scholarly journals Intonational Pitch Features of Interrogatives and Declaratives in Chengdu Dialect

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongliu Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
F0 Contour ◽  
Final Syllable ◽  
Theoretical Results

As a representative of southwestern Mandarin, the Chengdu dialect has its own distinctive pitch features in phonology of tone and intonation. Research on the pronunciation and lexical tone of the Chengdu dialect has a long history with a certain amount of theoretical results. However, research on intonation of Chengdu dialect is still rare. The writer provides an acoustic analysis of research into intonational pitch features of interrogative and declarative sentences of Chengdu dialect, discussing the F0 contour at the final syllable (character) of each sentence to find out if the statement or question mood is carried by the edge tone as well as the pitch perturbation between lexical tone and intonation on it. The results of this acoustic analysis show that there exist statement and question mood of Chengdu dialect carried by the final syllable within an intonational phrase as well as the perturbation on the final syllable (character) by the coexistence of its lexical tone and intonation.

Effects of Fundamental Frequency Contours on Sentence Recognition in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 3855-3864
Author(s):  
Wanting Huang ◽  
Lena L. N. Wong ◽  
Fei Chen ◽  
Haihong Liu ◽  
Wei Liang
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Sentence Recognition ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
F0 Contour ◽  
Appropriate Sentences

Purpose Fundamental frequency (F0) is the primary acoustic cue for lexical tone perception in tonal languages but is processed in a limited way in cochlear implant (CI) systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of F0 contours in sentence recognition in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs and find out whether it is similar to/different from that in age-matched normal-hearing (NH) peers. Method Age-appropriate sentences, with F0 contours manipulated to be either natural or flattened, were randomly presented to preschool children with CIs and their age-matched peers with NH under three test conditions: in quiet, in white noise, and with competing sentences at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Results The neutralization of F0 contours resulted in a significant reduction in sentence recognition. While this was seen only in noise conditions among NH children, it was observed throughout all test conditions among children with CIs. Moreover, the F0 contour-induced accuracy reduction ratios (i.e., the reduction in sentence recognition resulting from the neutralization of F0 contours compared to the normal F0 condition) were significantly greater in children with CIs than in NH children in all test conditions. Conclusions F0 contours play a major role in sentence recognition in both quiet and noise among pediatric implantees, and the contribution of the F0 contour is even more salient than that in age-matched NH children. These results also suggest that there may be differences between children with CIs and NH children in how F0 contours are processed.

Intonation in Palenquero

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ignacio Hualde ◽  
Armin Schwegler
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Equatorial Guinea ◽  
Strong Tendency ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Caribbean Spanish ◽  
History Of ◽  
Final Syllable ◽  
Published Research

The least understood aspect of Palenquero phonology is its intonational system. This is a serious gap, as it is precisely in the realm of prosody that the most striking phonological differences between Palenquero and (Caribbean) Spanish are apparent. Although several authors have speculated that African influence may be at the source of Palenquero’s peculiar intonation, to date published research offers no detailed information about the intonation of the creole. The goal of this study is to remedy this situation. Here we identify several specific intonational features where conservative (or older-generation) Palenquero differs from (Caribbean) Spanish. One of these features is a strong tendency to use invariant word-level contours, with a H tone on the stressed syllable and L tones on unstressed syllables, in all sentential contexts, including prenuclear positions. A second feature that we have identified is the use of a sustained phrase-final high or mid level contour in declaratives accented on the final syllable, and a long fall in declaratives accented on the penult. The final section addresses the issue of the possible origin of these intonational features. We point out similarities with Equatorial Guinea Spanish and conclude that, at some point in the history of Palenquero, the Spanish prosodic system was interpreted as involving lexical tone, in conformity with claims in the literature regarding several Atlantic creoles.

scholarly journals Acoustic analysis of lexical tone in Mandarin infant-directed speech.

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 912-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huei-Mei Liu ◽  
Feng-Ming Tsao ◽  
Patricia K. Kuhl
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Lexical Tone

The Language-specific Use of Fundamental Frequency Rise in Segmentation of an Artificial Language: Evidence from Listeners of Taiwanese Southern Min

2019 ◽  
pp. 002383091988660
Author(s):  
Shu-chen Ou ◽  
Zhe-chen Guo
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Segmentation Strategy ◽  
Southern Min ◽  
Final Syllable ◽  
Taiwanese Southern Min

Experience with native-language prosody encourages language-specific strategies for speech segmentation. Conflicting findings from previous research suggest that these strategies may not be abstracted away from the acoustic manifestation of prosodic features in the native speech. Using the artificial language learning paradigm, the current study explores this possibility in connection with listeners of a lexical tone language called Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM). In TSM, the only rising lexical tone occurs almost only on the final syllable of the language’s tone sandhi domain and is phonetically associated with final lengthening. Based on these observations, Experiment I examined what constituted a sufficient finality cue for use by TSM listeners to support segmentation: (a) final fundamental frequency (F0) rise only; or (b) final F0 rise conjoined with final lengthening. The results showed that segmentation was inhibited by the former cue but facilitated by the latter. Experiment II showed that the facilitation cannot be attributed entirely to final lengthening, as a null effect was found when final lengthening was the sole prosodic cue to segmentation. It is thus assumed that acoustic details as fine-grained as the lengthening of the rising tone are involved in the modulation of the segmentation strategy whereby TSM listeners perceive F0 rise as signaling finality. The inhibitory effect of final F0 rise alone found in Experiment I motivated Experiment III, which revealed that initial F0 rise in the absence of lengthening cues improved TSM listeners’ segmentation. It is speculated that such use of initial F0 rise might reflect a cross-linguistic segmentation solution.

scholarly journals Singing Proficiency of Members of a Choir Formed by Prelingually Deafened Children With Cochlear Implants

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1561-1573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Yang ◽  
Qi Liang ◽  
Haotong Chen ◽  
Yanjun Liu ◽  
Li Xu
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Mean Deviation ◽  
Mean Absolute Deviation ◽  
Absolute Deviation ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
F0 Contour

PurposeA group of 10 prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants (CIs) formed a choir and received 21 months of formal music training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the singing proficiency of these children.MethodThe participants included all choir members (7 girls and 3 boys, mean age of 9.5 years old) who were unilateral CI users. Meanwhile, 8 age-matched children with normal hearing were recruited as controls and were trained on 1 song for 2 weeks. Individual singing samples without instrument accompaniment were recorded from all participants. The singing samples were subject to acoustic analysis in which the fundamental frequency (F0) of each note was extracted and the duration was measured. Five metrics were developed and computed to quantify the accuracy of their pitch and rhythm performance. The 5 metrics included (a) percent correct of F0 contour direction of adjacent notes, (b) mean deviation of the normalized F0 across the notes, (c) mean deviation of the pitch intervals, (d) mean deviation of adjacent note duration ratio, and (e) mean absolute deviation of note duration.ResultsThe choir members with CIs demonstrated high accuracy in both pitch and tempo measures and performed on par with the children with normal hearing. Early start of music training after implantation and use of bimodal hearing contributed to the development of better music ability in these children with CIs.ConclusionThese findings indicated that rigorous music training could facilitate high singing proficiency in prelingually deafened children with CIs.

scholarly journals VOWELS DURATION IN THE EVENKI LANGUAGE

2019 ◽  
pp. 88-100
Author(s):  
Olga N. Morozova ◽  
◽  
Svetlana V. Androsova ◽  
Semyon V. Kolesnikov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
The One ◽  
Final Syllable ◽  
Phonological Length ◽  
Fluent Speakers

The present article focuses upon phonological length realization patterns of Selemdzha Evenki vowels. The material of 90 words pronounced in isolation was obtained from 4 subjects, native fluent speakers of Evenki (1 male and 3 females, aged 54-70). They were asked to read each word 3 times to imitate 3 positions in the utterance: initial, medial, and final. As a result of the acoustic analysis, it was found that phonologically long vowels possessed more than 2 times longer duration than that of short vowels. In the group of long vowels, the direct correlation was noted between vowel openness degree and their duration: the more closed the vowel was, the larger duration it had. In the group of short vowels, no dependence of that sort was found: the longest vowels turned out to be the ones of the main triangle /i-a-u/. Vowels /ɜ:-ɜ/ were characterized by the smallest duration in both groups. Comparison of vowel duration in different positions of the Evenki word suggests that, on average, the longest vowel is the one in the final syllable (before a pause), regardless of the number of syllables in the word.

An acoustic study of quasi-phonemic vowels in Ampenan Sasak

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Leah Pappas
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
Analytical Methods ◽  
Auditory Perception ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
Phonemic Status ◽  
Final Syllable

ABSTRACT In a variety of Sasak called Ampenan Sasak in this paper, traditional documentation and analytical methods based on auditory perception reveal allophonic patterns in alternations of height among mid-vowels. High mid-vowels occur in final syllables ending in [ʔ] or no-coda (e.g. [tokoʔ] ‘fish species native to Lombok’) while low mid-vowels occur in final syllables ending in all other consonants (e.g. [tɔkɔl] ‘to sit’). However, words deviate from these patterns in several minimal pairs (e.g. [bəɾəmbok] ‘to discuss’ and [bəɾəmbɔk] ‘to breathe’) and in some borrowings (e.g. [agostos] ‘August’), suggesting a quasi-phonemic status for back mid-vowels; they behave like both phonemes and allophones. This study analyzes the phonetic properties of mid-vowels through an acoustic analysis of the F1 and F2 of 2,448 vowel tokens. Results suggest that mid-vowels are largely predictable among non-borrowed vocabulary. In final syllables, syllable openness serves as a predictor for the height of mid-vowels. In pre-final syllables, syllable openness has no effect on the height of the vowel. Rather, the height of pre-final mid-vowels is predictable based on the height of the final-syllable vowel. In consideration of both elicitation and acoustic evidence, this paper adopts a descriptive approach by stating that Ampenan Sasak back mid-vowels are largely predictable, with some exceptions. Further, the paper questions whether all sounds must be identified as a ‘phoneme’ or an ‘allophone’ and argues that quasi-phonemic segments are a valuable intermediate descriptor for both phonological theory and language documentation.

scholarly journals The production of Norwegian tones by multilingual non-native speakers

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guri Bordal Steien ◽  
Wim A van Dommelen
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Range ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Tonal Patterns

Aim and objectives/purpose/research questions: The aim of this study is to examine the extent to which multilingual second language (L2) speakers of Norwegian manage to produce lexical pitch accents (L*H¯ or H*LH¯) as expected in natural spontaneous speech. Using native speech as a reference, we analyse realizations of multilingual speakers whose respective dominant languages are Lingala, a lexical tone language, and Swahili, a non-tonal language with fixed stress, and hypothesize that this difference might be reflected in the speakers’ competence in the East Norwegian tone system. Design/methodology/approach: We examined a corpus of spontaneous speech produced by eight L2 speakers and two native speakers of East Norwegian. Acoustic analysis was performed to collect fundamental frequency (f0) contours of 60 accentual phrases per speaker. Data and analysis: For LH and HLH tonal patterns, measuring points were defined for quantitative evaluation of f0 values. Relevant aspects investigated were (a) pattern consistency, (b) f0 dynamic range and (c) rate of f0 change. Pattern consistency data were statistically evaluated using chi-square testing. The dynamic range and rate of f0 change data were explored through to linear mixed effects models. Findings/conclusions: We found no really substantial differences between the speaker groups in the parameters we examined, neither between the L2 speakers and the Norwegian natives nor between the Lingala and Swahili speakers. Originality and significance/implications: This study is a contribution to the scarcely explored area of L2 acquisition of tones. It is concerned with languages that have received little or no attention in the field: Norwegian, Lingala and Swahili. Participants are multilinguals who have extensive language learning experience. Further, the study is based on a corpus of spontaneous speech.

A sociotonetic analysis of Sui dialect contact

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Married Woman ◽  
Southwest China ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Level Variation ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Dialect Contact ◽  
The Face ◽  
High Degree

AbstractSui clan exogamy can serve as a laboratory for investigation of dialect contact and immigration. The Sui people, an indigenous minority of southwest China, have marriage customs requiring that a wife and husband have different clan origins, and the wife permanently immigrates to the husband's village at the time of marriage. Due to subtle interclan dialect variation, a married woman may have different dialect features than her husband and other local villagers. This study presents an acoustic analysis of such clan-level variation in lexical tone, asociotoneticanalysis. Results show that the immigrant women maintain the tone variants of their home clan dialects to a high degree despite spending a decade or more in the husband's village, thus illustrating a case where linguistic identity is maintained in the face of close, long-term contact.

Asymmetries in the intonation system of the tonal dialect of Maastricht Limburgish

Phonology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Gussenhoven
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Dependent Function ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Final Syllable

The lexical tone and intonation contrasts in the Limburgish dialect of Maastricht are remarkable in a number of ways. While a falling pitch contour on an IP-medial syllable signals a non-declarative intonation, on an IP-final syllable it signals a declarative intonation. In addition, although there is a binary tone contrast (Accent 1 vs. Accent 2) and four nuclear intonation contours, only three intonation contours exist for nuclear syllables with Accent 2, while in IP-final position only two intonation contours exist for nuclear syllables with Accent 1, so that the full set of four intonation contours is only observable in IP-medial nuclear syllables with Accent 1. The context-dependent function of the pitch fall and the asymmetries are explained by a grammar in which the OCP is enforced absolutely, and the number of tones per syllable is restricted to two, unless the three tones each represent a different morpheme: OCP, Realise.orph≫#TTT.

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