Home Linguistics & Semiotics Corpora Analyses of Frequency of Schwa Deletion in Conversational American English
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Corpora Analyses of Frequency of Schwa Deletion in Conversational American English

  • , and
Published/Copyright: May 23, 2003

Abstract

This study utilized two conversational speech databases to generate statistics about the frequency of occurrence of schwa deletion. Overall, the results showed a low frequency of schwa deletion in conversational American English. We investigated a number of factors that could have a potential effect on the propensity to delete schwa. The most pervasive factor was stress environment (pre-stress vs. post-stress), which showed a greater frequency of schwa deletion in the post-stress environment. The results are discussed with reference to processing spoken words and the role for corpus statistics in constraining models of word recognition.


verified


References

1 Anderson, A.H.; Bader, M.; Bard, E.G.; Boyle, E.; Doherty, G.; Garrod, S.; Isard, S.; Kowtko, J.; McAllister, J.; Miller, J.; Sotillo, C.; Thompson, H.S.; Weinert, R.: The H.C.R.C. Map Task Corpus. Lang. Speech 34: 351–366 (1991).10.1177/002383099103400404Search in Google Scholar

2 Beckman, M.; Shoji, A.: Spectral and perceptual evidence for CV coarticulation in devoiced /si/ and /syu/ in Japanese. Phonetica 41: 61–71 (1984).10.1159/000261712Search in Google Scholar

3 Bergem, D.R. van: Acoustic vowel reduction as a function of sentence accent, word stress, and word class. Speech Commun. 12: 1–23 (1993).Search in Google Scholar

4 Brown, G.: Listening to spoken English (Longman, London 1977).Search in Google Scholar

5 Chomsky, N.; Halle, M.: The sound pattern of English (MIT Press, Cambridge 1968).Search in Google Scholar

6 Coltheart, M.: The MRC psycholinguistics database. Q.J. exp. Psychol. hum. exp. Psychol. 33A: 497–505 (1981).10.1080/14640748108400805Search in Google Scholar

7 Connine, C.M.; Clifton, C., Jr.; Cutler, A.: Effects of lexical stress on phonetic categorization. Phonetica 44: 133–146 (1987).10.1159/000261790Search in Google Scholar

8 Cutler, A.; Norris, D.G.: The role of strong syllables in segmentation for lexical access. J. exp. Psychol. hum. Perception Performance 14: 113–121 (1988).10.1037/0096-1523.14.1.113Search in Google Scholar

9 Dalby, J.: Phonetic structure of fast speech in American English (Indiana Univ. Linguist. Club, Bloomington 1986).Search in Google Scholar

10 Deelman, T.; Connine, C.M.: Missing information in spoken word recognition: non-released stop consonants. J. exp. Psychol. hum. Perception Performance 27: 656–663 (2001).10.1037/0096-1523.27.3.656Search in Google Scholar

11 Fokes, J.; Bond, Z.S.: The elusive/illusive syllable. Phonetica 50: 102–123 (1993).10.1159/000261929Search in Google Scholar

12 Fougeron, C.; Steriade D.: Does deletion of French schwa lead to neutralization of lexical distinctions? Proc. Eurospeech 97, 1997, vol. 2, pp. 943–946.10.21437/Eurospeech.1997-332Search in Google Scholar

13 Fowler, C.A.; Housum, J.: Talkers’ signaling of ‘new’ and ‘old’ words in speech and listeners’ perceptions and use of the distinction. J. Memory Lang. 36: 489–504 (1987).10.1016/0749-596X(87)90136-7Search in Google Scholar

14 Francis, W.N.; Kucera, H.: Frequency analysis of English usage: lexicon and grammar (Houghton Mifflin, 1982).Search in Google Scholar

15 Gaskell, M.G.; Marslen-Wilson, W.D.: Phonological variation and inference in lexical access. J. exp. Psychol. hum. Perception Performance 22: 144–158 (1996).10.1037/0096-1523.22.1.144Search in Google Scholar

16 Godfrey, J.; McDaniel, J.; Holliman, J.: SWITCHBOARD: a telephone speech corpus for research and development. ICASSP Proc., San Francisco 1992. pp. 517–520.10.1109/ICASSP.1992.225858Search in Google Scholar

17 Hewlett, N.: Phonetic realization rules in generative phonology. J. Phonet. 9: 63–77 (1981).10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30927-1Search in Google Scholar

18 Hooper, J.B.: Word frequency in lexical diffusion and the source of morphophonological change; in Christie, Current progress in historical linguistics (North Holland, Amsterdam 1976).Search in Google Scholar

19 Hooper, J.B.: Constraints on schwa deletion in American English; in Fisiak, Historical phonology (Mouton, The Hague 1978).10.1515/9783110810929.183Search in Google Scholar

20 Joos, M.: The isolation of styles; in Fishman, Readings in the sociology in language (Mouton, The Hague 1970).Search in Google Scholar

21 Kager, R.: Rhythmic vowel deletion in Optimality Theory; in Roca, Derivations and constraints in phonology (OUP, Oxford 1997).Search in Google Scholar

22 Kaisse, E.M.: Connected speech: the interaction of syntax and phonology (Academic Press, Orlando 1985).Search in Google Scholar

23 Kohler, K.J.: Segmental reduction in connected speech in German: phonological facts and phonetic explanations; in Hardcastle, Marchal, Speech production and speech modelling (Kluwer, Dordrecht 1990).10.1007/978-94-009-2037-8_4Search in Google Scholar

24 Kreidler, C.W.: The pronunciation of English (Blackwell, New York 1989).Search in Google Scholar

25 Kuijpers, C.; van Donselaar, W.: The influence of rhythmic context on schwa epenthesis and schwa deletion in Dutch. Lang. Speech 41: 87–108 (1997).10.1177/002383099804100105Search in Google Scholar

26 LoCasto, P.C.; Connine, C.M.: Rule-governed missing information in spoken word recognition: schwa vowel deletion. Perception Psychophysics 64: 208–219 (2002).10.3758/BF03195787Search in Google Scholar

27 Luce, P.A.; Pisoni, D.B.: Recognizing spoken words: the neighborhood activation model. Ear Hear. 19: 1–36 (1998).10.1097/00003446-199802000-00001Search in Google Scholar

28 McClelland, J.L.; Elman, J.L.: The TRACE model of speech perception. Cognit Psychol. 18: 1–86 (1986).10.1016/0010-0285(86)90015-0Search in Google Scholar

29 Nolan, F.: The descriptive role of segments: evidence from assimilation; in Docherty, Ladd, Papers in Laboratory Phonology II: Gesture, segment, prosody (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992).10.1017/CBO9780511519918.011Search in Google Scholar

30 Norris, D.; McQueen, J.; Cutler, A.: Merging information in speech recognition: feedback is never necessary. Brain behav. Sci., 23: 299–325 (2000).10.1017/S0140525X00003241Search in Google Scholar

31 Patterson, D.; Connine, C.M.: A corpus analysis of variant frequency in American English flap production. Phonetica 58: 254–275 (2001).10.1159/000046178Search in Google Scholar

32 Shockey, L.; Bond, Z.S.: Phonological processes in speech addressed to children. Phonetica 37: 267–274 (1980).10.1159/000259996Search in Google Scholar

33 Utman, J.A.; Blumstein, S.E.; Burton, M.W.: Effects of subphonetic and syllable structure variation on word recognition. Perception Psychophysics 62: 1297–1311 (2000).10.3758/BF03212131Search in Google Scholar

34 Wade, E.; Clark, H.H.: Reproduction and demonstration in quotations. J. Memory Lang. 32: 805–819 (1993).10.1006/jmla.1993.1040Search in Google Scholar

35 Zwicky, A.: Note on a phonological hierarchy in English; in Stockwell, Macaulay, Linguistic change and generative theory (Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1972a).Search in Google Scholar

36 Zwicky, A.: On casual speech. 8th Regional Meet. Chicago Linguistic Society (Chicago Linguistic Society, Chicago 1972b).Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2001-12-05
Accepted: 2002-08-25
Published Online: 2003-05-23
Published in Print: 2003-03-01

© 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

Downloaded on 2.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1159/000070453/html
Scroll to top button