3,615 research outputs found

    Boundary markers in spontaneous Hungarian speech

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    Information structural notions and the fallacy of invariant correlates

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    In a first step, definitions of the irreducible information structural categories are given, and in a second step, it is shown that there are no invariant phonological or otherwise grammatical correlates of these categories. In other words, the phonology, syntax or morphology are unable to define information structure. It is a common mistake that information structural categories are expressed by invariant grammatical correlates, be they syntactic, morphological or phonological. It is rather the case that grammatical cues help speaker and hearer to sort out which element carries which information structural role, and only in this sense are the grammatical correlates of information structure important. Languages display variation as to the role of grammar in enhancing categories of information structure, and this variation reflects the variation found in the ‘normal’ syntax and phonology of languages

    Parameterization of F0 register and discontinuity to predict prosodic boundary strength in Hungarian spontaneous speech

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    This study addresses the questions how to parameterize (1) aspects of fundamental frequency (F0) register, i.e. time-varying F0 level and range within prosodic phrases and (2) F0 discontinuities at prosodic boundaries in order to predict perceived prosodic boundary strength in Hungarian spontaneous speech. For F0 register stylization we propose a new fitting procedure for base-, mid-, and toplines that does not require error-prone local peak and valley detection and is robust against disturbing influences of high pitch accents and boundary tones. From these linear stylizations we extracted features which reflect F0 boundary discontinuities and fitted stepwise linear regression and regression tree models to predict perceived boundary strength. In a ten-fold cross-validation the mean correlation between predictions and human judgments amounts up to 0.8

    Phonetic level annotation and segmentation of Hungarian speech databases

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    The purpose of this paper is to give an outline of phonetic level annotation and segmentation of Hungarian speech databases at the levels of definition and speech technology. In addition to giving guidance to the definition of the content of a database, the technique of annotation and the procedure of manual segmentation, we also discuss mathematical models of computeraided semi-automatic and automatic segmentation. Finally, we are summing up our observations about the application of the procedures we gained during the processing of the MTBA Hungarian Telephone Speech Database

    Comparing parameterizations of pitch register and its discontinuities at prosodic boundaries for Hungarian

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    We examined how well prosodic boundary strength can be captured by two declination stylization methods as well as by four different representations of pitch register. In the stylization proposed by Liebermann et al. (1985) base- and topline are fitted to peaks and valleys of the pitch contour, whereas in Reichel&MĂĄdy (2013) these lines are fitted to medians below and above certain pitch percentiles. From each of the stylizations four feature pools were induced representing different aspects of register discontinuity at word boundaries: discontinuities related to the base-, mid-, and topline, as well as to the range between base- and topline. Concerning stylization the median-based fitting approach turned out to be more robust with respect to declination line crossing errors and yielded base-, topline and range-related discontinuity characteristics with higher correlations to perceived boundary strength. Concerning register representation, for the peak/valley fitting approach the base- and topline patterns showed weaker correspondences to boundary strength than the other feature pools. We furthermore trained generalized linear regression models for boundary strength prediction on each feature pool. It turned out that neither the stylization method nor the register representation had a significant influence on the overall good prediction performance

    Non-manual Focus Markers in Turkish Sign Language

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    Sign languages use syntactic (fronting, doubling, clefting), manual manipulations (variation in size, length, speed, repetition), and nonmanual markers (head and eyebrow movements) to mark focus. Due to their simultaneous nature, they are well-known for using these strategies together. In this study, we examined how the focus is marked in Turkish Sign Language (TİD) in free conversations and elicited data. Both studies’ most observed nonmanual markers are head nod and eyebrow raise. We propose that these nonmanual markers are not pure focus markers since they can cooccur with focus and topic in the structures. Yet, due to information structure, they are the marker of the phonological or intonational phrases. Furthermore, the duration of focal signs could be the marker of focus, which needs further investigation

    Filled pauses in Hungarian: Their phonetic form and function

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    Filled pauses are natural occurrences in spontaneous speech and they may turn up at any level of the speech planning process and in a number of functions. The aim of this paper is to find out whether the diverse functions of filled pauses correlate with diverse articulations resulting in diverse acoustic structures. Spontaneous narratives are used as research material. The duration of the filled pauses and the frequency values of their first two formants are analyzed. The most frequent form, schwa, shows function-dependent realizations as confirmed by the durational values and by the second formant values of these vowel-like sounds
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