152,518 research outputs found
Focus accent, word length and position as cues to L1 and L2 word recognition
The present study examines native and nonnative perceptual processing of semantic information conveyed by prosodic prominence. Five groups of German learners of English each listened to one of 5 experimental conditions. Three conditions differed in place of focus accent in the sentence and two conditions were with spliced stimuli. The experiment condition was presented first in the learners’ L1 (German) and then in a similar set in the L2 (English). The effect of the accent condition and of the length and position of the target in the sentence was evaluated in a probe recognition task. In both the L1 and L2 tasks there was no significant effect in any of the five focus conditions. Target position and target word length had an effect in the L1 task. Word length did not affect accuracy rates in the L2 task. For probe recognition in the L2, word length and the position of the target interacted with the focus condition
A continuous speech recognition system using phonotactic constraints
This paper describes a speaker-independent recognition system for continuous German speech based on semicontinuous Hidden-Markov-Models which produces a phonetic transcription of the spoken sentence. The recognition units are parts of syllables while the output is a phoneme level transcription. During recognition, the phonotactic constraints of German are taken into account by a micro syntax constrained Viterbi algorithm. A maximum likelihood training procedure based on Viterbi training together with a simple but efficient seed model generation algorithm is presented
STT4SG-350: A Speech Corpus for All Swiss German Dialect Regions
We present STT4SG-350 (Speech-to-Text for Swiss German), a corpus of Swiss
German speech, annotated with Standard German text at the sentence level. The
data is collected using a web app in which the speakers are shown Standard
German sentences, which they translate to Swiss German and record. We make the
corpus publicly available. It contains 343 hours of speech from all dialect
regions and is the largest public speech corpus for Swiss German to date.
Application areas include automatic speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech,
dialect identification, and speaker recognition. Dialect information, age
group, and gender of the 316 speakers are provided. Genders are equally
represented and the corpus includes speakers of all ages. Roughly the same
amount of speech is provided per dialect region, which makes the corpus ideally
suited for experiments with speech technology for different dialects. We
provide training, validation, and test splits of the data. The test set
consists of the same spoken sentences for each dialect region and allows a fair
evaluation of the quality of speech technologies in different dialects. We
train an ASR model on the training set and achieve an average BLEU score of
74.7 on the test set. The model beats the best published BLEU scores on 2 other
Swiss German ASR test sets, demonstrating the quality of the corpus
A continuous speech recognition system using phonotactic constraints
This paper describes a speaker-independent recognition system for continuous German speech based on semicontinuous Hidden-Markov-Models which produces a phonetic transcription of the spoken sentence. The recognition units are parts of syllables while the output is a phoneme level transcription. During recognition, the phonotactic constraints of German are taken into account by a micro syntax constrained Viterbi algorithm. A maximum likelihood training procedure based on Viterbi training together with a simple but efficient seed model generation algorithm is presented
Effects of prediction error on episodic memory retrieval: evidence from sentence reading and word recognition
Prediction facilitates word processing in the moment, but the longer-term consequences of
prediction remain unclear. We investigated whether prediction error during language encoding
enhances memory for words later on. German-speaking participants read sentences in which
the gender marking of the pre-nominal article was consistent or inconsistent with the
predictable noun. During subsequent word recognition, we probed participants’ recognition
memory for predictable and unpredictable nouns. Our results indicate that individuals who
demonstrated early prediction error during sentence reading, showed enhanced recognition
memory for nouns overall. Results from an exploratory step-wise regression showed that
prenominal prediction error and general reading speed were the best proxies for recognition
memory. Hence, prediction error may facilitate recognition by furnishing memory traces built
during initial reading of the sentences. Results are discussed in the light of hypotheses positing
that predictable words show a memory disadvantage because they are processed less thoroughly
The SLS-Berlin: Validation of a German Computer-Based Screening Test to Measure Reading Proficiency in Early and Late Adulthood
Reading proficiency, i.e., successfully integrating early word-based information and utilizing this information in later processes of sentence and text comprehension, and its assessment is subject to extensive research. However, screening tests for German adults across the life span are basically non-existent. Therefore, the present article introduces a standardized computerized sentence-based screening measure for German adult readers to assess reading proficiency including norm data from 2,148 participants covering an age range from 16 to 88 years. The test was developed in accordance with the children’s version of the Salzburger LeseScreening (SLS, Wimmer and Mayringer, 2014). The SLS-Berlin has a high reliability and can easily be implemented in any research setting using German language. We present a detailed description of the test and report the distribution of SLS-Berlin scores for the norm sample as well as for two subsamples of younger (below 60 years) and older adults (60 and older). For all three samples, we conducted regression analyses to investigate the relationship between sentence characteristics and SLS-Berlin scores. In a second validation study, SLS-Berlin scores were compared with two (pseudo)word reading tests, a test measuring attention and processing speed and eye-movements recorded during expository text reading. Our results confirm the SLS-Berlin’s sensitivity to capture early word decoding and later text related comprehension processes. The test distinguished very well between skilled and less skilled readers and also within less skilled readers and is therefore a powerful and efficient screening test for German adults to assess interindividual levels of reading proficiency
Cross-linguistic activation in bilingual sentence processing: the role of word class meaning
This study investigates how categorial (word class) semantics influences cross-linguistic interactions when reading in L2. Previous homograph studies paid little attention to the possible influence of different word classes in the stimulus material on cross-linguistic activation. The present study examines the word recognition performance of Dutch-English bilinguals who performed a lexical decision task to word targets appearing in a sentence. To determine the influence of word class meaning, the critical words either showed a word class overlap (e. g. the homograph tree [ noun], which means "step" in Dutch) or not (e.g. big [ADJ], which is a noun in Dutch meaning "piglet"). In the condition of word class overlap, a facilitation effect was observed, suggesting that both languages were active. When there was no word class overlap, the facilitation effect disappeared. This result suggests that categorial meaning affects the word recognition process of bilinguals
Perception of non-verbal emotional listener feedback
This paper reports on a listening test assessing the perception of short non-verbal emotional vocalisations emitted by a listener as feedback to the speaker. We clarify the concepts backchannel and feedback, and investigate the use of affect bursts as a means of giving emotional feedback via the backchannel. Experiments with German and Dutch subjects confirm that the recognition of emotion from affect bursts in a dialogical context is similar to their perception in isolation. We also investigate the acceptability of affect bursts when used as listener feedback. Acceptability appears to be linked to display rules for emotion expression. While many ratings were similar between Dutch and German listeners, a number of clear differences was found, suggesting language-specific affect bursts
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