scholarly journals Rural versus urban accent as an influence on the rate of speech

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 63-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Hewlett ◽  
Monica Rendall
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Rate Of Speech ◽  
Comparison Of The Results

Speakers of rural accents have been said to speak more slowly than speakers of urban accents. However, there would appear to have been no previous empirical investigation of such a claim. In the study reported here, recordings were made of 12 Orkney English speakers and 12 Edinburgh English speakers, during a reading task and in conversation with the experimenter. Measurements, in syllables per second, were made of both the Speaking Rate and the Articulation Rate (i.e. the rate calculated after excision of pauses) of each speaker in reading mode and in conversation mode. Comparison of the results for the two groups revealed no tendency for the urban (Edinburgh) speakers to speak faster than the rural (Orkney) speakers. The claim that rural speakers speak more slowly than urban speakers therefore still awaits empirical support. Some discussion is offered concerning the possible relationships among speech tempo, lifestyle and accent.

THE SPEECH RATE OF PEOPLE AT AN ADVANCED OLD AGE

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-175
Author(s):  
Mirosław Michalik ◽  
Katarzyna Kaczorowska-Bray ◽  
Stanisław Milewski ◽  
Anna Solak
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Female Ratio ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Rate Of Speech

The aim of the article was to evaluate the rate of speech of people at an advanced old age and without any demential illnesses when compared to the control group of 9-years-old children without any developmental disorders. Because of the fact that the control group consisted of children, we have also made references to the notion of elderspeak – a phenomenon similar to the baby-talk – but related to the way younger people talk to senior citizens. We tested the rate of speech in 32 subjects: the experimental group comprising 16 healthy people of an advanced old age without any neurodevelopmental illnesses (the average age: 83.1) and the control group, which included 16 children without any developmental disorders (the average age: 9.0) in order to achieve a correlation in terms of the male/female ratio for the comparative analysis. The analysed parameters included: the speaking rate, the articulation rate, the numer of pauses, and the ratio of pauses within the speech samples. The estimative quantitative analysis showed insignificant differences in the parameters that influence the rate of speech in both groups. The statistical analysis also showed that there were no significant differences in the main research parameters – the speaking rate, the articulation rate, the number of pauses, and the ratio of pauses. The research hypotheses regarding the differences in the speech rate of those at an advanced old age and of the children at the age of 9 were negated by the results of the ana lyses. It has been proven that the rate of speech of the elderly who age physiologically does not differ from the rate of speech production by the children.

Speech Rate Is No Simple matter

1990 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey M. Derwing
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Pause Time ◽  
Short Film ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Simple Matter ◽  
Communicative Success

Speech rate (articulation rate and pauses) was examined for its relation to communicative success. Native English speakers (NSs) were paired with other NSs and with non-native speakers (NNSs). The subjects viewed a short film, the content of which they were to relay to their two partners independently. Communicative success was measured through comprehension questions addressed to the listeners at the completion of the task. Analyses indicated that although a slight majority of NSs slowed their speech rate for NNSs, they did not adjust articulation rate, but did significantly increase pause time. Neither speech rate nor articulation rate varied over the course of the narrations. Contrary to intuition, the subjects who successfully communicated the story to NNSs did not adjust their speech rate, while those who had difficulty communicating with NNSs increased pause time significantly. The implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for further research are made.

An empirical investigation of pause notation

Pragmatics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Marie R. Spinos ◽  
Daniel C. O’Connell ◽  
Sabine Kowal
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Relative Length ◽  
Pause Duration ◽  
False Positives ◽  
Perceptual Judgment ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Acoustic Instruments ◽  
Instrumental Measurement ◽  
Current Article

The current article examines the limitations of perceptual judgment for the transcription of pause occurrence and duration. This investigation extends Kowal and O’Connell’s (2000) previous research, which examined pause occurrence and duration notated by perceptual judgment with measurements from acoustic instruments for three corpora. Kowal and O’Connell found that, across corpora, there were a notable number of errors in perceptual detection of pauses, including both failure to notate pauses measurable with instrumentation (misses) and notation of pauses that were not measurable (false positives). In this study we focus on pause transcription in a uniquely English-language database, examining four excerpts from the London-Lund Corpus (LLC). Pauses which had been notated perceptually in LLC were compared with pause measurements from a Siemens Oscillomink L. As in the previous research, it was found that a notable number of pauses detectable with the acoustic instruments were not notated in LLC, which relied on only perceptual judgment. Errors in pause detection, both false positives and misses, accounted for 86 cases over 257 perceptually notated pauses, an error rate of one in three. We also examined two assumptions of LLC: (1) The assumption that perceptually notated pauses would adhere to interval scaling was not substantiated by instrumental measurement. (2) The assumption (Crystal and Quirk 1964: 49) that “impressionistic relative length varies with the tempo norm of a given speaker” was also not substantiated insofar as all correlations of tempo (operationalized as articulation rate) with ambient pause duration were nonsignificant.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Speaking Rate in Preschool Children Who Stutter

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1367-1377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Dailey Hall ◽  
Ofer Amir ◽  
Ehud Yairi
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Rate Of Speech

Both clinical and theoretical interest in stuttering as a disorder of speech motor control has led to numerous investigations of speaking rate in people who stutter. The majority of these studies, however, has been conducted with adult and school-age groups. Most studies of preschoolers have included older children. Despite the ongoing theoretical and clinical focus on speaking rate in young children who stutter and their parents, no longitudinal or cross-sectional studies have been conducted to answer questions about the possible developmental link between stuttering and the rate of speech, or about differences in rate development between preschool children who stutter and normally fluent children. This investigation compared changes in articulatory rate over a period of 2 years in subgroups of preschool-age children who stutter and normally fluent children. Within the group of stuttering children, comparisons also were made between those who exhibited persistent stuttering and those who eventually recovered without intervention. Furthermore, the study compared two metrics of articulatory rate. Spontaneous speech samples, collected longitudinally over a 2-year period, were analyzed acoustically to determine speaking rate measured in number of syllables and phones per second. Results indicated no differences among the 3 groups when articulation rate was measured in syllables per second. Using the phones per second measure, however, significant group differences were found when comparing the control group to the recovered and persistent groups.

ARTICULATION AND SPEAKING RATES IN BILINGUALS WITH REGARD TO TIME OF EXPOSURE TO ONE LANGUAGE

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-220
Author(s):  
Mirosław Michalik ◽  
Ewa Czaplewska ◽  
Anna Solak ◽  
Anna Szkotak
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Average Duration ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Sample Number ◽  
Filled Pauses ◽  
At Home

The basic aim of the research presented in this paper was to check whether the language proficiency level of bilingual children with Polish as one of their languages is also related to the pace of speech, which is the result of two specific parameters i.e. articulation rate and speaking rate. It was assumed that children who use Polish more rarely and mostly at home will display slower speaking and articulation rates when contrasted with children who use Polish both at home and at school on an everyday basis. Participants were thirty-two children who speak Polish as one of two languages, the first research group consisting of sixteen Polish-French students at the age of 8.11 living in Wal-lonia. The second group consisted of sixteen Flemish-Polish students living in Flanders. Here the average age was 9.3 and subjects used Polish much less than their first group coun-terparts. The comparative analysis included the following parameters essential for the de-scription of the rate of speech: 1. basic: average speaking rate (phones/sec., syllables/sec, duration of pauses), average articulation rate (phones/sec., syllables/sec.), average ratio of pauses in speech sample (number and percentage), 2. accessory: average duration of all pauses (sec.), average duration of proper pauses (sec.), average duration of filled pauses (sec.), average duration of semi-filled pauses (sec.). The numerical data from the research was obtained with the use of free Audacity software. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the two research groups in either the basic or the accessory speech rate parameters. In the Polish-French group the results were comparatively better but still statistically insignificant. It seems that the data obtained will confirm the need for considerable caution in the evalua-tion of the competence of bilingual children with high language skills. Similar to children with imbalanced bilingualism, these children may also, perhaps, require some extra time to deal with certain language tasks.

Childhood attachment and behavioral inhibition: Predicting intolerance of uncertainty in adulthood

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 1225-1238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena A. Zdebik ◽  
Ellen Moss ◽  
Jean-François Bureau
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Behavioral Inhibition ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Maternal Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Component ◽  
Observational Measures ◽  
Childhood Attachment

AbstractIntolerance of uncertainty (IU), the tendency to react negatively to uncertain situations, has been identified as an important cognitive component of anxiety disorders, yet little is known about its etiology. Links to temperament, particularly behavioral inhibition (BI), and insecure attachment have been proposed in the development of IU, but no prospective empirical investigation has been performed thus far. In the current study, attachment to caregiver and BI of 60 children were assessed at age 6, using observational measures. Mother's anxiety symptoms were assessed when participants were 14 years old. IU was reported by participants when they were 21 years old, as was neuroticism. Two types of insecure attachment (ambivalent and disorganized–controlling) and BI were positively related to IU over a 15-year span, even after controlling for participants’ neuroticism and maternal anxiety. Attachment and BI had no significant interacting effect on the development of IU. Maternal anxiety was positively related to child BI and insecure attachment, but not IU. This study is the first to provide empirical support for a link between ambivalent and disorganized–controlling attachment and BI in preschool children to the development of IU in adulthood. Results have etiological and preventative implications not only for anxiety disorders but also for all disorders related to IU.

scholarly journals The Speech and Language Abilities of Emotionally Disturbed Children

1965 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 417-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack L. Weber
Keyword(s):  
Emotionally Disturbed ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Psychiatric Disturbance ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Language Problems ◽  
Rate Of Speech ◽  
Speech And Language Development ◽  
Speech And Language Disorders

The speech and language disorders of these severely disturbed children can be divided into two categories which relate to the type of psychiatric disturbance. The autistic-schizophrenic children used bizarre forms of language or did not use communicative language at all. The non-autistic-schizophrenic, the neurotic, the primary behaviour disorder, and the minimally brain-damaged children as a group, had similar speech and language problems to normal children but of a more severe and frequent nature. Their problems were predominantly in the areas of speech and language development, articulation, rate of speech and fluency. The children with primary behaviour disorders had the more severe speech and language problems.

Hiatus resolution and linking ‘r’ in Australian English

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity Cox ◽  
Sallyanne Palethorpe ◽  
Linda Buckley ◽  
Samantha Bentink
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Hiatus Resolution ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
Word Boundaries ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Australian English

Hiatus occurs when the juxtaposition of syllables results in two separate vowels occurring alongside one another. Such vowel adjacency, both within words and across word boundaries, is phonologically undesirable in many languages but can be resolved using a range of strategies including consonant insertion. This paper examines linguistic and extralinguistic factors that best predict the likelihood of inserted linking ‘r’ across word boundaries in Australian English. Corpus data containing a set of 32 phrases produced in a sentence-reading task by 103 speakers were auditorily and acoustically analysed. Results reveal that linguistic variables of accentual context and local speaking rate take precedence over speaker-specific variables of age, gender and sociolect in the management of hiatus. We interpret this to be a reflection of the phonetic manifestation of boundary phenomena. The frequency of the phrase containing the linking ‘r’, the frequency of an individual's use of linking ‘r’, and the accentual status of the flanking vowels all affect the /ɹ/ strength (determined by F3), suggesting that a hybrid approach is warranted in modelling liaison. Age effects are present for certain prosodic contexts indicating change in progress for Australian English.

The syntax–discourse interface in near-native L2 acquisition: Off-line and on-line performance

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOLGER HOPP
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
On Line ◽  
Discourse Interface ◽  
Ultimate Attainment ◽  
L1 English

This study investigates ultimate attainment at the syntax–discourse interface in adult second-language (L2) acquisition. In total, 91 L1 (first-language) English, L1 Dutch and L1 Russian advanced-to-near-native speakers of German and 63 native controls are tested on an acceptability judgement task and an on-line self-paced reading task. These centre on discourse-related word order optionality in German. Results indicate that convergence at the syntax–discourse interface is in principle possible in adult L2 acquisition, both in off-line knowledge and on-line processing, even for L1 English speakers, whose L1 does not correspond to L2 German in discourse-to-syntax mappings. At the same time, non-convergence of the L1 Dutch groups and differences in the L2 groups' performance between tasks suggest that asymmetries in L1–L2 discourse configurations and computational difficulties in mapping discourse onto syntax constrain L2 performance.

Why Tariffs, Not Subsidies? A Search for Stylized Facts

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Ederington ◽  
Jenny Minier
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Trade Barriers ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Stylized Facts ◽  
Theoretical Literature ◽  
Cross Country

AbstractBarriers to trade are commonly viewed as a result of political systems in which politically influential groups benefit from and successfully lobby for protection. However, trade policy is a highly inefficient tool for redistributing income. Although recent theoretical research has focused on explanations of why (inefficient) trade barriers might be preferred to more direct means of redistribution, this research has been carried out with little empirical support. We address this gap in the literature with an exploratory cross-country empirical investigation of the economic factors correlated with a reliance on tariffs over subsidies. We find that the existing theoretical literature is consistent with the cross-country evidence.

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