrow focus. The answering sentences were manipulated so that the word in the latefocused position ranged from completely de-accented to strongly accented. The early focused position was neutral, allowing latefocus perception with late strong accentuation and early focus with de-accentuation of the late-focus position. Accentuation strength of the late position was varied by changing the duration, intensity and f0 values individually between accented and low de-accented. Subjects were asked to judge the suitability of the answers to the question. Results show the relative contribution of the three parameters to the acceptability of the word in the late focus position as focally accented or de-accented. Differences between Bulgarian and German in the relative weighting of the parameters are revealed.