Selection of Suitable Features for Modeling the Durations of Syllables

Acoustic analysis and synthesis experiments have shown that duration and intonation patterns are the two most important prosodic features responsible for the quality of synthesized speech. In this paper a set of features are proposed which will influence the duration patterns of the sequence of the sound units. These features are derived from the results of the duration analysis. Duration analysis provides a rough estimate of features, which affect the duration patterns of the sequence of the sound units. But, the prediction of durations from these features using either linear models or with a fixed rulebase is not accurate. From the analysis it is observed that there exists a gross trend in durations of syllables with respect to syllable position in the phrase, syllable position in the word, word position in the phrase, syllable identity and the context of the syllable (preceding and the following syllables). These features can be further used to predict the durations of the syllables more accurately by exploring various nonlinear models. For analying the durations of sound units, broadcast news data in Telugu is used as the speech corpus. The prediction accuracy of the duration models developed using rulebases and neural networks is evaluated using the objective measures such as percentage of syllables predicted within the specified deviation, average prediction error (μ), standard deviation (σ) and correlation coefficient (γ).

SYLLABLE-BASED ACOUSTIC SIMULATION PROCESS IN SECOND LANGUAGE PRODUCTION

This paper discusses how Chinese speakers produce English sonorant consonants embedded in syllable structures novel to them.It shows that speakers may simulate target second language(L2)sounds based on acoustically similar first language(L1)sounds and it is a rather complex process in which sonorant type,vowel context,and articulatory constraints all come into play.Particularly,simulation of L2 speech based on acoustic cues is found to occur not only at the segmental but also at the syllabic level in the English production of Chinese speakers.To explain this finding,the present study proposes an acoustic-articulatory model of L2 syllable production and assumes that the acoustic simulation process is syllable-based and the output form is guided by salient acoustic cues and modulated by both language general and specific coarticulatory mechanisms.

EFFECTS OF SYLLABLE STRUCTURES ON THE PERCEPTION OF L2 ENGLISH LEXICAL STRESS AMONG TEENAGE MANDARIN LISTENERS

This study explores the effects of syllable structures on the perception of L2 English lexical stress among Chinese junior ELF learners.Specifically,it focuses on to what extent syllable numbers and syllable patterns differentiate the subjects’perception of target English lexical stress.The subjects were 93 junior middle-school students from two natural classes in Grade 7.The target lexical stress was the primarily stress placed on the 1;and 2;syllables respectively,which were embedded in two kinds of carrier words(nonsense&real English words)with three types of syllabic patterns(CVC.V,CVC.VC&CVC.CVC).The subjects first listened to the stimuli read by a British RP phonetician in falling tone and then did the perception tests in the pen-and-paper manner.Their correct perception ratios(CPRs)of the target English lexical stress were calculated and compared according to syllable numbers and syllable patterns.The results reveal that the CPRs of L2 English lexical stress in disyllabic words significantly outperformed those in trisyllabic words,and that among the disyllabic words,the CPRs ranked top,second,and bottom with the disyllabic patterns of CVC.V,CVC.CVC,and CVC.VC,respectively.The findings provide considerable evidence for the impact of syllabic structures on teenage Mandarin listeners’perception of L2 English lexical stress.

Research on perception of juncturebetween syllables in Chinese

For Chinese synthesis systems that use syllables as basic units, the perception of between-syllable juncture is a matter of interest. In this paper, a two-step perception test to investigate the perception property of formani transition is presented. The first step is a set of exploring tests, from which it is found that subjects can not distinguish whether the formants of two successive syllables are transited smoothly. The second step perception test is disigned to investigate the perception of formant transitions on a more thorough environment. The stimuli of the test are disyllabic words, which cover various phonemic structures and tonal combinations. Both the average person and specialists on phonetics and speech technology are invested to be subjects. Results of the second step test are consistent with those of the flrst step. The results also show that listeners are in general not sensitive to formant transition.Yet, both segment structure and tonal variation will affect the perception of formant transition.Although listeners with phonology knowledge tend to pay more attention to formant transition than others, they still have difficulty to distinguish synthetic disyllabic words with formant transition between syllables from those

Recognition of Handwritten Words from Digital Writing Pad Using MMU-SNet

In this paper,Modified Multi-scale Segmentation Network(MMU-SNet)method is proposed for Tamil text recognition.Handwritten texts from digi-tal writing pad notes are used for text recognition.Handwritten words recognition for texts written from digital writing pad through text file conversion are challen-ging due to stylus pressure,writing on glass frictionless surfaces,and being less skilled in short writing,alphabet size,style,carved symbols,and orientation angle variations.Stylus pressure on the pad changes the words in the Tamil language alphabet because the Tamil alphabets have a smaller number of lines,angles,curves,and bends.The small change in dots,curves,and bends in the Tamil alphabet leads to error in recognition and changes the meaning of the words because of wrong alphabet conversion.However,handwritten English word recognition and conversion of text files from a digital writing pad are performed through various algorithms such as Support Vector Machine(SVM),Kohonen Neural Network(KNN),and Convolutional Neural Network(CNN)for offline and online alphabet recognition.The proposed algorithms are compared with above algorithms for Tamil word recognition.The proposed MMU-SNet method has achieved good accuracy in predicting text,about 96.8%compared to other traditional CNN algorithms.

English Intonation Research and Teaching

Through the discussion and comparative research on theories, types and uses of English intonation, it is found that intonation is an indispensable part of oral communications. Proper use of intonation lies in knowing their functions and in the ability to correctly utter the patterns. Therefore, intonation theoretical knowledge is crucial and helpful to the English phonology teaching; and teachers need to properly incorporate intonation knowledge into teaching practice.

Discourse Analysis and the Teaching of Speaking

Speaking is a productive skill and it is acknowledged to be hard for learners to master.Certain elements related to phonetics in discourse analysis,which play a significant role in EFL teaching of speaking,seem to be neglected.This paper analyses three of these elements:pause,intonation and tonic syllable,and their application in the teaching of speaking.

Canonical Shape Analysis of Hausa and Bole Ideophones

Hausa and Bole are two languages from the same phylum i.e. Afro-asiatic. They have some common various linguistic features, most especially phonological and syntactic features. The main purpose of this paper is to come up with one of the phonological aspects of one of the word classes of Hausa and Bole. This means, we will analyse the syllable structure, which is canonical shape of ideophones of both languages using descriptive method of analysis adopted by Newman (2000). In Hausa, likewise in Bole, ideophones are numerous and several of them are commonly used syntactically. But, we will not deal with their syntactical use or function in this paper, what we focus on, is just their canonical shapes i.e. syllable structures. The paper is divided into four sections: sections one and four are introduction and conclusion respectively, while section two is descriptive analysis of canonical shape of Hausa ideophones, and section three, is of Bole ideophones.

The Comparative Phonology of Konsoid

This study compares the phonology of Konso, Diraytata and Mosittacha languages which belong to the Konsoid subgroup in the Lowland East Cushitic family. The aim is to identify and describe the phonological similarities and differences that exist among these languages. The classification of the languages’ sound systems, gemination,phonotactics and syllable structures are carried out in order to determine the major pattern of differences and similarities. Some major sound changes are discovered and the merger of voiced obstruents into voiceless counterparts is another major finding observed in these languages.

Revisiting the Goal of EFL Pronunciation Teaching in the Chinese Context

Chinese EFL learners’ performance in English pronunciation is an indication of both positive andnegative aspects of present EFL pronunciation teaching in the Chinese context.The present paperdiscusses the status quo of EFL pronunciation teaching in the Chinese context,the most commonlyfound deviations from the norm in English pronunciation,the need to redefine the goal of pronunciationteaching,and the aspects for special attention in Chinese EFL pronunciation teaching.Researches andexperiments show both an inability to distinguish sounds that carry a high functional load and aninability to deliver the information in an accepted speech flow can have a negative impact on the oralcommunication—and the listening comprehension abilities—of EFL speakers of English.ChineseEFL pronunciation,therefore,is facing the mission to redefine its goal and objective which should beboth clear and realistic and above all tailored to the needs of the learners.When the goal of ChineseEFL pronunciation teaching is clearly and appropriately defined,the learners will be expected toachieve more effective communication in oral expression and listening comprehension.

So much for the city:Urban–rural song variation in a widespread Asiatic songbird

Song plays a fundamental role in intraspecific communication in songbirds.The temporal and structural components of songs can vary in different habitats.These include urban habitats where anthropogenic sounds and alteration of habitat structure can significantly affect songbird vocal behavior.Urban-rural variations in song complexity,song length and syllable rate are not fully understood.In this study,using the oriental magpie-robin(Copsychus saularis)as a model,we investigated urban-rural variation in song complexity,song length,syllable rate,syllable length and inter-syllable interval.Comparing urban and rural songs from 7 countries across its natural Asiatic range(Bangladesh,India,Malaysia,Nepal,Singapore,Sri Lanka and Thailand),we found no significant differences in oriental magpie-robin song complexity.However,we found significant differences in temporal song variables between urban and rural sites.Longer songs and inter-syllable intervals in addition to slower syllable rates within urban sites contributed the most to this variance.This indicates that the urban environment may have driven production of longer and slower songs to maximize efficient transmission of important song information in urban habitats.