ACOUSTIC PHONETIC VERIFICATION OF CANADIAN RAISING OF /AI/ AND /AU/ IN MINNESOTA ENGLISH

The diphthongs [ɑɪ] and [aʊ] are produced respectively as [ʌɪ] and [ʌʊ] by Canadians. This pronunciation was first mentioned in a primer in Canada in 1890. Joos drew scholarly attention to it in a seminal paper in 1942. It was later dubbed “Canadian Raising” by Chambers (1973). Vance (1987) contends that /aɪ/-raising was heard in Fergus Falls, MN, as far back as 1930s, but said nothing about the occurrence of /aʊ/-raising. The goal of this paper is to discuss the status of Canadian Raising in Minnesota English. Two separate experiments were conducted in which 18 Minnesotans produced 40 words embedded into the elicitation sentence, , again\u3e. The findings discussed in this paper are based on 2,160 measured tokens (40 words x 18 participants x 3 correlates (F1, F2, F3)). Just Noticeable Difference (JND) thresholds in the frequency domain are summoned to evaluate the type of Canadian Raising found in Minnesota English

Investigación de la individualidad del locutor en el alemán estándar de Suecia en cuatro regiones dialectales alemánicas: cantidad consonántica, cualidad vocálica y variables temporales

While German-speaking Switzerland manifests a considerable amount of dialectal diversity, until the present day the phonetic interrelation of Alemannic (ALM) dialects and spoken Swiss Standard German (SSG) has not been studied with an acoustic phonetic approach on the speaker level. In this study, out of a pool of 32 speakers (controlled for sex, age, and education level) from 4 dialectologically distinct ALM areas, 16 speakers with 2 dialects were analysed regarding SSG consonant duration (in words whose ALM equivalents may or may not have a geminate), 8 speakers from the city of Bern (BE) were analysed for vowel quality, and 32 speakers were analysed for temporal variables, i.e., articulation rate (AR) and vocalic-speech percentage (%V). Results reveal that there is much intradialectal inter- and intraspeaker variation in all three aspects scrutinised, but especially regarding vowel quality of BE SSG mid vowels and temporal variables. As for consonant quantity, while intradialectal interspeaker variation was observed, speakers showed a tendency towards normalised SSG consonant durations that resemble the normalised consonant durations in their ALM dialect. In general, these results suggest that a speaker’s dialect background is only one factor amongst many that influence the way in which Swiss Standard German is spoken.Aunque la Suiza de habla alemana cuente con una diversidad dialectal considerable, hasta hoy no se ha estudiado la interrelación fonética entre los dialectos alemánicos (ALM) y el alemán estándar suizo (SSG) con un enfoque acústico a nivel de locutor. La muestra para este estudio se compone de 32 informantes (controlados por sexo y edad) procedentes de cuatro distintas regiones dialectales ALM. De 16 locutores de 2 dialectos se analiza la duración consonántica en palabras SSG cuyos equivalentes ALM pueden tener o faltar una geminada. De 8 locutores de la ciudad de Berna se analizan distintos timbres vocálicos. Además, para todos los 32 locutores se calculan dos variables temporales, o sea la velocidad de articulación (AR) y el portentaje vocálico del habla (%V). <>Los resultados revelan que existe mucha variación inter- e intraindividual en todos los tres aspectos investigados, pero sobre todo en el timbre vocálico de las vocales medias en BE SSG y en las variables temporales. En relación a la cantidad consonántica, se ha observado cierta variación intradialectal entre varios locutores, pero al mismo tiempo muchos locutores muestran duraciones consonánticas normalizadas SSG que se parecen a las duraciones consonánticas normalizadas en su propio dialecto ALM. En general, estos resultados sugieren que el dialecto alemánico es solo uno entre varios factores que influyen en la pronunciación del alemán estándar suizo

An Interactive and Efficient Voice Processing For Home Automation System

Home networking has evolved from linked personal computers to a more complex system that encompasses advanced security and automation applications. Once just reserved for high-end luxury homes, home networks are now a regular feature in residences. These networks allow users to consolidate heating, air conditioning, lighting, appliances, entertainment, intercom, telecommunication, surveillance and security systems into an easy-to-operate unified network. Interactive applications operated by voice recognition, for example integrated door security systems and the ability to control home appliances, are key features of home automation networks. This interactive capability depends on high-quality voice processing technology, including acoustic echo cancellation, low signal distortion and noise reduction techniques. A home automation system must also be scalable to allow future evolution, flexible to support field upgrades, interactive, easy-to-use, costefficient and reliable. This article introduces some of the voice quality performance issues and design challenges unique to home automation systems. It will discuss home automation network applications that rely on voice processing, and examine some of the critical features and functionality that can help ease design complexity and cost to deliver enhanced performance

DO ACOUSTIC PHONETIC CORRELATES VARY IN RELATION TO GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS? EXEMPLIFICATION WITH Her

Do speakers produce the same word differently if its grammatical function changes? The word is used to provide some answers. This word is optimal because it is one of a few English words whose orthography and pronunciation remain the same across three grammatical functions. is spelled and pronounced the same when it functions as a direct object, an indirect object, or a possessive adjective. This makes it ideal for investigating any putative correlation between grammatical functions and acoustic phonetic correlates. Twenty (10 females and 10 males) speakers of American English from 10 different states recorded themselves reading the Speech Accent Archive (SAA) elicitation paragraph in which occurs four times surrounded by 31 different words. We extracted F0/pitch, F1, F2, F3, F4, intensity, and duration correlates from and the surrounding words, for a total of 4,340 measured tokens. For this paper, we focus exclusively on F0/pitch, intensity, and duration to test the existence of a putative correlation. Arithmetic means, standard deviations, and interspeaker variability analyses are provided to answer the research question. The findings help to posit the existence of the proximity and the declination principles, as a way of accounting for why correlations exist in some cases but not in others