Rhythm is in the mind of the beholder. Remarks on the nature of linguistic rhythm

Mołczanow, Janina; Wiese, Richard

doi:10.12775/lincop.2014.044

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…West and South Slavic languages are also specific in terms of rhythmic class, as they are placed on a continuum between stress-timed and syllable-timed languages (Dimitrova, 1998a;Dankovičová and Dellwo, 2007;Marković and Milićev, 2011;Gralińska-Brawata, 2015). The division into stress-and syllable-timed languages is based on a set of parameters in which languages differ and this classification has prompted many discussions (review in Mołczanow and Wiese, 2014), but what unites South and West Slavic speakers is their full pronunciation of vowels in unstressed syllables (e.g., Dimitrova, 1998a;Dankovičová and Dellwo, 2007). Even in Bulgarian, which has vowel reduction and should be able to weaken the prominence of unstressed syllables, changes in vowel quality and duration in unstressed positions take place to a smaller extent compared to stress-timed languages like English (Dimitrova, 1998a) and Bulgarians face issues with English vowel reduction (Stoykova, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ERP Evidence for Slavic and German Word Stress Cue Sensitivity in English

Ivanova¹,

Neubert²,

Schmied³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Word stress is demanding for non-native learners of English, partly because speakers from different backgrounds weight perceptual cues to stress like pitch, intensity, and duration differently. Slavic learners of English and particularly those with a fixed stress language background like Czech and Polish have been shown to be less sensitive to stress in their native and non-native languages. In contrast, German English learners are rarely discussed in a word stress context. A comparison of these varieties can account for differences in the foreign language processing of speakers from two language families. We use electroencephalography (EEG) to explore group differences in word stress cue perception between Slavic and German learners of English. Slavic and German advanced English speakers were examined in passive multi-feature oddball experiments, where they were exposed to the word impact as an unstressed standard and as deviants stressed on the first or second syllable through higher pitch, intensity, or duration. The results revealed a robust Mismatch Negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potential (ERP) in both language groups in response to all conditions, demonstrating sensitivity to stress changes in a non-native language. While both groups showed higher MMN responses to stress changes to the second than the first syllable, this effect was more pronounced for German than for Slavic participants. Such group differences in non-native English word stress perception from the current and previous studies are argued to speak in favor of customizable language technologies and diversified English curricula compensating for non-native perceptual variation.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ERP Evidence for Slavic and German Word Stress Cue Sensitivity in English

Ivanova¹,

Neubert²,

Schmied³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…West and South Slavic languages are also specific in terms of rhythmic class, as they are placed on a continuum between stress-timed and syllable-timed languages ( Dimitrova, 1998a ; Dankovičová and Dellwo, 2007 ; Marković and Milićev, 2011 ; Gralińska-Brawata, 2015 ). The division into stress-and syllable-timed languages is based on a set of parameters in which languages differ and this classification has prompted many discussions (review in Mołczanow and Wiese, 2014 ), but what unites South and West Slavic speakers is their full pronunciation of vowels in unstressed syllables (e.g., Dimitrova, 1998a ; Dankovičová and Dellwo, 2007 ). Even in Bulgarian, which has vowel reduction and should be able to weaken the prominence of unstressed syllables, changes in vowel quality and duration in unstressed positions take place to a smaller extent compared to stress-timed languages like English ( Dimitrova, 1998a ) and Bulgarians face issues with English vowel reduction ( Stoykova, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ERP evidence for Slavic and German word stress cue sensitivity in English

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Word stress is demanding for non-native learners of English, partly because speakers from different backgrounds weight perceptual cues to stress like pitch, intensity, and duration differently. Slavic learners of English and particularly those with a fixed stress language background like Czech and Polish have been shown to be less sensitive to stress in their native and non-native languages. In contrast, German English learners are rarely discussed in a word stress context. A comparison of these varieties can reveal differences in the foreign language processing of speakers from two language families. We use electroencephalography (EEG) to explore group differences in word stress cue perception between Slavic and German learners of English. Slavic and German advanced English speakers were examined in passive multi-feature oddball experiments, where they were exposed to the word impact as an unstressed standard and as deviants stressed on the first or second syllable through higher pitch, intensity, or duration. The results revealed a robust Mismatch Negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potential (ERP) in both language groups in response to all conditions, demonstrating sensitivity to stress changes in a non-native language. While both groups showed higher MMN responses to stress changes to the second than the first syllable, this effect was more pronounced for German than for Slavic participants. Such group differences in non-native English word stress perception from the current and previous studies are argued to speak in favor of customizable language technologies and diversified English curricula compensating for non-native perceptual variation.

show abstract

Rhythm is in the mind of the beholder. Remarks on the nature of linguistic rhythm

Cited by 2 publications

References 17 publications

ERP Evidence for Slavic and German Word Stress Cue Sensitivity in English

ERP Evidence for Slavic and German Word Stress Cue Sensitivity in English

ERP evidence for Slavic and German word stress cue sensitivity in English

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