Accentuation cues in French and German

The use of acoustic properties by French and German speakers in accentuating and de-accentuating words in accordance with changes in information weighting is examined. In particular, the role of duration is shown to differ for the two languages, confirming earlier findings. In addition, a difference in the relative contribution of F0, intensity and spectral balance is found for the prediction of accentuation in the two languages. The link with phonological differences between the languages and questions of analysis methodology are discussed. 1