A Review of Accent-Based Automatic Speech Recognition Models for E-Learning Environment

The adoption of electronics learning (e-learning) as a method of disseminating knowledge in the global educational system is growing at a rapid rate, and has created a shift in the knowledge acquisition methods from the conventional classrooms and tutors to the distributed e-learning technique that enables access to various learning resources much more conveniently and flexibly. However, notwithstanding the adaptive advantages of learner-centric contents of e-learning programmes, the distributed e-learning environment has unconsciously adopted few international languages as the languages of communication among the participants despite the various accents (mother language influence) among these participants. Adjusting to and accommodating these various accents has brought about the introduction of accents-based automatic speech recognition into the e-learning to resolve the effects of the accent differences. This paper reviews over 50 research papers to determine the development so far made in the design and implementation of accents-based automatic recognition models for the purpose of e-learning between year 2001 and 2021. The analysis of the review shows that 50% of the models reviewed adopted English language, 46.50% adopted the major Chinese and Indian languages and 3.50% adopted Swedish language as the mode of communication. It is therefore discovered that majority of the ASR models are centred on the European, American and Asian accents, while unconsciously excluding the various accents peculiarities associated with the less technologically resourced continents

The word-level prosodic system of Mangghuer

Mangghuer’s prosodic system has been described as a stress system (Slater 2003), and alternately, because of a few minimal pairs, as a system that is undergoing tonogenesis. (Dwyer 2008). This thesis looks at new data to evaluate both of these claims. I analyze the prosody of native words and confirm that Mangghuer has a stress system. Duration is one of the indicators of stress, which has not been mentioned in previous literature. Potential minimal pairs are considered, including the minimal tone pairs that Dwyer found; her minimal pairs are not minimal pairs in my data. However, one set of nativized Chinese borrowings form a minimal tone pair by contrasting the pitch on the unstressed syllable. There are two pairs of words that have a high/falling distinction on the stressed syllable, which are not perceived as phonemically distinct. The high and the falling pitch distinctions are still associated with stress, but the evidence shows that the stress system is transitioning to a mixed prosodic system that uses both stress and tone

Lili Wu Chinese

Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic

Proto-Ong-Be

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

Tones in Zhangzhou: Pitch and Beyond

This study draws on various approaches—field linguistics; auditory and acoustic phonetics; and statistics—to explore and explain the nature of Zhangzhou tones, an under-described Southern Min variety. Several original findings emerged from the analyses of the data from 21 speakers. The realisations of Zhangzhou tones are multidimensional. The single parameter of pitch/F0 is not sufficient to characterise tonal contrasts in either monosyllabic or polysyllabic settings in Zhangzhou. Instead, various parameters, including pitch/F0, duration, vowel quality, voice quality, and syllable coda type, interact in a complicated but consistent way to code tonal distinctions. Zhangzhou has eight tones rather than seven tones as proposed in previous studies. This finding resulted from examining the realisations of diverse parameters across three different contexts—isolation, phrase-initial, and phrase-final—, rather than classifying tones in citation and in terms of the preservation of Middle Chinese tonal categories. Tonal contrasts in Zhangzhou can be neutralised across different linguistic contexts. Identifying the number of tonal contrasts based simply on tonal realisations in the citation environment is not sufficient. Instead, examining tonal realisations across different linguistic contexts beyond monosyllables is imperative for understanding the nature of tone. Tone sandhi in Zhangzhou is syntactically relevant. The tone sandhi domain is not phonologically determined but rather is aligned with a syntactic phrase XP. Within a given XP, the realisations of the tones at non-phrase-final positions undergo alternation phonologically and phonetically. Nevertheless, the alterations are sensitive only to the phrase boundaries and are not affected by the internal structure of syntactic phrases. Tone sandhi in Zhangzhou is phonologically inert but phonetically sensitive. The realisations of Zhangzhou tones in disyllabic phrases are not categorically affected by their surrounding tones but are phonetically sensitive to surrounding environments. For instance, the pitch/F0 onsets of phrase-final tones are largely sensitive to pitch/F0 offsets of preceding tones and appear to have diverse variants. The mappings between Zhangzhou citation and disyllabic tones are morphologically conditioned. Phrase-initial tones are largely not related to the citation tones at either the phonological or the phonetic level while phrase-final tones are categorically related to the citation tones but phonetically are not quite the same because of predictable sensitivity to surrounding environments. Each tone in Zhangzhou can be regarded as a single morpheme having two alternating allomorphs (tonemes), one for non-phrase-final variants and one for variants in citation and phrase-final contexts, both of which are listed in the mental lexicon of native Zhangzhou speakers but are phonetically distant on the surface. In summary, the realisations of Zhangzhou tones are multidimensional, involving a variety of segmental and suprasegmental parameters. The interactions of Zhangzhou tones are complicated, involving phonetics, phonology, syntax, and morphology. Neutralisation of Zhangzhou tonal contrasts occurs across different contexts, including citation, phrase-final, and non-phrase-final. Thus, researchers must go beyond pitch to understand tone thoroughly as a phenomenon in Southern Min

A comparative analysis of Chakma and English Vowels

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (page 37).This study examines that a comparative analysis of English and Chakma vowel phonemes with which different features of these two languages comes out. In this study the similarities and dissimilarities of Chakma vowels with English is the main concern. Chakma vowels are compared to English vowels by description of vowels, diphthongs, phonemic contrast of vowels, vowel length, nasalization, and vowel stressed. The vowels are described articulatory movements of the vowels, position of the vowels within the words etc. Additionally, phonemic contrast of vowels is described through initial, medial and final contrast of vowels. In the last part of the paper, acoustic analysis is given to draw the position of the vowels while articulation in Chakma.S. M. Mohibul HasanB.A. in Englis

Phonological Contrast in Bai

This dissertation presents an account of synchronic phonological contrast for the Bai language. Bai is a Sino-Tibetan language primarily spoken in Yunnan Province in Southwest China. There is a sizable amount of published research on this language due to the large amount of Chinese-related basic vocabulary in Bai, which is of considerable interest in the field of Sino-Tibetan historical linguistics. However, most of the available references prioritize the ability to transcribe the observed contrastive syllables as distinct from one another instead of offering synchronic phonological analysis of this language. The proposal I present in this dissertation intends to fill this gap in the literature with phonological analysis of the consonant, vowel, and tone systems of the Erhai (Dali), Jianchuan, and Heqing varieties of Bai. My phonological analysis assumes articulator-based distinctive features, syllable structure, time slots, and other commonly assumed phonological architecture to generate all well-formed phonological representations in this language. The proposal fundamentally differs from prior descriptions in that pre-nuclear glides are consistently treated as constituents of the onset and not as constituents of the rime of the Bai syllable. Along with this fixed syllable structure, underspecification and economy in underlying representations are argued to optimize the ratio of attested-to-possible syllables within the space of predicted syllable types. Furthermore, these principles are suggested to limit the range of surface phonological variation attested across speakers. Specific phonemena addressed in detail include spreading processes (such as palatalization), identification of merged tone categories, representation of the rhotic vowel, and epenthetic segments. The generalizations I identify are supported by descriptions of word-based evidence and phonetic data – both from the literature and collected through lexical elicitation in the field. The Zhaozhuang variety is explored in thorough detail and a syllable inventory of this variety with lexical examples for each syllable type glossed in English and Chinese is included in the appendicies of this dissertationPHDLinguisticsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137117/1/opper_1.pd

An Investigation of the Articulatory Correlates of Vowel Anteriority in Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Turkish using Ultrasound Tongue Imaging

This paper presents an articulatory study of vowel production in three Turkic languages (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Turkish) using ultrasound tongue imaging in order to determine what aspects of tongue position correspond to the vowel anteriority contrasts in these languages, especially regarding the tongue body (TB) and tongue root (TR). The results of this study suggest that the Turkish vowel anteriority contrast involves mainly TB position, whereas the Kazakh and Kyrgyz vowel anteriority contrasts involve both TR and TB position. This latter pattern appears to confirm the existence of a type of vowel anteriority contrast whose existence has been hypothesised but not previously verified instrumentally

Word Recognition Barriers in English Listening Comprehension Among Chinese Fee-Free Normal English Majors

Listening comprehension has been a great challenge for most Chinese students, mainly because English and Chinese belong to different language systems. Therefore, the different phonetic features and phonological rules between English and Chinese will affect their listening comprehension. And Chinese fee-free normal English majors are the special studying group because they will shoulder the task of teaching English to students in the rural areas of China. Based on the survey conducted among fee-free normal English majors in Inner Mongolian University, this study finds out that fee-free normal English majors’ listening obstacles are mainly from the following two aspects, that is, phonological barriers and word segmentation barriers. So based on the related phonetic and phonological linguistic theories, this study also offers some suggestions on word recognition in English listening comprehension among Chinese fee-free normal English majors. Chinese fee-free normal English majors