An Exploration of Word Stress in
Hong Kong English
Cathy S.P. Wong
Introduction
The focus in pronunciation studies is
normally on the segmental rather than the
supra-segmental features.
Yet, it is often found that deviant stress
placement easily lead to
miscomprehension (Anderson-Hsieh,
Johnson & Koehler 1992; Benrabah 1997;
Derwing & Munro 2005; Field 2005; Hahn
2004; Kang, Rubin & Pickering 2010; Low
and Grabe 1999; Magen 1999).
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Word Stress in English (1)
English word stress is an intricate phonetic
and phonological phenomenon.
It intertwines knowledge at:
the word level, the phrase level, and the sentence
level
The phonetic details involve these articulatory
and acoustic correlates (Fry 1955; Ladefoged
2003):
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vowel length,
loudness,
pitch change,
and vowel reduction.
Word Stress in HKE - Cathy S.P. Wong
2014/8/19
Word Stress in English (2)
At the word level, every English word has
a fixed stress pattern.
Two morphologically related words may
sound quite different:
e.g. consultation (/kənslte
ʃən/) VS
consultative (/kənsltət
v/)
In HKE, the word consultative is frequently
stressed like consultation, with the third syllable
stressed with the diphthong /e
/ (i.e.
*/kənslte
t
v/), which is unlike most major
varieties of English.
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Issues in Word Stress in HKE
Are the use of articulatory and acoustic
cues in HKE similar to those found in
other varieties of English?
What is the relation between English
word stress and Cantonese lexical tones?
From the phonological point of view,
what are the stress patterns in HKE?
What are the factors determining how
HKE speakers place the primary stress in
English words?
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (1)
The studies on HKE (Deterding, Wong and
Kirkpatrick 2008; Hung 2000; Setter, Wong
and Chan 2010; Sewell and Chan 2010;
Stibbard 2004) have focussed on the
consonantal and vocalic features.
Word stress, albeit its crucial role in
communication and intelligibility, has not yet
been thoroughly researched in HKE.
Stibbard (2004: 133) laments that the failure
to distinguish stressed and unstressed
syllables aggravates miscommunication.
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (2)
Luke and Richards (1982: 59-60) are
probably the first to point out the stress issue
in HKE.
They briefly mention that
“[u]nstressed syllables... receive stress, with
the result that the neutralized schwa /ә/ is
given ‘full value’”
and that “[t]he characteristic ‘stress-timed
rhythm’ of English is often ignored, and the
characteristic Chinese ‘syllable-timed rhythm’
is superimposed on segments instead.”
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (3)
Bolton and Kwok (1990: 154) have also
observed that in HKE
“…most syllables tend to retain their
separate identities, and that the opposition
between strong and weak syllables is
largely leveled, especially between content
words and function words.”
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (4)
The first systematic study on the phonological
aspects of word stress in HKE is Wong
(1991).
She argues that HKE speakers are sensitive to
most of the phonological elements involved in
word stress placement: the rime structures,
grammatical categories, and the number of
syllables.
However, Archibald (1997), Luke (2000) and
Hung (2005) believe that word stress in HKE
is stored in the lexicon rather than deduced
by metrical rules.
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (5)
Two studies (Chan 2011; Lee 2002) have
included follow-up interviews with the
subjects of their studies after they had
performed on a task of reading aloud
suffixed words and both found similar
responses.
Their subjects tended to use analogy in
trying to place stress in a new word, which
lends support to the claim that stress is
stored in the lexicon.
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (6)
Luke (2000) suggests that stress patterns
in English words are re-interpreted as
lexical tones.
According to Luke, stressed syllables are
assigned high (H) tones while the
unstressed syllables are marked as a mid
(M) or low (L) tone.
Luke (2008) further elaborates on these
tonal assignment rules.
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (7)
Wee’s (2008) and Cheung’s (2008)
proposals of tonal assignment in HKE word
stress argue along a similar line, using the
frameworks of the autosegmental and
optimality theories.
The issue of whether and how word stress
placement in HKE is re-interpreted as tonal
assignment is subject to further
investigation, which is one of the aims of
the present study.
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (8)
Another interesting issue in English word
stress is the relation between stress
placement and suffixation.
Two studies (Lee 2002; Leung 2006) have
examined the effects of suffixation on
word stress in HKE, with conflicting results.
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (9)
Lee (2002) finds that suffixation tends to
facilitate rather than impede word stress
placement.
However, Leung (2008) finds that suffixes
that involve shifting the primary stress lead
to deviant pronunciation.
Since the two studies employ different
suffixes as test items, further investigation
into the relation between suffixation and
word stress in HKE is needed.
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (10)
In terms of the phonetic realization of
word stress in HKE, Wong (1990) reports
that some speakers did not produce the
expected phonetic correlates associated
with word stress.
Doubly-stressed items were a common
feature found in these speakers, which is a
major characteristic of HKE.
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Studies on Word Stress in HKE (11)
Wong (2004, 2011) further compares the use
of the three phonetic cues (length, loudness
and pitch) by HKE speakers with an RP
speaker:
while pitch is a reliable indicator of word
stress in the RP speaker’s production, this is
not the case among the HKE speakers.
These echo the findings in Setter (2000) and
Deterding, Wong and Kirkpatrick (2008).
Both studies comment that they do not
consistently use the expected reduced vowel
in unstressed syllables.
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Research Questions
(1) What are the phonological features (i.e.
syllable structure, the number of syllables,
grammatical categories, and suffixation) of word
stress that are characteristic of HKE?
(2) How do speakers of HKE realize word stress
phonetically (i.e. duration, pitch change, and
intensity)?
(3) Is word stress reinterpreted as tonal
assignment in HKE? Are English words
consistently produced with the same pitch
pattern regardless of their relative prominence in
an utterance?
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Research Design & Methodology
An experimental design to investigate
the different phonological variables (e.g.
number of syllables, suffixes, etc.)
as well as the phonetic realization of stress
A battery of test words and phrases will be
used to prompt the speakers to produce
speech samples which will be audiorecorded.
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Battery of Tests: A
Section A: Interaction between the number of
syllable and grammatical categories
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2-sylllable
examples
3-syllable
examples
Noun/Adjective
IMport,
ABstract
INterview
Verb
imPORT,
abSTRACT
INterview
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Battery of Tests: B
Section B: The effects of syllable structure
Syllable structure
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heavy-heavy
Examples of 2syllable verbs
doNATE, mainTAIN
heavy-light
ORder, Open
light-heavy
enJOY, eLECT
light-light
DIffer, reBEL
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Battery of Tests: C
Section C: Effects of suffixation
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Types of suffixes
Examples
stress-neutral
reFUSE ~ reFUsal;
NEIGHbour ~ NEIGHbourhood
stress-attracting
jaPAN ~ japaNESE; INterview ~
interviewEE
stress-shifting
PHOtograph ~ phoTOgraphy;
FInal ~ fiNAlity
Word Stress in HKE - Cathy S.P. Wong
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Battery of Tests: D
Section D: Tonal assignment or stress placement?
Some of the test words in Part A to Part C will be
put in phrases and sentences to investigate if the
pitch patterns will vary.
INterview (citation form, stress on the first
syllable)
PAnel (citation form, stress on the first syllable)
the INterview panel (falling tone with nuclear
stress on the first syllable of interview)
the interview panel is HUGE (falling tone with
nuclear stress on the word huge)
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Procedure
Subjects
100 HKE subjects
10 speakers of RP/GA.
Procedure and Analysis
Subjects read aloud the batteary of test items
Audio recording in a sound-proof room
The recorded speech samples will then be
listened to by 3 raters and they identify the
primary stress.
The data will then be transcribed and analyzed
by using PRAAT (Boersma & Weenink 2010).
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Expected Results?
To
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be continued...
Word Stress in HKE - Cathy S.P. Wong
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Suggestions for Improvement?
Suggestions
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most welcome!
Word Stress in HKE - Cathy S.P. Wong
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Selected References (1)
Bolton, K. & Kwok, H. (1990). The dynamics of the Hong Kong
accent: social identity and sociolinguistic description. Journal of
Asian Pacific Communication 1(1), 147-172.
Chan, S.C.J. (2011). Revisiting Lexical Stress in Hong Kong English
(HKE) from a 3rd Perspective: Analogy. M.A. Research project.
Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Cheung, W.H.Y. (2008). Span of High Tones in Hong Kong English.
HKBU Papers in Applied Language Studies 12, 19-46.
Deterding, D., Wong, J. & Kirkpatrick, A. (2008). The pronunciation
of Hong Kong English. English World Wide 29(2), 148-175.
Hung, T.T.N. (2000). Towards a phonology of Hong Kong English.
World Englishes 19(3), 337-356.
Hung, T.T.N. (2005). Word Stress in Hong Kong English: A
Preliminary Study. HKBU Papers in Applied Language Studies 9,
29-40.
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Selected References (2)
Lee, H.M. (2002). How do some Cantonese-speaking English Learners
Handle Word Stress. M.A. thesis, Department of English, The Hong
Kong Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Leung, M.M.G. (2006). The Patterns of English Word Stress by Hong
Kong ESL Learners. M.A. Research paper. The Chinese University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Luke, K-k. (2000). Phonological Re-interpretation: The Assignment of
Cantonese Tones to English Words. ICCL-9, National University of
Singapore.
Luke, K-k. (2008). Stress and intonation in Hong Kong English. Paper
given at the 14th International Association of Word Englishes
conference. City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Luke, K-k. & Richards, J.C. (1982). English in Hong Kong: functions and
status. English World-wide 3, 47-64.
Penington, M.C. & Ellis, N.C. (2000). Cantonese Speakers’ Memory for
English Sentences with Prosodic Cues. The Modern Language Journal
84(3), 372-389.
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Selected References (3)
Setter, J.E. (2000). Rhythm and Timing in Hong Kong English. Ph.D. thesis.
Reading: University of Reading.
Setter, J.E., Wong, C.S.P. & Chan, B.H.S. (2010). Hong Kong English.
Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
Wee, L-H. (2008). Phonological patterns in the Englishes of Singapore and
Hong Kong. World Englishes 27(3/4), 480-501.
Wong, C.S.P. (1991a). The Acquisition of English Word Stress by
Cantonese-speaking ESL Learners. M.Ph. thesis. The Chinese University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Wong, C.S.P. (1991b). The Stress Patterns of Nonsense English Words of
Cantonese-speaking ESL Learners. CUHK Papers in Linguistics, No. 3, 83111.
Wong, C.S.P. (2004). Does Cantonese Lexical Tone Affect the Acquisition of
English Word Stress? ALAK (Applied Linguistics Association of Korea)
International Conference conference handbook: 193-198. Hanyang
University, Seoul, South Korea.
Wong, C.S.P. (2011). When Cantonese Tones Meet English Word Stress in
Hong Kong English. In Proceedings of the Psycholinguistic Representation
of Tone Conference, pp.46-49. Hong Kong: Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.
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