A unified account of prominence effects in an optimization-based model of speech timing

Abstract

We show how our optimization-based model of speech timing reproduces three effects of prosodic prominence on suprasegmental timing patterns in speech: (1), the durational interaction between lexical stress and pitch accent, (2), polysyllabic shortening in pitch-accented words and (3), differential behavior of prominent and non-prominent syllables under speaking rate variation. We review the literature and present model simulations that replicate reported phenomena. Results underline the capacity of our model to provide a unified account of the temporal organization of speech.