scholarly journals Simulating Speech Error Patterns Across Languages and Different Datasets

2021 ◽  
pp. 002383092098726
Author(s):  
Sofia Strömbergsson ◽  
Jana Götze ◽  
Jens Edlund ◽  
Kristina Nilsson Björkenstam
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Speech Error ◽  
The Face ◽  
Child Speech ◽  
The One ◽  
Children's Speech

Children’s speech acquisition is influenced by universal and language-specific forces. Some speech error patterns (or phonological processes) in children’s speech are observed in many languages, but the same error pattern may have different effects in different languages. We aimed to explore phonological effects of the same speech error patterns across different languages, target audiences and discourse modes, using a novel method for large-scale corpus investigation. As an additional aim, we investigated the face validity of five different phonological effect measures by relating them to subjective ratings of assumed effects on intelligibility, as provided by practicing speech-language pathologists. Six frequently attested speech error patterns were simulated in authentic corpus data: backing, fronting, stopping, /r/-weakening, cluster reduction and weak syllable deletion—each simulation resulting in a “misarticulated” version of the original corpus. Phonological effects were quantified using five separate metrics of phonological complexity and distance from expected target forms. Using Swedish child-speech data as a reference, phonological effects were compared between this reference and a) child speech in Norwegian and English, and b) data representing different modes of discourse (spoken/written) and target audiences (adults/children) in Swedish. Of the speech error patterns, backing—the one atypical pattern of those included—was found to cause the most detrimental effects, across languages as well as across modes and speaker ages. However, none of the measures reflects intuitive rankings as provided by clinicians regarding effects on intelligibility, thus corroborating earlier reports that phonological competence is not translatable into levels of intelligibility.

Pictorial Scale of Physical Self-Concept for Younger Children (P-PSC-C): A Feasibility Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (s2) ◽  
pp. S391-S402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maike Tietjens ◽  
Dennis Dreiskaemper ◽  
Till Utesch ◽  
Nadja Schott ◽  
Lisa M. Barnett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Self Perception ◽  
Gross Motor Development ◽  
The Face ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
The One

Children’s self-perception of motor skills and physical fitness is said to be an important mediator between skills and physical fitness on the one hand and physical activity on the other hand. An age-appropriate self-perception scale is needed to understand the development and the differentiation of the physical self-concept of children and its components. Therefore, the objectives of this study were (1) to develop a pictorial scale of physical fitness for pre-school children (3–6 years old), and (2) to describe the face validity and feasibility of the scale. The study sample included 27 kindergarten children. In order to determine the psychometric properties, validity was assessed by administrating the Pictorial Scale for Physical Self-Concept in Kindergarten Children (P-PSC-C) compared with children’s fundamental movement skill competency (Test of Gross Motor Development [TGMD]-3; six locomotor and seven object-control skills), height, weight, and demographics. The face validity was favorable. Expectable negatively skewed response distributions were found in all items. Medium correlations with related constructs and with sport enjoyment were found. The results indicate that the new scale is usable for kindergarten children. Future validation studies are needed so that the new scale can contribute to the research about physical self-concept development in kindergarten children.

scholarly journals Acquisition of Speech by Children Who Have Prolonged Cochlear Implant Experience

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Tye-Murray ◽  
Linda Spencer ◽  
George G. Woodworth
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Communication Mode ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Speech Error ◽  
Intelligible Speech

The four purposes of this investigation were to assess whether children acquire intelligible speech following prolonged cochlear-implant experience and examine their speech error patterns, to examine how age at implantation influences speech acquisition, to assess how speech production and speech perception skills relate, and to determine whether cochlear implant recipients who formerly used simultaneous communication (speech and manually coded English) begin to use speech without sign to communicate. Twenty-eight prelinguistically deafened children who use a Nucleus cochlear implant were assigned to one of three age groups, according to age at implantation: 2–5 yrs (N = 12), 5–8 yrs (N = 9), and 8–15 yrs (N = 7). All subjects had worn a cochlear implant for at least 24 mos, and an average of 36 mos. All subjects used simultaneous communication at the time of implantation. Subjects performed both imitative and structured spontaneous sampling speech tasks. The results permit the following conclusions: (a) children who have used a cochlear implant for at least 2 yrs acquire some intelligible speech; (b) children who receive a cochlear implant before the age of 5 yrs appear to show greater benefit in their speech production skills than children who are older, at least after a minimum of 2 yrs of use; (c) children who recognize more speech while wearing their cochlear implants are likely to speak more intelligibly; and, (d) signing does not disappear from a child’s communication mode following implantation.

scholarly journals Les équivalences discursives et les suites préconstruites

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 21-58
Author(s):  
Gaston Gross
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Semantic Class ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Grammar Rules ◽  
The Face ◽  
Adverbial Modifiers ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Linguistic Fact

A given predicate is defined by a set of properties which combine and which automatically generate all the sentences it allows. Among them, we note the number and the semantic class of the arguments which characterize it, the adjectival and adverbial modifiers which can be added tothe scheme of arguments as well as all the transformations which affect each of these units. The speaker is responsible for attributing to sentences the set of all the forms that language allows him to generate. What has just been said can be considered as a definition of syntax.But this situation is far from exhausting the description of a language. J. Dubois and especially Maurice Gross have devoted large-scale work to fixed expressions, that is to say, to the restrictions relating to the combinatorics usually observed around a given predicate. These studies have focused on the limitations of grammar rules as they are generally described. These two authors have drawn up lists of tens of thousands of “fixed” verbs and have highlighted the limits of this fixing. However, they made an observation without highlighting the causes of the fixing, which is a much more complex linguistic fact than this work suggests. The purpose of this article is twofold. On the one hand, it emphasizes what can be called discursive equivalences: in a given situation, the same idea can be translated by expressions which have no obvious link between them, as in: con comme la lune, con comme un balai, con comme une baleine, con comme une bite, con comme une valise. Another example: voici belle lurette, voici longtemps, voici un temps fou, voici une paille, voici une paye. It goes without saying that the speaker is not master of these expressions, because they are written in the language. This article shows that these equivalences are very numerous. On the other hand, I. Mel’čuk initiated important work on pragmatemes. Again the “regular” syntax is defective. All these cases are in fact examples of pre-constructed sequences, of which this article attempts to make a first classification. These sequences are explained by specific communication conditions as seen with these examples:a) Doubt or reluctance in the face of information that one can hardly believe:à d’autres !, à d’autres mais pas à moi !, à d’autres mais pas à nous ! b) Criticism of a work that is considered null and uninteresting:c’est de la bouillie pour les chats, c’est de la bricole, c’est de la briquette, c’est de la couille,c’est de la merde, c’est de la piquette, c’est du flan, c’est du pipeau, c’est du vent.This is long-term work, which allows us to renew certain theoretical perspectives.  

Speech Acquisition in Monolingual Children Acquiring isiZulu in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Pascoe ◽  
Zenia Jeggo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Speech Sound Disorders ◽  
Language Therapy ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Children's Speech

In South Africa, isiZulu is the most widely spoken home language. However, research on children’s speech acquisition in isiZulu is minimal and there are no published speech assessments that speech-language therapists can use to identify children with speech sound disorders acquiring this language. In our research we aimed to document speech sound acquisition of 32 isiZulu-speaking children aged two years, six months to six years, five months in rural KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa. An isiZulu speech assessment was developed and used to assess the children’s speech in terms of phonetic acquisition, word shape and phonological processes. In the study, the implosive, plosives, nasals, affricates and vowels were mastered by the youngest children. The click /!ɡ/, approximant /l/ and fricative /ɦ/ may be among the last consonants to develop: they had not been mastered by the oldest group. Two-syllable structures were mastered early while structures of four/five syllables were still developing at 6;5. Participants in the older age groups could produce target words more accurately and used fewer phonological processes. The findings are discussed in relation to normative data from other Bantu languages. Knowledge of isiZulu speech sound development will assist clinicians working with isiZulu-speaking children in assessing and managing their speech difficulties: an important step towards ensuring that speech-language therapy services are relevant to all children in South Africa.

scholarly journals Development of a measure for patients preparing to start dialysis and their partners: The Starting Dialysis Questionnaire (SDQ)

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Currie Moore ◽  
Alison Wearden ◽  
Lesley-Anne Carter ◽  
Sandip Mitra ◽  
Suzanne M. Skevington
Keyword(s):  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Cognitive Interviews ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Dyadic Relationship ◽  
Large Scale Field ◽  
The Face ◽  
Interpersonal Characteristics ◽  
Multi Phase

Abstract Background The transition onto dialysis is a stressful time that affects both patients and their partners. Research suggests that psychological and interpersonal characteristics within the couple are related to how well they adapt to dialysis. The aim of this multi-phase, mixed methods study was to develop a measure, the Starting Dialysis Questionnaire (SDQ), that is applicable to both patients and their partners and assesses their own thoughts and feelings about these constructs. Methods Data from semi-structured interviews with patients and their partners (n = 22 couples) were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis to identify and define constructs related to quality of life (QOL). Next, items addressing these constructs were derived from the interviews. Then, cognitive interviews were conducted with patients with chronic kidney disease and their partners (n = 5 couples) to assess the face validity and comprehensibility of the items. Lastly, preliminary psychometric properties were evaluated in a sample of patients preparing to start dialysis and their partners (n = 83 couples). Results Three themes related to QOL were identified, namely dialysis expectations, accepting dialysis and dyadic relationship characteristics. The cognitive interviews refined the SDQ and established its face validity. Psychometric assessments indicated that overall the items performed well and did not show significant floor or ceiling effects. Good internal consistency was found within the three domains, and items correlated within the domains. Conclusions The SDQ is a measure (34 items) that assesses key psychological and interpersonal factors in patients and their partners as they start dialysis. It shows good preliminary psychometric properties; however, a large-scale field trial is needed to establish its validity. Once validated, it could offer a clinically useful tool to assist clinicians in preparing patients and partners for dialysis.

Óscar Romero and the Politics of Sainthood

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-291
Author(s):  
Manuel A. Vasquez ◽  
Anna L. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil War ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
The Other ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Holy See ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Face ◽  
Crisis Of Modernity ◽  
The One

In this article, we explore the debates surrounding the proposed canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero, an outspoken defender of human rights and the poor during the civil war in El Salvador, who was assassinated in March 1980 by paramilitary death squads while saying Mass. More specifically, we examine the tension between, on the one hand, local and popular understandings of Romero’s life and legacy and, on the other hand, transnational and institutional interpretations. We argue that the reluctance of the Vatican to advance Romero’s canonization process has to do with the need to domesticate and “privatize” his image. This depoliticization of Romero’s work and teachings is a part of a larger agenda of neo-Romanization, an attempt by the Holy See to redeploy a post-colonial and transnational Catholic regime in the face of the crisis of modernity and the advent of postmodern relativism. This redeployment is based on the control of local religious expressions, particularly those that advocate for a more participatory church, which have proliferated with contemporary globalization

The Hierophanic Facets of the Seraphic Hymns

Trictrac ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petru Adrian Danciu
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Material World ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The People ◽  
Musical History ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

Starting from the cry of the seraphim in Isaiahʹ s prophecy, this article aims to follow the rhythm of the sacred harmony, transcending the symbols of the angelic world and of the divine names, to get to the face to face meeting between man and God, just as the seraphim, reflecting their existence, stand face to face. The finality of the sacred harmony is that, during the search for God inside the human being, He reveals Himself, which is the reason for the affirmation of “I Am that I Am.” Through its hypnotic cyclicality, the profane temporality has its own musicality. Its purpose is to incubate the unsuspected potencies of the beings “caught” in the material world. Due to the fact that it belongs to the aeonic time, the divine music will exceed in harmony the mechanical musicality of profane time, dilating and temporarily cancelling it. Isaiah is witness to such revelation offering access to the heavenly concert. He is witness to divine harmonies produced by two divine singers, whose musical history is presented in our article. The seraphim accompanied the chosen people after their exodus from Egypt. The cultic use of the trumpet is related to the characteristics and behaviour of the seraphim. The seraphic music does not belong to the Creator, but its lyrics speak about the presence of the Creator in two realities, a spiritual and a material one. Only the transcendence of the divine names that are sung/cried affirms a unique reality: God. The chant-cry is a divine invocation with a double aim. On the one hand, the angels and the people affirm God’s presence and call His name and, on the other, the Creator affirms His presence through the angels or in man, the one who is His image and His likeness. The divine music does not only create, it is also a means of communion, implementing the relation of man to God and, thus, God’s connection with man. It is a relation in which both filiation and paternity disappear inside the harmony of the mutual recognition produced by music, a reality much older than Adam’s language.

Challenging Gender Hierarchies in Narratives of the Nation: Representations of Women in Zintgraff and the Battle of Mankon and Hard Choice

Imbizo ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Epongse Nkealah ◽  
Olutoba Gboyega Oluwasuji
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Gender Differentiation ◽  
Hard Choice ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Gender Hierarchies ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One ◽  
Representations Of Women ◽  
Do So

Ideas of nationalisms as masculine projects dominate literary texts by African male writers. The texts mirror the ways in which gender differentiation sanctions nationalist discourses and in turn how nationalist discourses reinforce gender hierarchies. This article draws on theoretical insights from the work of Anne McClintock and Elleke Boehmer to analyse two plays: Zintgraff and the Battle of Mankon by Bole Butake and Gilbert Doho and Hard Choice by Sunnie Ododo. The article argues that women are represented in these two plays as having an ambiguous relationship to nationalism. On the one hand, women are seen actively changing the face of politics in their societies, but on the other hand, the means by which they do so reduces them to stereotypes of their gender.

First grammar books in the Habsburg Monarchy: individual initiative and regulatory interference by the state (1760s–1770s)

2020 ◽  
Vol 2019 (2 (11)) ◽  
pp. 137-157
Author(s):  
Olga V. Khavanova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
German Language ◽  
Habsburg Monarchy ◽  
Private Initiative ◽  
The One

The second half of the eighteenth century in the lands under the sceptre of the House of Austria was a period of development of a language policy addressing the ethno-linguistic diversity of the monarchy’s subjects. On the one hand, the sphere of use of the German language was becoming wider, embracing more and more segments of administration, education, and culture. On the other hand, the authorities were perfectly aware of the fact that communication in the languages and vernaculars of the nationalities living in the Austrian Monarchy was one of the principal instruments of spreading decrees and announcements from the central and local authorities to the less-educated strata of the population. Consequently, a large-scale reform of primary education was launched, aimed at making the whole population literate, regardless of social status, nationality (mother tongue), or confession. In parallel with the centrally coordinated state policy of education and language-use, subjects-both language experts and amateur polyglots-joined the process of writing grammar books, which were intended to ease communication between the different nationalities of the Habsburg lands. This article considers some examples of such editions with primary attention given to the correlation between private initiative and governmental policies, mechanisms of verifying the textbooks to be published, their content, and their potential readers. This paper demonstrates that for grammar-book authors, it was very important to be integrated into the patronage networks at the court and in administrative bodies and stresses that the Vienna court controlled the process of selection and financing of grammar books to be published depending on their quality and ability to satisfy the aims and goals of state policy.

The Green New Deal

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Hockett
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Good News ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
The One ◽  
In Virtue Of

This white paper lays out the guiding vision behind the Green New Deal Resolution proposed to the U.S. Congress by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bill Markey in February of 2019. It explains the senses in which the Green New Deal is 'green' on the one hand, and a new 'New Deal' on the other hand. It also 'makes the case' for a shamelessly ambitious, not a low-ball or slow-walked, Green New Deal agenda. At the core of the paper's argument lies the observation that only a true national mobilization on the scale of those associated with the original New Deal and the Second World War will be up to the task of comprehensively revitalizing the nation's economy, justly growing our middle class, and expeditiously achieving carbon-neutrality within the twelve-year time-frame that climate science tells us we have before reaching an environmental 'tipping point.' But this is actually good news, the paper argues. For, paradoxically, an ambitious Green New Deal also will be the most 'affordable' Green New Deal, in virtue of the enormous productivity, widespread prosperity, and attendant public revenue benefits that large-scale public investment will bring. In effect, the Green New Deal will amount to that very transformative stimulus which the nation has awaited since the crash of 2008 and its debt-deflationary sequel.

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