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Title:
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Stress in Modern Welsh
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Author:
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Briony Williams
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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University of Cambridge
, Department of Linguistics
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Degree Date:
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1983
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Phonetics
Phonology
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Subject Language(s):
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Welsh
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Director(s):
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Francis Nolan
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Abstract:
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The acoustic and phonological nature of word stress in Welsh is investigated, from the point of view both of production and perception.
To begin with, the results of measurements on vowels and consonants in Welsh read speech indicate that stress in Welsh is determined by rhythm rather than inherent acoustic cues (of F0, duration and intensity). Further measurements of 'feet' (interstress intervals) support these results. A perceptual experiment using resynthesised speech likewise indicates that Welsh stress is linked with rhythm, and also with the longer duration of the post-stress consonant. Pitch-prominence as such appears not to play a role, except as pitch is mediated through the phonological categories of intonation.
A phonological interpretation of Welsh prosody is then presented, in the framework of the 'metrical' theory of stress using prosodic units. Some questions of English intonation are shown to be described more simply using such a theory.
Finally, there is a discussion of the implications of the experimental results for the theory of stress in general. Evidence is presented from the historical development of Welsh from ancient British, and also evidence from the Welsh bardic rules of versification. It is proposed that Welsh has a particular contribution to make to our understanding of the nature of stress. The conslusion is that stress in any language (including English) may not be as straightforward a matter as has been assumed.
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