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An Experimental Study of Accent in French and English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

C. E. Parmenter  and
A. V. Blanc
C. E. Parmenter
Affiliation:
The Phonetics Laboratory, The University of Chicago
A. V. Blanc
Affiliation:
The Phonetics Laboratory, The University of Chicago
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Extract

Various attempts have been made to express the difference which is felt between French and English accent; for example, French accent has frequently been described as a caress, while English accent has been compared to a blow. Such rather impressionistic terminology has been found suggestive and helpful in teaching, but it represents an attempt to treat the complex phenomenon of accentuation as if it were more simple than it is. In order to make a quantitative study of accent, it is necessary to measure the various elements which constitute it. The object of the present paper is to describe the method used in making a comparative study of the nature of accent in French and English and to present a summary of the results of this investigation.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 1933 , pp. 598 - 607
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1933

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References

1 The oscillograms were made by Professor S. N. Treviño.

2 C. E. Parmenter and S.N. Treviño, “Italian Intonation,” Italica (September, 1930), pp. 80–84; and “A Technique for the Analysis of Pitch in Connected Discourse,” Archives Néerlandaises de Phonétique Expérimentale (1932), pp. 1–29.

3 Each position was measured twice. The maximum observed error was .001 seconds, a difference of 2 per cent in pitch. This difference is not significant on the graph.

4 Amplitude was measured with a tenth of a millimeter Nachet scale. Each vibration was measured twice and the maximum observed error in measurement does not exceed .2 millimeters, which makes no significant change in the results.

5 The relationship between the two intensity curves is not intended to indicate that the Frenchman spoke at a higher level of intensity than the American, since the intensity values are not absolute.