scholarly journals An Association Between Phonetic Complexity of Infant Vocalizations and Parent Vowel Hyperarticulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Marklund ◽  
Ulrika Marklund ◽  
Lisa Gustavsson
Keyword(s):  
Speech Sound ◽  
Complexity Measure ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Infant Vocalizations ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Sound Category ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Underlying Variable ◽  
Category Development

Extreme or exaggerated articulation of vowels, or vowel hyperarticulation, is a characteristic commonly found in infant-directed speech (IDS). High degrees of vowel hyperarticulation in parent IDS has been tied to better speech sound category development and bigger vocabulary size in infants. In the present study, the relationship between vowel hyperarticulation in Swedish IDS to 12-month-old and phonetic complexity of infant vocalizations is investigated. Articulatory adaptation toward hyperarticulation is quantified as difference in vowel space area between IDS and adult-directed speech (ADS). Phonetic complexity is estimated using the Word Complexity Measure for Swedish (WCM-SE). The results show that vowels in IDS was more hyperarticulated than vowels in ADS, and that parents’ articulatory adaptation in terms of hyperarticulation correlates with phonetic complexity of infant vocalizations. This can be explained either by the parents’ articulatory behavior impacting the infants’ vocalization behavior, the infants’ social and communicative cues eliciting hyperarticulation in the parents’ speech, or the two variables being impacted by a third, underlying variable such as parents’ general communicative adaptiveness.

A Comprehensive Three-dimensional Cortical Map of Vowel Space

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3972-3982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Scharinger ◽  
William J. Idsardi ◽  
Samantha Poe
Keyword(s):  
Basilar Membrane ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Spatial Encoding ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Cortical Map

Mammalian cortex is known to contain various kinds of spatial encoding schemes for sensory information including retinotopic, somatosensory, and tonotopic maps. Tonotopic maps are especially interesting for human speech sound processing because they encode linguistically salient acoustic properties. In this study, we mapped the entire vowel space of a language (Turkish) onto cortical locations by using the magnetic N1 (M100), an auditory-evoked component that peaks approximately 100 msec after auditory stimulus onset. We found that dipole locations could be structured into two distinct maps, one for vowels produced with the tongue positioned toward the front of the mouth (front vowels) and one for vowels produced in the back of the mouth (back vowels). Furthermore, we found spatial gradients in lateral–medial, anterior–posterior, and inferior–superior dimensions that encoded the phonetic, categorical distinctions between all the vowels of Turkish. Statistical model comparisons of the dipole locations suggest that the spatial encoding scheme is not entirely based on acoustic bottom–up information but crucially involves featural–phonetic top–down modulation. Thus, multiple areas of excitation along the unidimensional basilar membrane are mapped into higher dimensional representations in auditory cortex.

A Map Complexity Measure Based on Contact Surface

2013 ◽  
Vol 411-414 ◽  
pp. 1994-1997
Author(s):  
Yan Li ◽  
Wen Ju Zhao ◽  
Zhen Hua Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Contact Surface ◽  
Hamming Distance ◽  
Measurement Methods ◽  
Complexity Measure ◽  
Connectivity Map ◽  
Complexity Measures ◽  
The Relationship

This paper defined the full connect map and contact surface, and proposed a new map complexity measure, and compared with measurement methods based on Hamming distance and relative Hamming distance. We further research on the relationship between the complexity measure and the map connectivity. The complexity measures based on Hamming distance and contact surface are applicable to full connectivity map, and the new measurement can reflects the difficulty of the pathfinding algorithm more accurately, especially in a higher complexity.

scholarly journals Identification of Foreign-Accented Words in Preschoolers With and Without Speech Sound Disorders

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1340-1351
Author(s):  
Françoise Brosseau-Lapré ◽  
Wan Hee Kim
Keyword(s):  
Word Identification ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Native English Speaker ◽  
Vocabulary Skills ◽  
Language Tests

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of preschoolers with speech sound disorder (SSD) and with typical speech and language development (TD) to understand foreign-accented words, providing a window into the quality of their underlying phonological representations. We also investigated the relationship between vocabulary skills and the ability to identify words that are frequent and have few neighbors (lexically easy words) and words that are less frequent and have many neighbors (lexically hard words). Method Thirty-two monolingual English-speaking children (16 with SSD, 16 with TD), ages 4 and 5 years, completed standardized speech and language tests and a two-alternative forced-choice word identification task of English words produced by a native English speaker and a native Korean speaker. Results Children with SSD had more difficulty identifying words produced by both talkers than children with TD and showed a larger difficulty identifying Korean-accented words. Both groups of children identified lexically easy words more accurately than lexically hard words, although this difference was not significant when including receptive vocabulary skills in the analysis. Identification of lexically hard words, both those produced by the native English speaker and the nonnative English speaker, increased with vocabulary size. Conclusion Considering the performance of the children with SSD under ideal listening conditions in this study, we can assume that, as a group, children with SSD may experience greater difficulty identifying foreign-accented words in environments with background noise.

Investigating relationship between fluid and crystallised intelligence and vocabulary size in students learning French as a foreign language

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11912
Author(s):  
Seyyedeh Soudeh Mirsaeedghazi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
French Language ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Reasoning Test ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Correlation Result ◽  
Iranian Students ◽  
The Relationship

In this study, the relationship between fluid and crystallised intelligence and vocabulary size was investigated among Iranian students learning French as a foreign language. Studies emphasised on the importance of vocabulary size and language comprehension and tried to discover mental and intelligence factors related to this issue. To administer the present quantitative study, the Persian Adaptation of Baddeley’s (1968) Grammatical reasoning Test for Fluid Intelligence, Persian Test of Baghaei & Tabatabaee (2015) for Crystallised intelligence, and Nation’s (2012) Test of Vocabulary Size were instrumented. Population of the study was 100 intermediate learners of French language from three branches of Safir institute in Tehran. Data was analysed using SPSS and correlational tools to specify the variables correlation. Result showed that there is a significant relationship between crystallised intelligence and size of vocabulary (p<0.1), while there was no significant relationship between fluid intelligence and vocabulary size (p>0.5). It was concluded that fluid intelligence does not predict learners’ vocabulary size, but crystallised intelligence as grows gradually determines learners’ vocabulary size.

Modeling Speech Level as a Function of Background Noise Level and Talker-to-Listener Distance for Talkers Wearing Hearing Protection Devices

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 3393-3403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Bouserhal ◽  
Annelies Bockstael ◽  
Ewen MacDonald ◽  
Tiago H. Falk ◽  
Jérémie Voix
Keyword(s):  
Noise Level ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Sound Level ◽  
Hearing Protection ◽  
Background Noise Level ◽  
Vocal Effort ◽  
Protection Devices ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Studying the variations in speech levels with changing background noise level and talker-to-listener distance for talkers wearing hearing protection devices (HPDs) can aid in understanding communication in background noise. Method Speech was recorded using an intra-aural HPD from 12 different talkers at 5 different distances in 3 different noise conditions and 2 quiet conditions. Results This article proposes models that can predict the difference in speech level as a function of background noise level and talker-to-listener distance for occluded talkers. The proposed model complements the existing model presented by Pelegrín-García, Smits, Brunskog, and Jeong (2011) and expands on it by taking into account the effects of occlusion and background noise level on changes in speech sound level. Conclusions Three models of the relationship between vocal effort, background noise level, and talker-to-listener distance for talkers wearing HPDs are presented. The model with the best prediction intervals is a talker-dependent model that requires the users' unoccluded speech level at 10 m as a reference. A model describing the relationship between speech level, talker-to-listener distance, and background noise level for occluded talkers could eventually be incorporated with radio protocols to transmit verbal communication only to an intended set of listeners within a given spatial range—this range being dependent on the changes in speech level and background noise level.

The relationship between vowel space area and intelligibility of speech in children with velopharyngeal insufficiency

2019 ◽  
Vol 146 (4) ◽  
pp. 2921-2921
Author(s):  
Hedieh Hashemi Hosseinabad ◽  
Suzanne E. Boyce ◽  
Ann W. Kummer ◽  
Karla Washington ◽  
Winter Taite
Keyword(s):  
Velopharyngeal Insufficiency ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
The Relationship
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