scholarly journals Statistical Speech Segmentation in Tone Languages: The Role of Lexical Tones

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Gómez ◽  
Peggy Mok ◽  
Mikhail Ordin ◽  
Jacques Mehler ◽  
Marina Nespor
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Speech Segmentation ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Languages ◽  
Transitional Probabilities ◽  
Lexical Processes

Research has demonstrated distinct roles for consonants and vowels in speech processing. For example, consonants have been shown to support lexical processes, such as the segmentation of speech based on transitional probabilities (TPs), more effectively than vowels. Theory and data so far, however, have considered only non-tone languages, that is to say, languages that lack contrastive lexical tones. In the present work, we provide a first investigation of the role of consonants and vowels in statistical speech segmentation by native speakers of Cantonese, as well as assessing how tones modulate the processing of vowels. Results show that Cantonese speakers are unable to use statistical cues carried by consonants for segmentation, but they can use cues carried by vowels. This difference becomes more evident when considering tone-bearing vowels. Additional data from speakers of Russian and Mandarin suggest that the ability of Cantonese speakers to segment streams with statistical cues carried by tone-bearing vowels extends to other tone languages, but is much reduced in speakers of non-tone languages.

THE EXPLOITATION OF SUBPHONEMIC ACOUSTIC DETAIL IN L2 SPEECH SEGMENTATION

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellenor Shoemaker
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Speech Segmentation ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
First Language Transfer ◽  
Allophonic Variation ◽  
L2 Phonology ◽  
Word Boundaries ◽  
French Speaking

The current study addresses an aspect of second language (L2) phonological acquisition that has received little attention to date—namely, the acquisition of allophonic variation as a word boundary cue. The role of subphonemic variation in the segmentation of speech by native speakers has been indisputably demonstrated; however, the acquisition of allophonic cues in L2 phonology remains underexplored. We examine here L2 learners’ acquisition and perception of noncontrastive acoustic differentiation at word boundaries in English. Fifty French-speaking students of English were tested on their ability to differentiate potentially ambiguous phrases in which word boundaries are marked by the word-initial aspiration of plosives (e.g.,Lou stopsvs.loose tops) or prevocalic glottal stops (e.g.,tea matvs.team at). Participants showed greater sensitivity to the presence of glottal stops than aspiration, suggesting that glottal stops may represent a more perceptually salient segmentation cue for learners than aspiration. We discuss the implications of these results regarding the role of first language transfer versus the universality of some segmentation cues.

Investigating the Role of Familiar Face and Voice Cues in Speech Processing in Noise

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeesun Kim ◽  
Sonya Karisma ◽  
Vincent Aubanel ◽  
Chris Davis
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Familiar Face

scholarly journals A Large-Scale COVID-19 Twitter Chatter Dataset for Open Scientific Research—An International Collaboration

Epidemiologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-324
Author(s):  
Juan M. Banda ◽  
Ramya Tekumalla ◽  
Guanyu Wang ◽  
Jingyuan Yu ◽  
Tuo Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Groups ◽  
The World ◽  
Data Source

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide, an unprecedented amount of open data is being generated for medical, genetics, and epidemiological research. The unparalleled rate at which many research groups around the world are releasing data and publications on the ongoing pandemic is allowing other scientists to learn from local experiences and data generated on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a need to integrate additional data sources that map and measure the role of social dynamics of such a unique worldwide event in biomedical, biological, and epidemiological analyses. For this purpose, we present a large-scale curated dataset of over 1.12 billion tweets, growing daily, related to COVID-19 chatter generated from 1 January 2020 to 27 June 2021 at the time of writing. This data source provides a freely available additional data source for researchers worldwide to conduct a wide and diverse number of research projects, such as epidemiological analyses, emotional and mental responses to social distancing measures, the identification of sources of misinformation, stratified measurement of sentiment towards the pandemic in near real time, among many others.

scholarly journals The Effect of Dual Language Activation on L2-Induced Changes in L1 Speech within a Code-Switched Paradigm

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Ulrich Reubold ◽  
Sanne Ditewig ◽  
Robert Mayr ◽  
Ineke Mennen
Keyword(s):  
Dual Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Predictor Variable ◽  
Predictor Variables ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Dual Activation ◽  
Induced Changes

The present study sought to examine the effect of dual language activation on L1 speech in late English–Austrian German sequential bilinguals, and to identify relevant predictor variables. To this end, we compared the English speech patterns of adult migrants to Austria in a code-switched and monolingual condition alongside those of monolingual native speakers in England in a monolingual condition. In the code-switched materials, German words containing target segments known to trigger cross-linguistic interaction in the two languages (i.e., [v–w], [ʃt(ʁ)-st(ɹ)] and [l-ɫ]) were inserted into an English frame; monolingual materials comprised English words with the same segments. To examine whether the position of the German item affects L1 speech, the segments occurred either before the switch (“He wants a Wienerschnitzel”) or after (“I like Würstel with mustard”). Critical acoustic measures of these segments revealed no differences between the groups in the monolingual condition, but significant L2-induced shifts in the bilinguals’ L1 speech production in the code-switched condition for some sounds. These were found to occur both before and after a code-switch, and exhibited a fair amount of individual variation. Only the amount of L2 use was found to be a significant predictor variable for shift size in code-switched compared with monolingual utterances, and only for [w]. These results have important implications for the role of dual activation in the speech of late sequential bilinguals.

scholarly journals Studying individual differences in the social environment to better understand language learning and processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Lev-Ari
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
The Social

AbstractPeople learn language from their social environment. Therefore, individual differences in the input that their social environment provides could influence their linguistic performance. Nevertheless, investigation of the role of individual differences in input on performance has been mostly restricted to first and second language acquisition. In this paper I argue that individual differences in input can influence linguistic performance even in adult native speakers. Specifically, differences in input can affect performance by influencing people’s knowledgebase, by modulating their processing manner, and by shaping expectations. Therefore, studying the role that individual differences in input play can improve our understanding of how language is learned, processed and represented.

On the role of the anthropocentric factor in the realization of the derivational potential of names of ungulates as motivating lexical units

2021 ◽  
pp. 191-210
Author(s):  
Nikolay D. Golev ◽  
◽  
Irina P. Falomkina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Search System ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Data Capturing ◽  
Building Behavior ◽  
Building System ◽  
Google Search ◽  
The Russian Language

The paper is dedicated to describing the word-building system of the Russian language in terms of its vocabulary. Lexical factors are discussed influencing the formation of lexical units’ potential as motivating units of word-building processes and relations and the realization of this potential in language activities. Of most interest for the authors are anthropocentric determinants, most of which are coordinating the lexical system and, through its mediation, the word-building system with the worldview of native speakers of the Russian language. The proposed model of derivational development of vocabulary provides such coordination through studying the deep-seated process of conceptualization of the words that are the potential motivators of neologisms. This study identifies the word frequency as an external manifestation of conceptualization. The frequency data were obtained from Google search system statistical data. Capturing not only usual but also occasional and potential words, this source is an effective tool for studying word-building processes and their results. This study has unveiled the interrelation between the language worldview of native speakers of Russian and their “word-building behavior” in language activities. The worldview has been found, first of all, to be determined by the pragmatic factor, which primarily influences the usage of a word in the speech reflected by its frequency. The frequency ranks lexical units due to their derivational potential and thereby provides a researcher with a reliable instrument for its study.

Prosody in Automatic Speech Processing

2020 ◽  
pp. 632-645
Author(s):  
Anton Batliner ◽  
Bernd Möbius
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Short History ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Dialogue Acts ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Different Types ◽  
History Of

Automatic speech processing (ASP) is understood as covering word recognition, the processing of higher linguistic components (syntax, semantics, and pragmatics), and the processing of computational paralinguistics (CP), which deals with speaker states and traits. This chapter attempts to track the role of prosody in ASP from the word level up to CP. A short history of the field from 1980 to 2020 distinguishes the early years (until 2000)—when the prosodic contribution to the modelling of linguistic phenomena, such as accents, boundaries, syntax, semantics, and dialogue acts, was the focus—from the later years, when the focus shifted to paralinguistics; prosody ceased to be visible. Different types of predictor variables are addressed, among them high-performance power features as well as leverage features, which can also be employed in teaching and therapy.

Study abroad and the SLA of variable structures: A look at the present perfect, the copula contrast, and the present progressive in Mexico and Spain

Probus ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Kanwit ◽  
Kimberly L. Geeslin ◽  
Stephen Fafulas
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Immersion Programs ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Grammatical Structures

AbstractThe present study connects research on the L2 acquisition of variable structures to the ever-growing body of research on the role of study abroad in the language learning process. The data come from a group of 46 English-speaking learners of Spanish who participated in immersion programs in two distinct locations, Valencia, Spain and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Simultaneously, we tested a group of native speakers from each region to create an appropriate target model for each learner group. Learners completed a written contextualized questionnaire at the beginning and end of their seven-week stay abroad. Our instrument examines three variable grammatical structures: (1) the copulas

He who Hesitates: Hesitation Phenomena as Quality Control in Speech Production, Obstacles in Non-Native Speech Perception

2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marnie Reed
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Classification Framework ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Control Devices ◽  
Content Processing ◽  
Hesitation Phenomena

This study was designed to determine the nature and occurrence of hesitation phenomena in spontaneous speech of native and non-native speakers, and to determine whether and to what extent the hesitation phenomena normal in spontaneous speech pose perception problems for non-native speakers. A quantitative analysis reveals that hesitation phenomena are ubiquitous in both native and non-native speech production. A qualitative analysis based on a content-processing classification framework reveals the function of hesitations. Hesitations act as overt traces of prospective and retrospective speech-processing tasks which function to forestall errors, and to permit detection and repair of errors once they are committed. Hesitations are quality control devices; native and non-native speakers are highly successful utilizing them to forestall errors. However, hesitation phenomena clearly pose perception problems for non-native speakers who show little evidence of recognizing them as such. Like native speakers, non-native speakers produce hesitation phenomena. Unlike native speakers, who edit and filter out the hesitations they hear, non-native speakers attempt to assign meaning to speakers' faulty output or to parenthetical remarks. Hesitations are unpredictable in their frequency or occurrence; failure to provide training in these oral discourse features of connected speech may result in non-native speakers whose speech production vastly outstrips their perception.

Impact of Similarity of Interviewer-Interviewee and Interviewer-Interviewer on Ratings in a Selection Interview

1980 ◽  
Vol 47 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1087-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine F. Shepard ◽  
Maureen Hallinan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Social Approval ◽  
Background Characteristics ◽  
Selection Interview ◽  
Ideal Candidate ◽  
Selection Interviews ◽  
Actual Selection

This study aimed to determine whether similarity of interviewer and interviewee or interviewer and interviewer influenced applicant interview ratings. Data on background characteristics, relative interests and need for social approval were secured from 21 faculty interviewers and 296 applicants during actual selection interviews. Contrary to prior findings based on simulated activity, the results did not uphold the role of similarity. Additional data gathered from follow-up interviews with faculty interviewers point to preconceived conceptions of an “ideal” candidate as a stronger reference point for decision making in selection interviews than similarity to self.

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