The duration of content words

The content words used as reference for the analysis of weak form duration are 8—45% longer in Polish learners’ first recording. The group mean durations are displayed in Table 6.6. The Polish subjects’ production is also compared to native English speech.

The difference is larger in fixed phrases, especially constructions functioning as alternative to modal verbs, i.e. going to — 54%, had to — 78%, which are prone for reduction in native speech. These words are also longer in PL2 recordings, where the other content words become comparable in duration

Table 6.5. Relative function word durational variation

Measured unit

Mean weak form share (%)

Weak form share range (%)

PL responses out of EN range (N)

PL1 PL2 EN PL1 PL2 EN PL1 PL2

shouting at 18.5 23.9 14.4 14—30 15—41 10—19 5 10

herfairy 31.2 27.2 20.7 18—44 11—41 14—28 8 5+, 1–

hersisters 25.9 21.4 16.9 14—40 10—37 12—23 10 5+, 2–

called her 49.6 38.5 38.9 39—57 26—52 31—49 7 3+, 5–

sisters had 32.1 30.6 22.1 19—38 25—37 18—28 12 8

dreamed of 32.7 32.2 27.9 20—51 23—44 22—32 6+, 1– 6

buy some 45.9 46.3 46.5 45—56 46—58 42—54 3 2

had to 28.9 27.8 30.5 21—45 21—40 18—45 0 0

going to 17.2 20.1 16.8 9—24 14—29 11—23 1+, 1– 3

wanted to 18 18 14 13—22 11—25 9—23 1 1

6.2 Word/foot-level timing relations 117

Table6.6.Contentworddurationincomparisontounstressedfunctionwordduration Measured unit

Contentwordduration(ms)Weakform(WF)duration(ms)WFshare(%) PL1PL2ENPL1:ENPL2:ENPL1PL2ENPL1:ENPL2:ENPL1PL2EN shoutingat5824774351.341.1131155741.772.0918.523.914.4 sistershad4534124181.080.992101811191.761.5232.130.622.1 hersisters4534124181.080.99157116861.831.3525.921.416.9 herfairy4533473411.331.02209136892.351.5331.227.220.7 wantedto4393433031.451.139676501.921.5218.018.014.0 goingto3252802111.541.336771431.561.6517.220.116.8 dreamedof4493593571.261.012201661361.621.2232.732.227.9 buysome2492192031.231.082462221771.391.2545.946.346.5 calledher2212021831.211.102231281171.911.0949.638.538.9 hadto2762121551.781.3711781681.721.1928.927.830.5

to native performance. The difference of 33% and 37%, respectively, makes them similar to function words as these are 22—109% longer in PL2 production, except for called her (see section 5.3 for an interepretation of a longer native duration of the pronoun in this context), with 9% difference.

The results displayed in Table 6.6 are graphically illustrated in Figure 6.2.

Finally, we present the scale of individual length variation of content words in terms of absolute values (Table 6.7) and timing proportions (Table 6.8), with the number of Polish subjects out of the native duration ranges.

Figure 6.2.Mean length proportions between neighbouring content and function words in PL1, PL2 and EN, respectively from left to right

Table 6.7.Absolute content word duration ranges

Word Mean duration (ms) Duration range (ms) Responses out of EN range

PL1 PL2 EN PL1 PL2 EN PL1 PL2

shoutingat 582 477 435 430—751 350—688 341—494 11 4

sisters^*had 453 412 418 338—701 309—521 339—490 3+, 1– 2+, 2–

her fairy 453 347 341 367—685 250—433 277—425 4 1

wantedto 439 343 303 306—575 252—416 222—399 10 3

goingto 325 280 211 258—476 206—364 166—239 13 10

dreamedof 449 359 357 305—571 259—495 295—493 5 2+, 1–

buysome 249 219 203 194—331 169—276 161—238 5 2

calledher 221 202 183 153—288 128—265 151—256 3 1+, 1–

hadto 276 212 155 175—343 137—316 100—204 12 7

*Since no context reference is required here, sisters appears only once in Table 6.7.

The absolute duration of content words was generally longer in Polish learners, and most of them pronounced a much longer going and had also in the second recording. Most subjects managed to shorten shouting and wanted, which in the former case resulted in less native-like timing of the tested word in combination with at. Otherwise, the number of PL responses within the native timing limits generally increased (cf. Table 6.8).

The final part of this section refers to dactylic and trochaic cross-word feet.

It reveals the level of timing difficulty concerning syllables in three positions:

content word stressed, content word unstressed, and function word unstressed, with reference to Jassem’s (1952) definition of narrow rhythm units and anacruses. Three dactylic feet used in the previous analysis have been segmented into individual syllables. For the four cross-word trochaic feet the data from the previous tables are used. The presentation is provided in two tables that show the number of Polish respondents who articulated tested syllables of non-native length (out of EN min—max range obtained in the study). Table 6.9 displays the trochaic content words in combination with a function word (dactylic feet), while Table 6.10 groups word combinations of a content word followed by a function word, both monosyllabic (trochaic feet).

The remaining examples, i.e. her sisters and her fairy, which do not form feet, have been excluded from this part of the analysis, as has been dactylic going to, where a sonorant string of segments in going hinders reliable syllabification.

Apart from the Polish learners’ problems with English speech timing, Table 6.9 again shows the complex interaction between absolute and relative

6.2 Word/foot-level timing relations 119

Table 6.8. Relative content word duration ranges

Measured unit

Mean content word share (%) Content word share range (%) PL responses out of EN range (N)

PL1 PL2 EN PL1 PL2 EN PL1 PL2

shoutingat 81.5 76.1 85.6 70—86 59—85 81—90 5 10

sistershad 67.9 69.4 77.9 62—81 63—75 72—82 12 8

her sisters 74.1 78.6 83.1 60—86 63—90 77—88 10 5+, 2–

her fairy 68.8 72.8 79.3 56—82 59—89 72—86 8 5+, 1–

wantedto 82.0 82.0 86.0 78—87 75—89 77—91 1 1

goingto 82.8 79.9 83.2 76—91 71—86 77—89 1+, 1– 3

dreamedof 67.3 67.8 72.1 49—80 56—77 68—78 6+, 1– 6

buysome 54.1 53.7 53.5 44—55 42—54 46—58 3 2

calledher 50.4 61.5 61.1 43—61 48—74 51—69 7 3+, 5–

hadto 71.1 72.2 69.5 55—79 60—79 55—82 0 0

duration of speech units. Too long unstressed syllables result in non-native timing in most students, although the stressed syllable may also be longer.

The timing of shouting at is an interesting example. The content word was significantly shortened by the learners in the second recording (5 more subjects within the native norms) but the apparent incompressibility of at resulted in non-native-like foot timing in 5 subjects more than in the first recording.

Analogical data concerning non-native durations and timing in trochaic feet, already presented for other purposes in Tables 6.6—6.8, are gathered in Table 6.10.

The phrase had to does not conform to the general tendencies, which is caused by short native durations of fixed phrases performing grammatical functions similar to modal verbs (cf. going to, Tables 6.7—6.8).

Conclusions concerning the timing difference between unstressed syllables of content words and unstressed function words (Jassem’s non-initial anacruses) cannot be drawn because the results are varied within each of the two classes.

This indicates the impact of other factors, such as the phonological structure of unstressed syllables, a variable difficult to control in the present research material.

Table 6.9.Polish learners’ problems with absolute and relative duration of syllables in cross-word dactylic feet

Foot

Stressed syllable Unstressed syllable Weak form absolute relative absolute relative absolute relative PL1 PL2 PL1 PL2 PL1 PL2 PL1 PL2 PL1 PL2 PL1 PL2

shouting at 7 2 11– 11– 12 7+, 1– 5 2+, 3– 11 10 5 10

sisters had 2 1+, 1– 9– 9– 2 2 9 8 13 10 12 8

wanted to 6 2– 9– 7–, 1+ 10 6 2– 2+, 1– 5 3 1 2

Table 6.10.Polish learners’ problems with absolute and relative duration of syllables in cross-word trochaic feet (cf. Tables 6.6—6.8)

Foot

Absolute

Relative function^a content function

PL1 PL2 PL1 PL2 PL1 PL2

dreamed of 5 2+, 1– 10 8 6+, 1– 6

buy some 5 2 10 7 3 2

called her 3 1+, 1– 11 2+, 2– 7 3+, 5–

had to 12 7 3 2 0 0

aNaturally, the number of non-native content word relative durations would be expressed by reverse values due to a dichotomic foot division.