scholarly journals Regional variation in British English voice quality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Gold ◽  
Christin Kirchhübel ◽  
Kate Earnshaw ◽  
Sula Ross
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Social Standing ◽  
British English ◽  
Homogeneous Groups ◽  
Social Variation ◽  
Quality Profile

Abstract This study considers regional variation of voice quality in two varieties of British English – Southern Standard British English and West Yorkshire English. A comparison of voice quality profiles for three closely related but not identical northern varieties within West Yorkshire is also considered. Our findings do not contradict the small subset of previous research which explored regional and/or social variation in voice quality in British English insofar as regionality may play a small role in a speaker’s voice quality profile. However, factors such as social standing and identity could perhaps be even more relevant. Even when considering homogeneous groups of speakers, it is not the case that there is a cohesive voice quality profile that can be attached to every speaker within the group. The reason for this, we argue, is the speaker-specificity inherent in voice quality.

scholarly journals The use of the Vocal Profile Analysis for speaker characterization: Methodological proposals

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia San Segundo ◽  
Paul Foulkes ◽  
Peter French ◽  
Philip Harrison ◽  
Vincent Hughes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Speech Communication ◽  
British English ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Perceptual Assessment ◽  
Forensic Phonetics

Among phoneticians, the Vocal Profile Analysis (VPA) is one of the most widely used methods for the componential assessment of voice quality. Whether the ultimate goal of the VPA evaluation is the comparative description of languages or the characterization of an individual speaker, the VPA protocol shows great potential for different research areas of speech communication. However, its use is not without practical difficulties. Despite these, methodological studies aimed at explaining where, when and why issues arise during the perceptual assessment process are rare. In this paper we describe the methodological stages through which three analysts evaluated the voices of 99 Standard Southern British English male speakers, rated their voices using the VPA scheme, discussed inter-rater disagreements, and eventually produced an agreed version of VPA scores. These scores were then used to assess correlations between settings. We show that it is possible to reach a good degree of inter-rater agreement, provided that several calibration and training sessions are conducted. We further conclude that the perceptual assessment of voice quality using the VPA scheme is an essential tool in fields such as forensic phonetics but, foremost, that it can be adapted and modified to a range of research areas, and not necessarily limited to the evaluation of pathological voices in clinical settings.

A phonetically versatile contrast: Pulmonic and glottalic voicelessness in Scottish English obstruents and voice quality

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga B. Gordeeva ◽  
James M. Scobbie
Keyword(s):  
Contrast Enhancement ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
British English ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Enhancement Mechanism ◽  
The Relationship

This paper presents impressionistic, electroglottographic and acoustic data exploring the distribution of glottalic and pulmonic airstream in word-final Scottish English obstruents. We explore the relationship between these airstream mechanisms and aspirated or glottalised phonatory settings of individual speakers near this obstruent locus. We address the hypothesis that the tendency for pre-stop glottalisation found in some British English varieties can explain the occurrence of glottalically-released stops. This hypothesis suggests that ejectives would appear as an occasional artefact of mistimed glottalisation. We also investigate whether a glottalic airstream acts as a potential contrast enhancement mechanism, through association with /−voice/ as opposed to /+voice/ stops. We show that glottalisation and aspiration can readily co-occur in the same speaker, and that local phonatory setting (with glottalised or aspirated articulation) can be consistently used as a secondary correlate of obstruent /−voice/, in the context of stops and fricatives respectively. The results show that although glottalisation as a secondary correlate of /−voice/ stops often co-occurs with an ejective release, they are not necessarily bound together. These results argue against a simple epiphenomenal explanation for the appearance of ejective stops in English, while also showing that they are not (yet) a systematic phonological enhancement in this variety.

scholarly journals Das laienlinguistische Konzept von Variation.

2021 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 75-95
Author(s):  
Toke Hoffmeister
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Final Diagnosis ◽  
Realistic Model ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
The Third ◽  
Social Variation

The following article consists of three parts: First, the context in which speakers live is sketched phenomenologically. These life-worlds are described as language-worlds, since language, according to the premise, is apriori and thus directly relevant. Subsequently, the focus is on the speakers as actors within the language-worlds. A cognitive-realistic model is presented to describe their lay-linguistic knowledge, the center of what is called epistemicon. Based on this, the third part of the article outlines an empirical study that surveys the linguistic laypersons’ knowledge on variation. It can be shown that although knowledge of regional variation is most abundant, aspects of functional and social variation also play a role. The final diagnosis is that the conceptualization of variation is fundamental to the linguistic worlds of linguistic laypersons.

scholarly journals Vocal quality assessment: methodological approach for a perceptive data analysis

Revista CEFAC ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 831-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Fabiana Bonfim de Lima Silva ◽  
Sandra Madureira ◽  
Luiz Carlos Rusilo ◽  
Zuleica Camargo
Keyword(s):  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Perceptual Judgment ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Perceptual Judgments ◽  
Quality Profile ◽  
Analysis Scheme ◽  
Vocal Quality

ABSTRACT Purpose: to present a methodological approach for interpreting perceptual judgments of vocal quality by a group of evaluators using the script Vocal Profile Analysis Scheme. Methods: a cross-sectional study based on 90 speech samples from 25 female teachers with voice disorders and/or laryngeal changes. Prior to the perceptual judgment, three perceptual tasks were performed to select samples to be presented to five evaluators using the Experiment script MFC 3.2 (software PRAAT). Next, a sequence of tests was applied, based on successive approaches of inter- and intra-evaluators’ behavior. Data were treated by statistical analysis (Cochran and Selenor tests). Results: with respect to the analysis of the evaluators' performance, it was possible to define those that presented the best results, in terms of reliability and proximity of analyses, as compared to the most experienced evaluator, excluding one. The results of the cluster analysis also allowed designing a voice quality profile of the group of speakers studied. Conclusions: the proposal of a methodological approach allowed defining evaluators whose judgments were based on phonetic knowledge, and drawing a vocal quality profile of the group of samples analyzed.

The relationship between lexical variation and lexical change

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Comparable Data ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Lexical Variation ◽  
Social Variation ◽  
Lexical Change ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTMuch has been written about the relationship between the usage of particular social groups and language change. This article reports on a longitudinal study of lexical variables that analyzed comparable data from the 1930s and 1990. Nearly 1,000 words were tested to determine differences in usage related to age, sex, race, education, region, and rurality. Another set of tests compared the terms used at each point in time. Yielding a list of words that exhibited both change and a pattern of social or regional variation, the results indicated that males, whites, older speakers, and speakers from rural areas use more older terms. The most educated speakers use more newer terms. These findings were reinforced by an analysis of “No Response” answers, especially on questions about obsolete or agricultural referents, which were more common among females, blacks, and urban dwellers. Most of the linguistic change was not accompanied by significant social variation.

The emergence of a new phoneme: Foreign (a) in Canadian English

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Boberg
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
American English ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
British English ◽  
Intermediate Outcome ◽  
Vowel Phoneme

AbstractThe nativization or phonological adaptation of words transferred from other languages can have structural-phonological consequences for the recipient language. In English, nativization of words in which the stressed vowel is spelled with the letter <a>, here called “foreign (a)” words, leads to variable outcomes, because English <a> represents not one but three phonemes. The most common outcomes historically have been /ey/ (as inpotato), /æ/ (tobacco), and /ah/ (spa), but vowel choice shows diachronic, social, and regional variation, including systematic differences between major national dialects. British English uses /ah/ for long vowels and /æ/ elsewhere, American English prefers /ah/ everywhere, whereas Canadian English traditionally prefers /æ/. The Canadian pattern is now changing, with younger speakers adopting American /ah/-variants. This article presents new data on foreign (a) in Canadian English, confirming the use of /ah/ among younger speakers, but finds that some outcomes cannot be classified as either /æ/ or /ah/. A third, phonetically intermediate outcome is often observed. Acoustic analysis confirms the extraphonemic status of these outcomes, which may constitute a new low-central vowel phoneme in Canadian English.

Voice quality profile and perceived emotion.

1969 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances S. Costanzo ◽  
Norman N. Markel ◽  
Philip R. Costanzo
Keyword(s):  
Voice Quality ◽  
Quality Profile ◽  
Perceived Emotion

scholarly journals The effect of L1 regional variation on the perception and production of standard L1 and L2 vowels

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Simon ◽  
Mathijs Debaene ◽  
Mieke Van Herreweghe
Keyword(s):  
Picture Naming ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
British English ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Orthographic Representations ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Vowel Categories ◽  
Naming Tasks

AbstractThis study reports on the perception and production of Standard Dutch and Standard British English vowels by speakers of two regional varieties of Belgian Dutch (East Flemish and Brabantine) which differ in their vowel realizations. Twenty-four native speakers of Dutch performed two picture-naming tasks and two vowel categorization tasks, in which they heard Standard Dutch or English vowels and were asked to map these onto orthographic representations of Dutch vowels. The results of the Dutch production and categorization tasks revealed that the participants’ L1 regional variety importantly influenced their production and especially perception of vowels in the standard variety of their L1. The two groups also differed in how they assimilated non-native English vowels to native vowel categories, but no major differences could be observed in their productions of non-native vowels. The study therefore only partly confirms earlier studies showing that L1 regional variation may have an influence on the acquisition of non-native language varieties.

Age Norms for Auditory-Perceptual Neurophonetic Parameters: A Prerequisite for the Assessment of Childhood Dysarthria

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1071-1082
Author(s):  
Theresa Schölderle ◽  
Elisabet Haas ◽  
Wolfram Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Age Norms ◽  
Elementary School Age ◽  
Speech Characteristics ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Computer Based

Purpose The aim of this study was to collect auditory-perceptual data on established symptom categories of dysarthria from typically developing children between 3 and 9 years of age, for the purpose of creating age norms for dysarthria assessment. Method One hundred forty-four typically developing children (3;0–9;11 [years;months], 72 girls and 72 boys) participated. We used a computer-based game specifically designed for this study to elicit sentence repetitions and spontaneous speech samples. Speech recordings were analyzed using the auditory-perceptual criteria of the Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales, a standardized German assessment tool for dysarthria in adults. The Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales (scales and features) cover clinically relevant dimensions of speech and allow for an evaluation of well-established symptom categories of dysarthria. Results The typically developing children exhibited a number of speech characteristics overlapping with established symptom categories of dysarthria (e.g., breathy voice, frequent inspirations, reduced articulatory precision, decreased articulation rate). Substantial progress was observed between 3 and 9 years of age, but with different developmental trajectories across different dimensions. In several areas (e.g., respiration, voice quality), 9-year-olds still presented with salient developmental speech characteristics, while in other dimensions (e.g., prosodic modulation), features typically associated with dysarthria occurred only exceptionally, even in the 3-year-olds. Conclusions The acquisition of speech motor functions is a prolonged process not yet completed with 9 years. Various developmental influences (e.g., anatomic–physiological changes) shape children's speech specifically. Our findings are a first step toward establishing auditory-perceptual norms for dysarthria in children of kindergarten and elementary school age. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12133380

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