The phonetics of primary vs . secondary stress in English

This study investigates the acoustic correlates of the distinction between primary and secondary stress in English. It is shown that pitch, intensity, and jitter contribute significantly to that distinction, while durational cues are weak. Left-prominent words are characterized by the acoustic prominence of the primarily stressed syllable (higher pitch, greater intensity, low jitter). In contrast, phonologically right-prominent words are acoustically characterized by more or less level pitch and intensity. These results can be interpreted as evidence for a word-internal declination effect.