Constant Tonal Alignment in Swedish Word Accent II

Abstract: Studies on accentual tonal alignment of intonational languages suggest a segmental anchoring of tonal targets, more specifically that L in rising (LH) pre-nuclear accents anchors with a specific point in the segment, while the timing of H varies. This study tests if lexical accents, too, exhibit a constant alignment by testing the South Swedish word Accent II using speech rate as an experimental tool. When under the strain of tempo variability the L-target was shown not to be anchored with syllable onset, while the H-target anchored close to syllable offset. This could mean that H is an important phonological event in Accent II, while L is not. Further studies are suggested on the following L-target. Results suggest further that additional factors such as individual speaker strategies and effects of speech rate should be taken into account in future studies.