Word-level prominence in Persian: An Experimental Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 571-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Sadeghi
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Previous Literature ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Syllable Duration ◽  
Phonetic Cues ◽  
Pitch Movement ◽  
Spectral Tilt

Previous literature on the phonetics of stress in Persian has reported that fundamental frequency is the only reliable acoustic correlate of stress, and that stressed and unstressed syllables are not differentiated from each other in the absence of accentuation. In this study, the effects of lexical stress on duration, overall intensity and spectral tilt were examined in Persian both in the accented and unaccented conditions. Results showed that syllable duration is consistently affected by stress in Persian in both the accented and unaccented conditions across all vowel types. Unlike duration, the results for overall intensity and spectral tilt were significant only in the accented condition, suggesting that measures of intensity are not a correlate of stress in Persian but they are mainly caused by the presence of a pitch movement. The findings are phonologically interpreted as suggesting that word-level prominence in Persian is typologically similar to ‘stress accent’ languages, in which multiple phonetic cues are used to signal the prominence contrast in the accented condition, and stressed and unstressed syllables are different from each other even when the word is not pitch-accented.

scholarly journals The perception of lexical stress in words within a sentence

Loquens ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquim Llisterri ◽  
María J. Machuca ◽  
Antonio Ríos ◽  
Sandra Schwab
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Word Level ◽  
The Relationship

The acoustic and perceptual correlates of stress in Spanish have been usually studied at the word level, but few investigations have considered them in a wider context. The aim of the present work is to assess the role of fundamental frequency, duration and amplitude in the perception of lexical stress in Spanish when the word is part of a sentence. An experiment has been carried out in which the participants (39 listeners, 20 from Costa Rica and 19 from Spain) had to identify the position of the lexical stress in words presented in isolation and in the same words embedded in sentences. The stimuli in which the position of the stress was not correctly identified have been acoustically analysed to determine the cause of identification errors. Results suggest that the perception of lexical stress in words within a sentence depends on the stress pattern and on the relationship between the values of the acoustic parameters responsible for the prominence of the stressed vowel and those corresponding to the adjacent unstressed vowels.

Deaf and Hard-of-hearing Users Evaluating Designs for Highlighting Key Words in Educational Lecture Videos

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Sushant Kafle ◽  
Becca Dingman ◽  
Matt Huenerfauth
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Educational Video ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
First Occurrence ◽  
Educational Videos

There are style guidelines for authors who highlight important words in static text, e.g., bolded words in student textbooks, yet little research has investigated highlighting in dynamic texts, e.g., captions during educational videos for Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) users. In our experimental study, DHH participants subjectively compared design parameters for caption highlighting, including: decoration (underlining vs. italicizing vs. boldfacing), granularity (sentence level vs. word level), and whether to highlight only the first occurrence of a repeating keyword. In partial contrast to recommendations in prior research, which had not been based on experimental studies with DHH users, we found that DHH participants preferred boldface, word-level highlighting in captions. Our empirical results provide guidance for the design of keyword highlighting during captioned videos for DHH users, especially in educational video genres.

scholarly journals L2 acquisition of high vowel deletion in Quebec French

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Duarte Garcia ◽  
Heather Goad ◽  
Natália Brambatti Guzzo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Phonological Word ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Quebec French ◽  
Vowel Deletion ◽  
The Right ◽  
Phonological Phrase

In languages with lexical stress, stress is computed in the phonological word (PWd) and realized in the foot. In some of these languages, feet are constructed iteratively, yielding multiple stressed syllables in a PWd. English has this profile. In French, by contrast, the only position of obligatory prominence is the right-edge of the phonological phrase (PPh), regardless of how many lexical words it contains (Dell 1984). This has led some to analyze French "stress" as intonational prominence and French, in contrast to most languages, as foot-less (Jun & Fougeron 2000). In earlier work, we argued that high vowel deletion (HVD) motivates iterative iambic footing in Quebec French (QF), although the typical signatures of word-level stress are absent. In this paper, we examine the L2 acquisition of HVD and the prosodic constraints that govern it. We show that L2ers can acquire subtle aspects of the phonology of a second language, even at intermediate levels of proficiency.

scholarly journals Adaptive and selective production of syllable duration and fundamental frequency as word segmentation cues by French-English bilinguals

2019 ◽  
Vol 146 (6) ◽  
pp. 4255-4272
Author(s):  
Annie C. Gilbert ◽  
Max Wolpert ◽  
Haruka Saito ◽  
Shanna Kousaie ◽  
Inbal Itzhak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Syllable Duration

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.

Phonetics of Singing in Western Classical Style

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Sundberg
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Vocal Fold ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
Vowel Identification ◽  
Fundamental Frequencies ◽  
Vocal Fold Vibration ◽  
Syllable Duration ◽  
Classical Singing ◽  
The Voice

The function of the voice organ is basically the same in classical singing as in speech. However, loud orchestral accompaniment has necessitated the use of the voice in an economical way. As a consequence, the vowel sounds tend to deviate considerably from those in speech. Male voices cluster formant three, four, and five, so that a marked peak is produced in spectrum envelope near 3,000 Hz. This helps them to get heard through a loud orchestral accompaniment. They seem to achieve this effect by widening the lower pharynx, which makes the vowels more centralized than in speech. Singers often sing at fundamental frequencies higher than the normal first formant frequency of the vowel in the lyrics. In such cases they raise the first formant frequency so that it gets somewhat higher than the fundamental frequency. This is achieved by reducing the degree of vocal tract constriction or by widening the lip and jaw openings, constricting the vocal tract in the pharyngeal end and widening it in the mouth. These deviations from speech cause difficulties in vowel identification, particularly at high fundamental frequencies. Actually, vowel identification is almost impossible above 700 Hz (pitch F5). Another great difference between vocal sound produced in speech and the classical singing tradition concerns female voices, which need to reduce the timbral differences between voice registers. Females normally speak in modal or chest register, and the transition to falsetto tends to happen somewhere above 350 Hz. The great timbral differences between these registers are avoided by establishing control over the register function, that is, over the vocal fold vibration characteristics, so that seamless transitions are achieved. In many other respects, there are more or less close similarities between speech and singing. Thus, marking phrase structure, emphasizing important events, and emotional coloring are common principles, which may make vocal artists deviate considerably from the score’s nominal description of fundamental frequency and syllable duration.

Effects of Frequency-Shifted Auditory Feedback on Fundamental Frequency of Long Stressed and Unstressed Syllables

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 577-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Natke ◽  
Karl Theodor Kalveram
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Test Word ◽  
Feedback Mechanism ◽  
Negative Feedback Mechanism ◽  
Syllable Duration ◽  
Complete Test ◽  
Stress Patterns

Twenty-four normally speaking subjects had to utter the test word /tatatas/with different stress patterns repeatedly. Auditory feedback was provided by headphones and was shifted downwards in frequency during randomly selected trials while the subjects were speaking the complete test word. If the first syllable was long stressed, fundamental frequency of the vowel significantly increased by 2 Hz (corresponding to 25.5 cents) under frequency-shifted auditory feedback of .5 octave downwards, whereas under a shift of one semitone downwards a trend of an increase could be observed. If the first syllable was unstressed, fundamental frequency remained unaffected. Regarding the second syllable, significant increases or a trend for an increase of fundamental frequency was found in both shifting conditions. Results indicate a negative feedback mechanism that controls the fundamental frequency via auditory feedback in speech production. However, within a syllable a response could be found only if the syllable duration was long enough. Compensation for frequency-shifted auditory feedback still is quite imperfect. It is concluded that control of fundamental frequency is rather important on a suprasegmental level.

Processing of word-level stress by Mandarin-speaking second language learners of English

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZHEN QIN ◽  
YU-FU CHIEN ◽  
ANNIE TREMBLAY
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
American English ◽  
Cue Weighting ◽  
Taiwan Mandarin ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Suprasegmental Cues ◽  
Stress Experiment

ABSTRACTThis study investigates whether second language learners’ processing of stress can be explained by the degree to which suprasegmental cues contribute to lexical identity in the native language. It focuses on Standard Mandarin, Taiwan Mandarin, and American English listeners’ processing of stress in English nonwords. In Mandarin, fundamental frequency contributes to lexical identity by signaling lexical tones, but only in Standard Mandarin does duration distinguish stressed–unstressed and stressed–stressed words. Participants completed sequence-recall tasks containing English disyllabic nonwords contrasting in stress. Experiment 1 used natural stimuli; Experiment 2 used resynthesized stimuli that isolated fundamental frequency and duration cues. Experiment 1 revealed no difference among the groups; in Experiment 2, Standard Mandarin listeners used duration more than Taiwan Mandarin listeners did. These results are interpreted within a cue-weighting theory of speech perception.

scholarly journals A preliminary study on nasalization and phonation

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-139
Author(s):  
Xuan Li ◽  
Feng Wang
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Soft Palate ◽  
Vocal Folds ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Phonetic Cues ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

Abstract Although it is widely acknowledged that different speech processes may interact with each other, the way that nasalization affects phonation remains poorly understood. This paper explores the relationship between nasalization and phonation, by analyzing the phonetic cues of the tense/lax distinction both in nasalization and non-nasalization in the Bai language. The data for discussion is from two Bai dialects, Chengbei and Jinhua, which have a tense/lax distinction in both nasalized and non-nasalized syllables. Three phonation parameters – fundamental frequency (F0), open quotient (OQ), and speed quotient (SQ) – are extracted from EGG signals for analysis. It is found that the influence of nasalization on phonation varies with the tone contours. As for the level tones, the role of phonation manner in tone distinction is not evident in nasalization in that tense tones can be distinguished from lax tones only by pitch. However, in non-nasalization, phonation manner plays an indispensable role in tone distinction, in that the contrast between tense and lax tones are reflected not only on F0 but also on OQ and SQ. Moreover, non-nasalized tense tones are more likely to be accompanied by non-modal phonation that is characterized by a significantly higher SQ. In terms of articulatory explanation, high SQ in non-modal phonation is the result of the vibration of tightened vocal folds, and the tension of vocal folds is caused by raising the soft palate in non-nasalization. As for the falling tones, the role of phonation manner in tone distinction is more salient in nasalization than in non-nasalization in Chengbei Bai, but it is not attested in Jinhua Bai. This study shows that the interaction between nasalization and phonation in Bai can be revealed in the analysis of phonation parameters, i.e. F0, OQ, and SQ.

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