Examining the Influence of Word Tonality on Pitch Contours When Singing in Mandarin

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Jhe Lee ◽  
Bang-Yin Chen ◽  
Yun-Ting Lai ◽  
Hsueh-Wei Liao ◽  
Ting-Chun Liao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Contours

scholarly journals On Older Listeners' Ability to Perceive Dynamic Pitch

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 572-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Shen ◽  
Richard Wright ◽  
Pamela E. Souza
Keyword(s):  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Interindividual Variability ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Natural Speech ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Pitch Patterns ◽  
Better Than

PurposeNatural speech comes with variation in pitch, which serves as an important cue for speech recognition. The present study investigated older listeners' dynamic pitch perception with a focus on interindividual variability. In particular, we asked whether some of the older listeners' inability to perceive dynamic pitch stems from the higher susceptibility to the interference from formant changes.MethodA total of 22 older listeners and 21 younger controls with at least near-typical hearing were tested on dynamic pitch identification and discrimination tasks using synthetic monophthong and diphthong vowels.ResultsThe older listeners' ability to detect changes in pitch varied substantially, even when musical and linguistic experiences were controlled. The influence of formant patterns on dynamic pitch perception was evident in both groups of listeners. Overall, strong pitch contours (i.e., more dynamic) were perceived better than weak pitch contours (i.e., more monotonic), particularly with rising pitch patterns.ConclusionsThe findings are in accordance with the literature demonstrating some older individuals' difficulty perceiving dynamic pitch cues in speech. Moreover, they suggest that this problem may be prominent when the dynamic pitch is carried by natural speech and when the pitch contour is not strong.

scholarly journals Prosody and grammar of other-repetitions in Finnish: Repair initiations, registerings, and affectivity

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-584
Author(s):  
Melisa Stevanovic ◽  
Auli Hakulinen ◽  
Anna Vatanen
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Notable Feature ◽  
Pitch Contours

AbstractWe examine how other-repetitions in Finnish are used for repairing interactional problems in hearing and understanding and for registering what another has just said, describing how prosody and grammar interact in accomplishing these goals. In the repair-initiating repetitions, the pitch contours build a continuum of different degrees of falling pitch from moderate to steep, the latter being associated with some type of an affective stance. In the registering repetitions, the pitch fall is generally narrower than in the repair-initiations, the pitch span of the repetition turn typically matching that of the original turn. A notable feature of other-repetitions in Finnish is the use of particles (mostly ai and vai), which deal specifically with the informational aspects of other-repetitions, thus contributing to the design of both repair-initiating and registering repetitions. The article illustrates the complex layering of actions that Finnish as a ‘particle language’ affords. (Conversation analysis, other-repetition, prosody, grammar, Finnish, repair, registering, affectivity, response particle)

Measuring the Perceptual Similarity of Pitch Contours

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dik J. Hermes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Correlation Coefficient ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Companion Paper ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Maximum Deviation ◽  
Perceptual Similarity ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Display Systems

It has been shown that visual display systems of intonation can be employed beneficially in teaching intonation to persons with deafness and in teaching the intonation of a foreign language. In current training situations the correctness of a reproduced pitch contour is rated either by the teacher or automatically. In the latter case an algorithm mostly estimates the maximum deviation from an example contour. In game-like exercises, for instance, the pupil has to produce a pitch contour within the displayed floor and ceiling of a "tunnel" with a preadjusted height. In an experiment described in the companion paper, phoneticians had rated the dissimilarity of two pitch contours both auditorily, by listening to two resynthesized utterances, and visually, by looking at two pitch contours displayed on a computer screen. A test is reported in which these dissimilarity ratings were compared with automatic ratings obtained with this tunnel measure and with three other measures, the mean distance, the root-mean-square (RMS) distance, and the correlation coefficient. The most frequently used tunnel measure appeared to have the weakest correlation with the ratings by the phoneticians. In general, the automatic ratings obtained with the correlation coefficient showed the strongest correlation with the perceptual ratings. A disadvantage of this measure, however, may be that it normalizes for the range of the pitch contours. If range is important, as in intonation teaching to persons with deafness, the mean distance or the RMS distance are the best physical measures for automatic training of intonation.

Language contact and prosodic change in Slavic and Baltic

Diachronica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-580
Author(s):  
Tijmen Pronk
Keyword(s):  
Initial Stress ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
Initial Syllable ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Final Syllable ◽  
Types Of Change

Abstract This paper discusses several Slavic and Baltic dialects which have undergone stress shifts as a result of language contact. Two types of change are discussed: (1) stress retractions from the final syllable onto the initial syllable of a prosodic word, and (2) the rise of fixed stress replacing earlier free stress. It is argued that in all cases discussed in the paper, contact with a language with fixed initial stress caused a stress shift. Examples from Croatian and Lithuanian demonstrate that pitch contours played an important role in these shifts. The results of the shifts are not always identical, but the underlying mechanism is the same in each of these cases: the lexical pitch contour of the donor language was imposed on the target language, thereby introducing constraints on the position of stress in the target language. It is argued that a similar mechanism operated in West Slavic, where languages with free stress introduced fixed stress on the initial or penultimate syllable due to contact with German and possibly Hungarian.

Intonatieve Afwijkingen In Het Engels Van Nederlanders

1981 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
N.J. Willems
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Consistent Manner ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
To Come ◽  
High Level ◽  
Pitch Movement

The purpose of the experiments reported on here was to attain an inventory of systematic intonational deviations observed in English utterances produced by native speakers of Dutch. In two production tests acoustic measurements are described of magnitude, slope, duration, direction and position of fundamental frequency contours, produced by native speakers of Dutch and of English on English utterances. In two perception tests the original capricious fundamental frequency contours (sentence melody) were replaced by experimentally controlled artificial contours, without greatly disturbing the remaining acoustic cues. In this way the perceptual relevance of the deviations could be tested by means of a subjective evaluation by native speakers of English. Finally two experiments are described which are of an exploratory character, in the latter of which use was made of spectrally rotated speech. The overall data of the experiments allow for the following conclusion: (a) British English listeners are able to judge the acceptability of resynthesized pitch contours in a very consistent manner. (b) Deviations which appear to be particularly relevant to the perception of non-nativeness are in order of perceptual importance: Magnitude of the pitch movement, WH-attribute (particular configuration often found on so-called WH-Questions), Direction of the pitch movement, Continuation (complex movement often found before a pause in a speech signal) and occasionally Inclination (slowly rising pitch from Mid to High level). (c) The perceptual relevance of some deviations appeared to be dependent on the linguistic structure of the utterance, viz. Overshoot (rise at end), Reset (virtual jump from Mid to High). The ultimate goal of our investigation is to come to an explicit inventory of perceptually relevant deviations. Suc an inventory would be helpful to establish an elementary set of rules concerning English intonation on behalf of Dutch learners of English.

Tunes and Tones: Music, Language, and Inhibitory Control

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 104-123
Author(s):  
Robert E. Graham ◽  
Usha Lakshmanan
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Cognitive Benefits ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Stroop Tasks

Abstract A debate is underway regarding the perceptual and cognitive benefits of bilingualism and musical experience. This study contributes to the debate by investigating auditory inhibitory control in English-speaking monolingual musicians, non-musicians, tone language bilinguals, and non-tone language bilinguals. We predicted that musicians and tone language bilinguals would demonstrate enhanced processing relative to monolinguals and other bilinguals. Groups of monolinguals (N = 22), monolingual musicians (N = 19), non-tone language bilinguals (N = 20) and tone language bilinguals (N = 18) were compared on auditory Stroop tasks to assess domain-transferable processing benefits (e.g. auditory inhibitory control) resulting from potentially shared underlying cognitive mechanisms (Patel, 2003; Bialystok & DePape, 2009). In one task, participants heard the words “high” and “low” presented in high or low pitches, and responded regarding the pitch of the stimuli as quickly as possible. In another task, participants heard the words “rise” or “fall” presented in rising or falling pitch contours, and responded regarding the contour of the stimuli as quickly as possible. Results suggest transferable auditory inhibitory control benefits for musicians across pitch and contour processing, but any possible enhanced processing for speakers of tone languages may be task-dependent, as lexical tone activation may interfere with pitch contour processing.

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