Academic literature on the topic 'Accents and accentuation. Metrical phonology'

This paper offers a new explanation for the barytone and oxytone accents attested for the Vedic -ti-stems. The two accents are commonly taken to derive from separate reflexes of a once unified proterokinetic paradigm, and it is against this account I will propose the divergence is instead chronological: oxytones belong to the oldest layer of the Vedas, barytones to the younger. The diachronic change we observe occurs within the Vedic period, and is localized to the accentual properties associated with the suffix -ti-. Our philological analysis of the -ti-stems across Vedic texts will support the “compositional approach” championed recently by Kiparsky (2010) and Kümmel (2014) against previous approaches. Finally, I will suggest answers to the question of how the accentual properties of -ti- changed based on recent research into the lexical phonology of accent systems.

The parsing of undifferentiated tone sequences into groups of qualitatively distinct elements is one of the earliest rhythmic phenomena to have been investigated experimentally (Bolton, 1894). The present study aimed to replicate and extend these findings through online experimentation using a spontaneous grouping paradigm with forced-choice response (from 1 to 12 tones per group). Two types of isochronous sequences were used: equitone sequences, which varied only with respect to signal rate (200, 550, or 950 ms interonset intervals), and accented sequences, in which accents were added every two or three tones to test the effect of induced grouping (duple vs. triple) and accent type (intensity, duration, or pitch). In equitone sequences, participants’ grouping percepts (N = 4,194) were asymmetrical and tempo-dependent, with “no grouping” and groups of four being most frequently reported. In accented sequences, slower rate, induced triple grouping, and intensity accents correlated with increases in group length. Furthermore, the probability of observing a mixed metric type—that is, grouping percepts divisible by both two and three (6 and 12)—was found to be highest in faster sequences with induced triple grouping. These findings suggest that lower-level triple grouping gives rise to binary grouping percepts at higher metrical levels.

Nigerian English (NigE) prosody has often been described as strikingly different from Standard English varieties such as British English (BrE) and American English. One possible source for this is the influence of the indigenous tone languages of Nigeria on NigE. This paper investigates the effects of the language contact between the structurally diverse prosodic systems of English and the three major Nigerian languages. Reading passage style and semi-spontaneous speech by speakers of NigE, BrE, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba were analysed acoustically in terms of speech rhythm, syllable structure and tonal structure. Results show that NigE prosody combines elements of intonation / stress languages and tone languages. In terms of speech rhythm, syllable structure and syllable length, NigE groups between the Nigerian languages and BrE. NigE tonal properties are different from those of an intonation language such as BrE insofar as tones are associated with syllables and have a grammatical function. Accentuation in NigE is different from BrE in terms of both accent placement and realisation; accents in NigE are associated with high tone. A proposal for a first sketch of NigE intonational phonology is made and parallels are drawn with other New Englishes.

In order to account for the accentual and rhythmical structure of English, a binary-branching prosodic constituent structur is assumed, in which minimally the syllable and the foot must be headed. Feet are potentially marked as accented. This representation makes it possible to describe the prominence patterns of word groups as resulting from three accent deletion rules, the Compound Rule, the Initial Accent Deletion Rule and the Rhythm Rule. It was shown that the structural change effected by Initial Accent Deletion cannot be expressed in theories which represent stress as a relative concept. Moreover, this rule, which like the Compound rule is a lexical rule, provided evidence for the existence of a stratum in the lexical phonology of English in which compounding and so-called ClassII derivation take place. The Rhythm Rule is a postlexical rule, which was shown to apply to the output of the other two rules. Without the aid of any conditions or constraints, it accounted effortlessly for the stress-shift data presented in the recent literature. It could moreover be shown that apparent cases of stress shift in unaccented speech (in which the Rhythm Rule does not apply) should not in fact be viewed as the output of any stress-shift rule at all, but should be explained as the effect of preboundary lengthening as applying to the different constituents in the prosodic hierarchy. It was argued that an analysis of sentence accentuation whereby focused constituents have to be assigned accents can run into problems that do not exist in a ‘deaccenting’ analysis, in which nonfocused constituents are deprived of their accents. Finally, it was argued that English, unlike Dutch, lacks phonological rules that refer to primary word stress, and that, at best, primary stress may reveal itself in low-level timing distinctions.

For the North Germanic opposition between two tonal accents, it has been claimed that Accent 2 has a lexical tone, that Accent 1 has a lexical tone, that both accents are marked tonally in the lexicon, or that the accent opposition is based on two types of feet. Based on evidence from compounding, we argue that the opposition between Accent 1 and Accent 2 is equipollent, and that this is best expressed in a foot-based approach since each lexical item will necessarily receive a foot. Elaborating on previous metrical work on tonal accent, we assume that binary feet can be built on moras (= Accent 1) or syllables (= Accent 2) and show how this successfully captures compound accentuation in Central Swedish and Urban East Norwegian. Our foot-based analysis is in line with recent work on tonal accent that calls into question the claim that all tonal contrasts within syllables must be due to the presence of lexical tone. In addition, our analysis addresses issues surrounding the phonology of compounds in general, and prosodic effects of compounding in particular.

AbstractThis study makes a foray into the politeness strategies used by English learners of Spanish by comparing a corpus of invitations and requests recorded by 14 adult English learners of beginner-level Spanish as part of their course assignment to the data recorded by 12 native speakers. The native speakers’ data was collected using discourse completion tests, which elicited offers and requests in scenarios controlled for social distance, power, and the cost of the request or offer. All the data was analysed pragmatically, by quantifying the occurrence of politeness strategies, and phonologically, by transcribing pitch accents and boundary tones in line with the guidelines of the Autosegmental Metrical framework. The results show that, depending on the situation, native speakers combine the use of different lexical and morpho-syntactic devices with the use of specific intonational patterns. Most learners at beginner level correctly use a limited range of morpho-syntactic politeness strategies appropriate to their level, and these are frequently reinforced with intonation. However, our data also show that beginner learners often transfer the intonational patterns of their first language.

This study proposes that metrical constituents are inherently headless and stress is autosegmental. Chapter 2 argues that, since stress is the only diagnostic for the presence of a metrical head, the latter is redundant and must be eliminated from phonological theory. Further arguments for the inherent headlessness of feet are cited fl:om the theory of prosodic morphology (McCarthy and Prince 1990, Crowhurst 1991b) and from the facts of Yidinʸ stress (Dixon 1977, Crowhurst 1991a, Crowhurst and Hewitt, to appear). Next, stress is shown to exhibit the following auto segmental properties: stability (Bedouin Hijazi Arabic) , morphemic stress (Spanish, Turkish, Tagalog) and the ability to float (Mayo, Tagalog). After comparing the properties of stress with those of autosegments, it is concluded that stress is an autosegment. Assuming that feet can be either disyllabic, bimoraic or iambic (Hayes 1991), the above conclusion predicts the existence of five types of binary stressed feet. These are the left- and right-stressed syllabic foot, instantiated by Warao and Mayo, respectively, the left- and right-stressed moraic foot, instantiated by Cairene Arabic and Turkish, respectively, and the iambic foot, instantiated by Hixkaryana. The asymmetric nature of the iamb is attributed to the Weight-to-Stress Principle (Prince 1990), which allows stress to be assigned directly to heavy syllables. Furthermore, this principle predict6 all and only the attested types of unbounded stress systems. Chapter 5 argues that stressless feet and unfooted stresses are instantiated in Mayo, and the theories of Halle and Vergnaud 1987a, b and Hayes 1987, 1991 are shown to be incapable of accounting for these facts. The autosegmental theory of stress advances phonological theory in three ways. First, it eliminates most of the principles and devices which up to now have been used only to describe stress, leaving only the abstract stress autosegment which is itself subject to the principles of autosegmental theory. Second, this approach attributes many of the apparent differences between stress and tone to differences in their respective domains rather than differences in their formal properties. Third, the autosegmental theory of stress facilitates the formalization of a number of stress systems with heretofore complex analyses, including Yidinʸ, Mayo, Cairene Arabic, Turkish, Khalkha Mongolian and Tagalog.

La thèse actuelle présente une étude ERP du traitement du stress métrique en français. En effet, l'accentuation métrique joue un rôle important dans la compréhension des langues comme l'anglais et le néérlandais, mais son rôle dans le traitement du français n'est pas bien connu. Le français est une langue traditionnellement décrite sans accent. Cette thèse remet en question cette vision traditionnelle et s'aligne sur deux modèles métriques d'accentuation français, proposant que l'accent est encodé dans des patrons cognitifs sous-jacents. Dans notre étude interdisciplinaire en français sur le traitement des contraintes métriques, nous adoptons une approche fonctionnelle. Nous utilisons la méthode des potentiels évoqués (ERP), qui nous fournit une mesure extrêmement sensible et précise nous permettant de déterminer s’il existe un accent métrique en français et dans quelle mesure l'accent métrique aide l’auditeur à comprendre la parole. Nous montrerons que l'accent métrique facilite le traitement de la parole en français
The current dissertation presents an ERP-investigation of metrical stress processing in French. Indeed, while metrical stress is well known to play an invaluable role in speech comprehension, its functions in French speech processing are unclear. French is a language traditionally described as having no accent. This dissertation questions the traditional view and aligns to two metrical models on French accentuation, which propose stress to be encoded in cognitive templates underlying the abstract representation of the word. In our interdisciplinary investigation of metrical stress processing in French, we take a functional, yet metrically rooted, approach. We use the method of Event-Related Potentials (ERP), which provides us with a highly sensitive and temporally precise measure allowing us to determine whether there is metrical stress in French, and to what extent metrical stress aids the listener in speech comprehension. We will show that metrical stress facilitates processing throughout French comprehension and argue for metrical stress, as well as the domain of the word, to be given a more prominent place in the descriptions of French prosody

L’influence du suffixe -ous sur le système phonologique de l’anglais est considérable. Son impact se matérialise tant au niveau de l’assignation des accents lexicaux, qu’au niveau de la matérialisation phonétique des voyelles accentuées. L’étude de ce suffixe offre une perspective globale du fonctionnement du système anglais puisque -ous se situe à la croisée des principes fondamentaux qui régissent le système accentuel anglais.Cette étude s’inscrit dans une perspective morphophonologique, cadre théorique privilégiant une interaction entre les domaines de la morphologie et de la phonologie. La prise en considération des frontières morphologiques dans le calcul de l’accent constitue le fondement même de cette théorie. Cependant, l’influence du suffixe -ous sur la structure accentuelle et phonétique des termes a fait l’objet d’une multitude d’approches dont nous présentons les résultats les plus significatifs dans la partie théorique. En contrepartie, les théories phonologiques sont confrontées les unes aux autres afin de déterminer leurs avantages et leurs inconvénients.L'assignation des accents lexicaux ne constitue toutefois pas le seul versant de ce travail. Le placement de l'accent sur la syllabe a une conséquence directe sur la réalisation phonétique de la voyelle appartenant à cette syllabe. Elle est pleinement réalisée, et l'alternance des syllabes accentuées et non accentuées participe à la notion de rythme en anglais. ..... Cette étude se veut avant tout un état des lieux du comportement du suffixe -ous. Elle vise également à confronter les règles précédemment établies à la réalité d'une étude quantitative, dans le but de faire émerger de nouveaux phénomènes imputables au suffixe
The influence of the suffix -ous on the English phonological system is considerable. Its impact is materialized on word-stress assignment, as well as on the phonetic realisation of stressed vowels. The study of this particular suffix generates a global perspective on the functioning of the English system since -ous is a blend of the fundamental principles which rule the English stress system. This analysis falls within the framework of the morphophonological theory, which favours an interaction between the morphological and phonological levels. The concept of morphological boundary is essential to the operation of word-stress assignment and represents a key-notion inside this theoretical framework. However, the impact of the suffix -ous on word-stress assignment and on the pronunciation of stressed vowels has already been investigated through several theoretical approaches. The most significant results of these previous studies are expounded in the theoretical part. The phonological frameworks are then compared in order to determine their assets and their drawbacks. Word-stress assignment only represents the first side of this work. Indeed, the assignment of primary stress on the syllabic structure of a word has a consequence on the phonetic realisation of stressed vowels. They are "fully" realised, and the succession of stressed and unstressed syllabes creates the notion of rythm in English. Resorting to spelling enables to predict the pronunciation of stressed vowels through the application of a hierarchical system of rules. These rules, elaborated on the particularities of English spelling, operate a transfer from spelling to sounds

Cette étude de l’accent secondaire en anglais britannique contemporain s’inscrit dans l’approche développée par Lionel Guierre et se compose d’un volet théorique et d’un volet empirique. Dans un premier temps, nous présentons cette approche et la comparons à d'autres théories contemporaines. Dans un second temps, après une revue de littérature, nous menons l'analyse d'un corpus de 5829 mots portant un accent secondaire. Cette étude confirme que la présence et la position de l'accent secondaire sont largement déterminées par des contraintres d'ordre rythmique. Elle révèle également des éléments nouveaux tels que le rôle joué par les préfixes sémantiquement opaques dans le placement de l'accent secondaire dans les mots dérivés et non-dérivés, le rôle de la fréquence relative entre dérivant et dérivé pour les dérivés accentués /021 (-) : ou encore l'existence d'une règle de détermination de la valeur de la voyelle accentuée dans la position initiale prétonique
This study of secondary accent in contemporary British English stands in the approach developed by Lionel Guierre and is composed of a theoretical section and an empirical section. First, we present this approach and compare it to other contemporary theories. Secondly, after a literature review, we conduct the analysis of a corpus of 5829 words carrying a secondary accent. This study confirms that the presence and position of secondary accent are largely determined by rhythmical contraints. It also reveals new elements such as the role of opaque prefixes in the placement of secondary accent in both derived an non-derived words, the role of the relative frequency of the base and its derivatives accented :021 (-)/or the existenza of a rule determining the value of the accented vowel in the initial pretonic position

La plupart des travaux en sociolinguistique portant sur les différentes variétés du français affirment qu’un nivellement sans commune mesure est à l’œuvre en France à l’heure actuelle. Les caractéristiques régionales tendraient à s’uniformiser au profit d’une norme de prestige supra-locale; ce phénomène est désormais connu sous l’appellation « exception française ». Cette thèse propose une étude multidimensionnelle (socio-phonologique et phonético-acoustique) des caractéristiques segmentales des variétés françaises de Toulouse et de Marseille, dans l’optique de décrire la dynamique en cours de ces systèmes et de mettre à l’épreuve la thèse du nivellement. De surcroît, nous débattons des facteurs sociolinguistiques à l’origine des changements en cours dans ces variétés. Notre travail se fonde sur des données issues des corpus que nous avons constitués selon le protocole et la méthodologie des programmes de recherche Phonologie du Français Contemporain : usages, variétés et structure (PFC) et Langue, Ville, Travail, Identité (LVTI). Nous nous focalisons sur le système vocalique et en particulier sur les voyelles moyennes, le schwa et les voyelles nasales. Tout au long de ce travail, nous nous interrogeons sur la capacité des cadres phonologiques formels à modéliser des données reflétant une grande variation. Plus précisément, nous confrontons le cadre de la Phonologie de Dépendance aux résultats dégagés dans nos analyses afin d’en déterminer les avantages et les limites
Most sociolinguistic studies dealing with the different varieties of French state that a global levelling phenomenon is currently happening in France. Regional features are claimed to be ironed out and replaced by a supra-local norm of prestige; this phenomenon is now known as “l’exception française”. This PhD thesis offers a multidimensional study (from both a socio-phonological and phonetic-acoustical point of view) of the segmental features of the Toulouse and Marseille spoken French varieties. We aim at describing the current dynamics of these systems as well as testing the levelling hypothesis. We also discuss the sociolinguistic factors at work behind the current changes observed in these varieties. Our work is based on data that we collected by following the protocol and methodology of the PFC (Phonologiedu Français Contemporain : usages variétés et structures) and LVTI (Langue, Ville, Travail, Identité) research programmes. We mainly focus on the vocalic system and more particularly on mid-vowels, schwa and nasal vowels. Throughout this work, we test the ability of formal phonological theoretical frameworks to model data displaying a high variation. We particularly confront the Dependency Phonology framework with the results of our analyses to assess its advantages and its limits

Orientadores: Maria Bernadete Marques Abaurre, Marina Cláudia Pereira Verga Afonso e Vigário
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T10:39:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Toneli_PriscilaMarques_D.pdf: 66093968 bytes, checksum: ed948857f871f46f09b9e060e46efc87 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014
Resumo: Esta tese apresenta um estudo sistemático do domínio da Palavra Prosódica (PW ¿ Prosodic Word) no Português Brasileiro (doravante PB) em relação (i) à prosodização de palavras funcionais e de palavras lexicais; (ii) aos fenômenos fonológicos que podem tomar a PW como domínio de aplicação e àqueles que podem funcionar como diagnósticos para identificá-la; e (iii) à investigação da estrutura entoacional em busca de evidências desse domínio prosódico no PB. Uma comparação entre PB e Português Europeu (doravante PE) é feita ao longo do trabalho, conforme são discutidos os fenômenos fonológicos que identificam e caracterizam a PW na variedade europeia, uma vez que há um estudo sistemático sobre o respectivo domínio realizado por Vigário (2003). Os corpora analisados para o desenvolvimento da presente pesquisa foram obtidos empiricamente por meio de observação e da elaboração de experimentos que controlaram algumas variáveis para a validação ou para a refutação de algumas hipóteses, por exemplo, a investigação do domínio relevante para distribuição tonal no PB e para a atribuição de acento de foco fonológico. Na presente tese, mostramos que alguns fenômenos fonológicos tomam a PW como domínio de aplicação, como as regras de (i) atribuição de acento primário, (ii) harmonia vocálica, (iii) atribuição de acento secundário, (iv) neutralização da pretônica, (v) assimilação de nasalidade fonética, (vi) associação de acentos tonais e (vii) atribuição de acento inicial. Outros fenômenos como a haplologia, a semivocalização, a nasalidade fonética, a neutralização vocálica das vogais pretônicas e postônicas ajudam a identificar uma PW no PB. Destacamos que a síndrome da palavra mínima e as generalizações fonotáticas também contribuem para a discussão do estatuto prosódico de palavras funcionais e de palavras lexicais. Nossos resultados experimentais mostraram que a regra de atribuição de acento de foco e de acento enfático, o apagamento em estruturas coordenadas e o truncamento em sentenças que incluíam palavras formadas por duas PWs (e.g. cata-ventos) trazem evidências do Grupo de Palavra Prosódica (Prosodic Word Group - PWG). A análise da prosodização de palavras funcionais monossilábicas (e.g. a, artigo definido) também mostrou que tais palavras, quando prosodizadas como sílabas átonas, sofrem processos fonológicos pós-lexicais e são adjungidas a uma PW pronta no pós-léxico, formando um domínio prosódico acima de PW. Nesse caso, assumimos que esse domínio prosódico é PWG (cf. Toneli, 2009). Por outro lado, em relação à prosodização de afixos átonos (e.g. desfazer), assumimos, conforme já proposto na literatura do PB, que são adjungidos a uma PW pronta no componente lexical, formando uma única PW. No caso de sufixos átonos, também é assumido que são incorporados a uma base lexical no componente lexical, formando uma PW (cf. Lee, 1995; Moreno, 1997, Schwindt, 2000). A comparação entre PB e PE é tratada mais detalhadamente no âmbito da relação entre estrutura prosódica e estrutura entoacional, principalmente com relação à produção de sentenças declarativas em contexto de foco de escopo largo e de foco de escopo estreito contrastivo, e consiste em destacar os aspectos que aproximam e que distanciam as duas variedades de português, no que tange à aplicação de fenômenos fonológicos, como a distribuição tonal dentro do Sintagma Entoacional (I). Mostramos que a principal semelhança entre PB e PE é a posição e o tipo de acento tonal associado à posição nuclear de sentenças declarativas produzidas em contexto de foco largo, e a principal diferença consiste na densidade tonal, já que no PB há um acento tonal em cada PW de I, enquanto no PE há somente um acento tonal associado às posições inicial e final de I
Abstract: This thesis presents a systematic study on the domain of Prosodic Word (PW) in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) in relation to (i) the prosodization of function words and of lexical words; (ii) phonological phenomena that can take PW as an application domain, and those that can work as diagnostics to identify it; (iii) the investigation of the intonational structure searching for evidences of these prosodic domain in BP. A comparison between BP and European Portuguese (EP) is made throughout the study as the phonological phenomena that identify and characterize the PW in the European variety are discussed, since there is a systematic study about this domain conducted by Vigário (2003). The analyzed corpora on the development of this research were empirically obtained through the observation and by the elaboration of experiments that controlled some variables to validate or to deny some hypotheses, for example, the investigation of the relevant domain to the tonal distribution in BP and to the assignment of the phonological focus stress. In this thesis, we show that some phonological phenomena take the PW as an application domain, as the rules of: (i) primary stress assignment, (ii) vowel harmony, assignment of secondary stress, (iv) pretonic vowel neutralization, (v) phonetic nasality assimilation, (vi) pitch accents association and (vii) initial stress assignment. Other phenomena such as haplology, semivocalization, phonetic nasalization, pretonic and post-tonic vowels neutralization, helped us to identify a PW in PB. We emphasize that the syndrome of minimal word and that the phonotactic generalizations also contribute to the discussion of the prosodic status of function words and lexical words. Our experimental results showed that the rule for focus stress assignment and for emphatic accent, the deletion in coordinated structures, and the truncation in sentences that included words formed by two PWs (e.g. cata-ventos) provide evidence of the Prosodic Word Group (PWG). The analysis of the prosodization of monosyllabic function words (e.g. a - definite article) also showed that such words when prosodized as unstressed syllables, suffer post-lexical phonological processes and are adjoined to a ready PW in the post-lexical, forming a prosodic domain above PW. In this case, we assume that this prosodic domain is a PWG. On the other hand, in relation to unstressed prefix prosodization (e.g. desfazer > des+fazer), we assume, as already proposed in the literature of PB, that they are adjoined to a ready PW in the lexical component, forming a single PW. In the case of the unstressed suffixes, it is also assumed that they are incorporated into a lexical base in the lexical component, forming a PW (cf. Lee, 1995; Moreno, 1997 Schwindt, 2000). The comparison between BP and EP is treated in more details in the context of the relationship between the prosodic structure and the intonational structure, particularly with respect to the production of declarative sentences in a context of focus with a broad scope and focus with a contrastive narrow scope, and consists in highlighting aspects approaching and distancing the two Portuguese varieties, with respect to the application of phonological phenomena such as tonal distribution in the Intonational Phrase (I). We show that the main similarity between BP and EP is the position and the type of pitch accent associated with the nuclear position of declarative sentences produced in the context of broad focus, and the main difference lies in the tonal density, since in the BP there is a pitch accent on each PW in I, while in BP there is only one pitch accent associated with the initial and the final positions of I
Doutorado
Linguistica
Doutora em Linguística

La littérature scientifique dédiée à l'accentuation en anglais australien standard contemporain (SAusE) est, contrairement à celle qui concerne la prononciation de ses voyelles, peu étendue. Après un chapitre introductif proposant le contexte historique dans lequel le SAusE est né et a été décrit, sa définition actuelle ainsi que sa description phonologique, notre étude est consacrée à un examen systémique de l'accentuation lexicale en SAusE. Un corpus test a été mis en place spécifiquement, qui comporte la quasi-totalité des verbes dissyllabiques, des préfixés pluricatégoriels et des exceptions aux règles d'accentuation des mots de deux syllabes et plus, ainsi qu'un large échantillon d'emprunts aux langues aborigènes. Ces quelques 3500 items ont été choisis précisément parce qu'ils font partie des mots les plus susceptibles de connaître une variation accentuelle en anglais contemporain. Notre approche se situe dans la lignée de Lionel Guierre et propose un traitement dictionnairique dans lequel les éléments du corpus sont tous étudiés au travers des données de chacune des éditions les plus récentes des Longman Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge English Pronunciation Dictionary et Macquarie Dictionary qui constituent les dictionnaires de références dans le domaine de la prononciation de l'anglais. Ces données ont été complétées, lorsque cela était nécessaire, par des données fréquentielles issues du Corpus of Contemporary American English et par des données orales enregistrées spécialement pour cette étude, selon une démarche similaire à la première partie du protocole du projet Phonologie de l'Anglais Contemporain. Notre analyse met en évidence une grande stabilité accentuelle intervariétale entre le SAusE, l'anglais britannique standard et l'anglais américain standard et propose un relevé étayé et détaillé des spécificités accentuelles lexicales du SAusE contenues dans le corpus étudié.

Cette étude transversale et expérimentale, menée dans une perspective acquisitionniste, porte sur l’appropriation des accents final (AF) et initial (AI) en français L2 par 19 adultes plurilingues turcophones (13 femmes et 6 hommes). Ils sont âgés de 18 à 47 ans, vivent plusieurs mois ou années en France (Normandie) et sont de niveau A1 à C1-­‐C2 en français (CECRL). Étant donné les convergences et divergences entre ces accents AF et AI en français et les accents primaire (A1) et secondaire (A2) en turc concernant leurs places, fonctions et paramètres acoustiques, l’objectif est de voir comment sont réalisés ces accents en français L2 par les locuteurs turcs. L’analyse contrastive des deux systèmes accentuels suggère que, par rapport au français L1, les locuteurs turcs réalisent plus d’écarts phonétiques que d’écarts phonologiques. L’analyse acoustique avec le logiciel Praat des énoncés produits lors de la lecture oralisée d’un corpus contrôlé confirme cette principale hypothèse. Sur le plan phonologique, l’AI et l’AF en français L2 sont bien placés, respectivement en début et fin de mot lexical et de Syntagme Prosodique/Phonologique (SP), avec leur fonction surtout démarcative et les paramètres acoustiques pertinents (surtout F0 et durée). L’AI n’est pas non plus réinterprété comme un A1 turc non final. Mais les locuteurs sont confrontés à deux problèmes importants. D’une part, au niveau phonologique, ils ont des difficultés à réaliser les deux accents du français comme des accents de groupe (le SP vs le Mot Prosodique ou Phonologique/MP en turc). C’est pourquoi ils produisent plusieurs SP courts au lieu de quelques SP longs. Les débutants réalisent aussi des AF sur les mots grammaticaux, inexistants en turc. Enfin, plusieurs locuteurs produisent des pauses après les mots, dues en partie à la tâche choisie : les SP sont en fait souvent des Unités Intonatives (Intonational Phrases/IP). D’autre part, sur le plan phonétique, les locuteurs ont des difficultés à gérer en français les proportions des allongements et des variations de F0, ainsi parfois que l’alignement temporel des pics accentuels par rapport aux syllabes accentuées. Leur sur-­‐ utilisation des accents et des allongements confirme d’autres études, mais ces résultats ne confirment pas entièrement les prédictions de l’Hypothèse de la surdité accentuelle (Dupoux et al. 1997/2010). En effet, les turcophones sont « sourds » aux accents de groupe du français, mais pas à l’allongement des syllabes accentuées. Ces résultats confirment en partie les prédictions de la version modérée de l’Hypothèse de l’Analyse Contrastive (Brown 1987, Flege 1992) : c’est la ressemblance entre l’emplacement final de l’AF français au niveau du SP et de l’A1 turc au niveau du MP qui pose des difficultés. Les résultats confirment surtout les prédictions de l’Hypothèse de la Différence de Marque (Eckman 1977/2008) : l’A1 turc est plus complexe au niveau du mot lexical que l’AF français, c’est pourquoi les locuteurs turcs perçoivent les différences de l’AF français à ce niveau. En revanche, l’AI et l’AF français sont plus marqués car leur domaine de réalisation est le groupe de mots (SP), d’où les difficultés des locuteurs à acquérir ce domaine prosodique
This transversal and experimental study conducted from a language acquisition perspective deals with the mastering of final (AF) and initial (AI) accents in L2 French by 19 multilingual L1 Turkish adult speakers (13 women and 6 men). Those speakers are between 18 and 47 years old, have lived for several months or years in France (Normandy) and their skills in French range from A1 to C1-­‐C2 (CECRL). Given similarities and differences between these French final and initial accents and the Turkish primary (A1) and secondary (A2) accents regarding their locations, functions and acoustic features, the aim is to examine how these accents are executed in L2 French by Turkish speakers. A contrastive analysis of accentual systems of both languages suggests that, compared with L1 French, the Turkish speakers make more phonetic differences than phonological ones. The acoustic analysis (made thanks to Praat software) of the utterances produced during the out-­‐loud reading of a controlled corpus confirms this main hypothesis. At the phonological level, the French AI and AF are correctly located, respectively at the beginning and the end of lexical words and Prosodic or Phonological Phrases (PP) with their demarcative function and relevant acoustic features (especially F0 and duration). Also, the AI is not reinterpreted as a Turkish non final A1. However, the speakers struggle with two big issues. On the one hand, at the phonological level, their problem consists in performing both French accents as group accents (PP vs Prosodic or Phonological Word/PW in Turkish). That’s why the speakers make several short PP instead of a few long PP. Secondly, the speakers whose French skills range from A1 to A2 produce also some AF on functional words, which do not exist in Turkish. Finally, many speakers make pauses after words, notably because of the selected task: PP are actually often Intonational Phrases (IP). On the other hand, at the phonetic level, speakers hardly achieve, in French language, the proportions of lengthening and F0 variations and some temporal alignments of the accentual peaks with regard to the accented syllables. Their overuse of accents and lengthening confirms other studies whereas these results do not confirm entirely the predictions of the stress deafness Hypothesis (Dupoux et al. 1997/2010). Indeed, the Turkish speakers are “deaf” to French group accents, but not to French accented syllables lengthening. These results confirm to a certain extent the predictions of the moderate version of the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (Brown 1987, Flege 1992): the similarity between final location of French AF at the level of the PP and Turkish A1 at the level of the PW generates difficulties. In particular, results confirm the predictions of the Markedness Difference Hypothesis (Eckman 1977/2008): Turkish A1 is more complex at the level of the lexical word than French AF. That’s why the Turkish speakers can hear French AF differences at this level. However, French AI and AF are more marked because their domain of realization is the group of words (PP): hence, the difficulties of the speakers to acquire this prosodic domain

Blackfoot (Siksika), an Algonquian language spoken in Southern Alberta and in Northwestern Montana, is claimed to have a pitch-accent system (Frantz 1991). However, no complete analysis of the Blackfoot word accent system is available in the literature. This thesis examines Blackfoot nominal accent by means of metrical analysis (Halle and Vergnaud 1987) in Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince and Smolensky 1993). All of the data in this thesis are elicited from native speakers of Blackfoot. Regardless of noun type, every word contains one and only one pitch peak. Bare nouns (mono-morphemic nouns) and relational nouns (dependent nouns) show that Blackfoot has a mixed predictable and lexical accent system. Accent is quantity-sensitive, i.e. a heavy syllable attracts accent, while in nouns which contain no heavy syllable or more than one heavy syllable, it is lexically specified. An interesting contrast is found in long vowels - they contrast a high-level pitch, a falling pitch, and a rising pitch. Derived nouns (compounds) demonstrate four kinds of accent patterns, depending on the status (free vs. bound) and the accentual property (accented vs. unaccented) of morphemes. The leftmost accent of the compound members is retained, but the accent shifts to the juncture of them if it is word-final. If compound members are unaccented, the accent is assigned to word-final position by default. Speaker variation also occurs. One speaker systematically changes vowel length depending on the type of accented syllable, while the other speaker shows a wide variety of accent patterns. This thesis concludes that all the accent patterns can be accounted for by a single ranking of constraints in an OT analysis, in spite of the fact that the accent system is both lexical and predictable. Addition of constraints is needed specifically for compounds! Speaker variation is accounted for by reranking the same set of constraints. Priority is given to constraints that refer to the predictable accent in the grammar of one speaker. The lexical information is more respected in the other speaker's grammar. In addition to the analysis of general pitch-accent patterns, four types of irregular patterns are examined. The conclusions reached in this thesis demonstrate that the accent system interacts with other phonological properties of Blackfoot.