Exploring the differences in phonemes and cross-linguistic influences, particularly by comparing the pronunciation patterns of English and Mandarin, is crucial for language learners. Such comparative studies can help ...Exploring the differences in phonemes and cross-linguistic influences, particularly by comparing the pronunciation patterns of English and Mandarin, is crucial for language learners. Such comparative studies can help learners better understand and overcome the pronunciation difficulties encountered during second language acquisition. English and Mandarin have significant differences in their vowel and consonant systems, tones, intonation, and syllable structures. A deep understanding of these differences allows learners to engage in targeted pronunciation training, reducing accent interference. This research provides guidance for improving language teaching methods, enabling teachers to design more effective pronunciation strategies and exercises based on the students’ native language backgrounds, thus enhancing learning outcomes. Additionally, cross-linguistic studies aid in improving speech recognition and conversion technologies, achieving higher accuracy and naturalness in multilingual speech processing systems. From a cultural exchange perspective, understanding and respecting the phonetic characteristics of different languages help to enhance the effectiveness and mutual understanding in cross-cultural communication. The comparative study of English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns not only provides a theoretical foundation for language education and technological applications but also promotes effective communication in multilingual environments. This thesis uses a comparative research method to elucidate the study of English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns. It begins with an analysis of the characteristics and similarities of the pronunciation patterns in both languages. The thesis then examines the differences between English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns through four aspects: the number and complexity of vowel phonemes, types and distribution of consonant phonemes, tones and stress, and intonation and phonetic phenomena. Finally, based on the comparative analysis of the differences, the thesis offers targeted policy recommendations for learning English and Mandarin.展开更多
This paper surveys several linguistic aspects of the varieties of the Omani Arabic dialect (OA). It starts with a discussion of the sociolinguistic situation in Oman and the factors that shaped it, as well as discussi...This paper surveys several linguistic aspects of the varieties of the Omani Arabic dialect (OA). It starts with a discussion of the sociolinguistic situation in Oman and the factors that shaped it, as well as discussing the OA varieties and the languages spoken in the country. This is followed by a presentation of the OA consonant and vowel phonemes and their allophones. The paper also presents phonological aspects such as syllable structure and word stress as well as examples of processes like assimilation and emphasis spreading. Then, it presents the OA personal, demonstrative, possessive, and interrogative pronouns, as well as morphological issues such as subject agreement affixes, verbal forms,passive formation, and pluralization patterns. Next, it presents syntactic patterns including word order, negation, question formation, and relative clauses. Besides the survey, the paper provides examples that reveal similarity between some OA dialects and those of the pre-Islamic era, as evidenced by some of the documented and approved readings of the Holy Qur?an. There is also discussion of some cases of grammaticalization and pronominal copulas.展开更多
This piece of work analyses some learning difficulties in phonology and presents some teaching strategies on teaching phonology at supra-segmental level.
The design of acoustic models is of vital importance to build a reliable connection between acoustic wave-form and linguistic messages in terms of individual speech units. According to the characteristic of Chinese ph...The design of acoustic models is of vital importance to build a reliable connection between acoustic wave-form and linguistic messages in terms of individual speech units. According to the characteristic of Chinese phonemes, the base acoustic phoneme units set is decided and refined and a decision tree based state tying approach is explored. Since one of the advantages of top-down tying method is flexibility in maintaining a balance between model accuracy and complexity, relevant adjustments are conducted, such as the stopping criterion of decision tree node splitting, during which optimal thresholds are captured. Better results are achieved in improving acoustic modeling accuracy as well as minimizing the scale of the model to a trainable extent.展开更多
This paper gives a brief account of English consonant cluster's structure and phonetic features from the perspective of the definition and cause of neutralization of English consonants as well as their distinctive...This paper gives a brief account of English consonant cluster's structure and phonetic features from the perspective of the definition and cause of neutralization of English consonants as well as their distinctive features and oppositions.It comes up with the final conclusion that neutralization exists in only thirteen English consonant clusters,among a large number of consonant clusters.展开更多
An extended phonemic set of mandarin from the view of speech recognition is proposed. This set absorbs most principles of some other existing phonemic sets for mandarin, like Worldbet and SAMPA-C, and also takes advan...An extended phonemic set of mandarin from the view of speech recognition is proposed. This set absorbs most principles of some other existing phonemic sets for mandarin, like Worldbet and SAMPA-C, and also takes advantage of some practical experiences from speech recognition research for increasing the discriminability between word models. And the experiments in speaker independent continuous speech recognition show that hidden Markov models defined by this phonemic set have a better performance than those based on initial/final units of mandarin and have a very compact size.展开更多
Transliteration aims to adapt loanwords to perfect sound patterns and structures. With the guidance of Optimality Theory, this paper elaborates on the constraints that must be observed in transliteration to achieve Ch...Transliteration aims to adapt loanwords to perfect sound patterns and structures. With the guidance of Optimality Theory, this paper elaborates on the constraints that must be observed in transliteration to achieve Chinese phonological harmony from phonemic equivalents. It analyzes the ranking of constraints for structural acceptability of the loanwords.展开更多
This paper introduces several important features of the Chinese large vocabulary continuous speech recognition system in the NICT/ATR multi-lingual speech-to-speech translation system. The features include： （1） a f...This paper introduces several important features of the Chinese large vocabulary continuous speech recognition system in the NICT/ATR multi-lingual speech-to-speech translation system. The features include： （1） a flexible way to derive an information rich phoneme set based on mutual information between a text corpus and its phoneme set; （2） a hidden Markov network acoustic model and a successive state splitting algorithm to generate its model topology based on a minimum description length criterion; and （3） advanced language modeling using multi-class composite N-grams. These features allow a recognition performance of 90% character accuracy in tourism related dialogue with a real time response speed.展开更多
This is a qualitative study of the types of segmental repair that maintain mutual intelligibility in English-as-a-Lingua-Franca interactions among Chinese and Japanese speakers of English （Jenkins, 2000; Matsumoto 20...This is a qualitative study of the types of segmental repair that maintain mutual intelligibility in English-as-a-Lingua-Franca interactions among Chinese and Japanese speakers of English （Jenkins, 2000; Matsumoto 2011; O＇Neal 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2015d, 2016, in press）. Repair refers to a set of practices through which conversation participants stop the ongoing action to attend to actual or potential problems 1：o the maintenance of mutual intelligibility （Schegloff, 2007; N^meth, 2012）. Although anything can potentially be a problem to the maintenance of mutual intelligibility, this study focuses only on instances of the repair of segmental phonemes so that the pronunciation remains mutually intelligible. Using conversation analytic methodology to examine a corpus of repair sequences concerning pronunciation among Chinese and Japanese students at a Japanese university, this study claims that three segmental repair strategies are used in the interactions to maintain mutually intelligible pronunciation： segmental phoneme modification, segmental phoneme insertion, and segmental phoneme deletion.展开更多
Linguistics and anthropology have much in common in terms of research category and methodology. Whereas the ＂emic/etic＂ approach in linguistics distinguishes between the social/psychological qualities of the sound s...Linguistics and anthropology have much in common in terms of research category and methodology. Whereas the ＂emic/etic＂ approach in linguistics distinguishes between the social/psychological qualities of the sound system of a specific language and the physical/ physiological qualities of supra-language sounds, the ＂emic/etic＂ approach in anthropology attempts to make a distinction between the ＂inside＂ view and the ＂outside＂ view of culture. Both approaches involve a set of dualistic relationships between linguistic and cultural relativity and linguistic and cultural universality, as well as between linguistic/ cultural diversity and genetic diversity. Due to validation difficulties, ＂linguistic relativity＂ has received a cold welcome in the field of linguistics. However, ＂cultural relativity＂ now constitutes the core of modem anthropology. The inherent links and near identity of functions between linguistic/cultural diversity and biological diversity render possible methodological exchanges across the disciplines.展开更多
文摘Exploring the differences in phonemes and cross-linguistic influences, particularly by comparing the pronunciation patterns of English and Mandarin, is crucial for language learners. Such comparative studies can help learners better understand and overcome the pronunciation difficulties encountered during second language acquisition. English and Mandarin have significant differences in their vowel and consonant systems, tones, intonation, and syllable structures. A deep understanding of these differences allows learners to engage in targeted pronunciation training, reducing accent interference. This research provides guidance for improving language teaching methods, enabling teachers to design more effective pronunciation strategies and exercises based on the students’ native language backgrounds, thus enhancing learning outcomes. Additionally, cross-linguistic studies aid in improving speech recognition and conversion technologies, achieving higher accuracy and naturalness in multilingual speech processing systems. From a cultural exchange perspective, understanding and respecting the phonetic characteristics of different languages help to enhance the effectiveness and mutual understanding in cross-cultural communication. The comparative study of English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns not only provides a theoretical foundation for language education and technological applications but also promotes effective communication in multilingual environments. This thesis uses a comparative research method to elucidate the study of English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns. It begins with an analysis of the characteristics and similarities of the pronunciation patterns in both languages. The thesis then examines the differences between English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns through four aspects: the number and complexity of vowel phonemes, types and distribution of consonant phonemes, tones and stress, and intonation and phonetic phenomena. Finally, based on the comparative analysis of the differences, the thesis offers targeted policy recommendations for learning English and Mandarin.
文摘This paper surveys several linguistic aspects of the varieties of the Omani Arabic dialect (OA). It starts with a discussion of the sociolinguistic situation in Oman and the factors that shaped it, as well as discussing the OA varieties and the languages spoken in the country. This is followed by a presentation of the OA consonant and vowel phonemes and their allophones. The paper also presents phonological aspects such as syllable structure and word stress as well as examples of processes like assimilation and emphasis spreading. Then, it presents the OA personal, demonstrative, possessive, and interrogative pronouns, as well as morphological issues such as subject agreement affixes, verbal forms,passive formation, and pluralization patterns. Next, it presents syntactic patterns including word order, negation, question formation, and relative clauses. Besides the survey, the paper provides examples that reveal similarity between some OA dialects and those of the pre-Islamic era, as evidenced by some of the documented and approved readings of the Holy Qur?an. There is also discussion of some cases of grammaticalization and pronominal copulas.
文摘This piece of work analyses some learning difficulties in phonology and presents some teaching strategies on teaching phonology at supra-segmental level.
基金Project 60475007 supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘The design of acoustic models is of vital importance to build a reliable connection between acoustic wave-form and linguistic messages in terms of individual speech units. According to the characteristic of Chinese phonemes, the base acoustic phoneme units set is decided and refined and a decision tree based state tying approach is explored. Since one of the advantages of top-down tying method is flexibility in maintaining a balance between model accuracy and complexity, relevant adjustments are conducted, such as the stopping criterion of decision tree node splitting, during which optimal thresholds are captured. Better results are achieved in improving acoustic modeling accuracy as well as minimizing the scale of the model to a trainable extent.
文摘This paper gives a brief account of English consonant cluster's structure and phonetic features from the perspective of the definition and cause of neutralization of English consonants as well as their distinctive features and oppositions.It comes up with the final conclusion that neutralization exists in only thirteen English consonant clusters,among a large number of consonant clusters.
文摘An extended phonemic set of mandarin from the view of speech recognition is proposed. This set absorbs most principles of some other existing phonemic sets for mandarin, like Worldbet and SAMPA-C, and also takes advantage of some practical experiences from speech recognition research for increasing the discriminability between word models. And the experiments in speaker independent continuous speech recognition show that hidden Markov models defined by this phonemic set have a better performance than those based on initial/final units of mandarin and have a very compact size.
文摘Transliteration aims to adapt loanwords to perfect sound patterns and structures. With the guidance of Optimality Theory, this paper elaborates on the constraints that must be observed in transliteration to achieve Chinese phonological harmony from phonemic equivalents. It analyzes the ranking of constraints for structural acceptability of the loanwords.
文摘This paper introduces several important features of the Chinese large vocabulary continuous speech recognition system in the NICT/ATR multi-lingual speech-to-speech translation system. The features include： （1） a flexible way to derive an information rich phoneme set based on mutual information between a text corpus and its phoneme set; （2） a hidden Markov network acoustic model and a successive state splitting algorithm to generate its model topology based on a minimum description length criterion; and （3） advanced language modeling using multi-class composite N-grams. These features allow a recognition performance of 90% character accuracy in tourism related dialogue with a real time response speed.
文摘This is a qualitative study of the types of segmental repair that maintain mutual intelligibility in English-as-a-Lingua-Franca interactions among Chinese and Japanese speakers of English （Jenkins, 2000; Matsumoto 2011; O＇Neal 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2015d, 2016, in press）. Repair refers to a set of practices through which conversation participants stop the ongoing action to attend to actual or potential problems 1：o the maintenance of mutual intelligibility （Schegloff, 2007; N^meth, 2012）. Although anything can potentially be a problem to the maintenance of mutual intelligibility, this study focuses only on instances of the repair of segmental phonemes so that the pronunciation remains mutually intelligible. Using conversation analytic methodology to examine a corpus of repair sequences concerning pronunciation among Chinese and Japanese students at a Japanese university, this study claims that three segmental repair strategies are used in the interactions to maintain mutually intelligible pronunciation： segmental phoneme modification, segmental phoneme insertion, and segmental phoneme deletion.
文摘Linguistics and anthropology have much in common in terms of research category and methodology. Whereas the ＂emic/etic＂ approach in linguistics distinguishes between the social/psychological qualities of the sound system of a specific language and the physical/ physiological qualities of supra-language sounds, the ＂emic/etic＂ approach in anthropology attempts to make a distinction between the ＂inside＂ view and the ＂outside＂ view of culture. Both approaches involve a set of dualistic relationships between linguistic and cultural relativity and linguistic and cultural universality, as well as between linguistic/ cultural diversity and genetic diversity. Due to validation difficulties, ＂linguistic relativity＂ has received a cold welcome in the field of linguistics. However, ＂cultural relativity＂ now constitutes the core of modem anthropology. The inherent links and near identity of functions between linguistic/cultural diversity and biological diversity render possible methodological exchanges across the disciplines.
