The Phonetics of Stress in Greek

This paper reports on two experiments that investigate the acoustic correlates of primary stress in Greek. The results clearly show that the most robust correlate is amplitude integral, a measurement that combines those of duration and (average) amplitude, and thus is closer to the perceptual property of prominence that characterises stressed syllables. The paper also discusses the role of pitch in signalling stress, by presenting new and re-analysing existing data on this issue. The significance of the present results for our understanding of Greek rhythmic structure is briefly discussed.