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Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXIX: Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2015
Edited by Hamid Ouali
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 5] 2017
► pp. 55–88

Chapter 3
Acoustic properties of prominence and foot structure in Arabic

| University of Delaware
| University of Delaware
| University of Delaware
The acoustic properties of stress and focus prominence are examined in a large, systematically structured corpus of Arabic collected in Amman, Jordan. A modified version of the Functional Load Hypothesis correctly predicts that duration, a contrastive property of Arabic vowels, will not constitute the main cue of either prominence type as this would obscure its phonemic role. Instead, both Binary Logistic Regression Analyses and descriptive analyses indicate F0 as the main cue for both types of prominence. In addition, duration and F0 patterns reveal word-final lengthening and boundary effects. These lead to a modification of the stress assignment algorithm that permits the construction of uneven trimoraic trochees, as opposed to limiting feet to bimoraic trochees.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Prominence properties in Arabic
    • 2.1Stress assignment and foot structure
    • 2.2Acoustic properties of stress and focus in Arabic
  • 3.Experimental investigation of prominence properties in Arabic
    • 3.1The acoustic properties of prominence in Arabic and the Functional Load Hypothesis
    • 3.2Experimental design
      • 3.2.1Participants
      • 3.2.2Procedure
      • 3.2.3Stimuli
      • 3.2.4Analysis
    • 3.3Analysis of duration and foot structure
  • 4.Results: Acoustic properties of stress and focus
    • 4.1Binary logistic regression analyses
    • 4.2Descriptive results
    • 4.3Discussion of results for the acoustic properties of stress and focus
  • 5.Stress and foot structure revisited
    • 5.1Duration measurements in three syllables
    • 5.2Foot structure revisited: (Trimoraic) trochees
    • 5.3Additional F0 measurements
  • 6.General discussion
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.5.04vog
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