Emergent consonantal quantity contrast and context-dependence of gestural phasing

Embodied Task Dynamics is a modeling platform combining task dynamical implementation of articulatory phonology with an optimization approach based on adjustable trade-offs between production efficiency and perception efficacy. Within this platform we model a consonantal quantity contrast in bilabial stops as emerging from local adjustment of demands on relative prominence of the consonantal gesture conceptualized in terms of closure duration. The contrast is manifested in the form of two distinct, stable inter-gestural coordination patterns characterized by quantitative differences in relative phasing between the consonant and the coproduced vocalic gesture. Furthermore, the model generates a set of qualitative predictions regarding dependence of kinematic characteristics and inter-gestural coordination on consonant quantity and gestural context. To evaluate these predictions, we collected articulatory data for Finnish speakers uttering singletons and geminates in the same context as explored by the model. Statistical analysis of the data shows strong agreement with model predictions. This result provides support for the hypothesis that speech articulation is guided by efficiency principles that underlie many other types of embodied skilled action.Peer reviewe

Rhythmic Complexity in Jazz: An Information Theory Approach

Many techniques of quantifying rhythmic complexity have been explored, including methods based on the concept of entropy. Roughly speaking, entropy measures a rhythm’s unpredictability. The primary goals of this study were to answer two questions: 1) Does rhythmic entropy correspond to perceived rhythmic complexity? and 2) Does entropy of a jazz solo depend on soloist? Additionally, I used entropy to study the relationship between sheet music and jazz versions of songs from the American songbook, and I used the concept of mutual information to study soloist-accompanist interactions in the music of Charlie Parker. I asked fifteen UMass music majors to rate short, eighth-note based jazz rhythms for complexity. Entropies were calculated by constructing distributions based on the inter-onset intervals (IOI’s) between notes. Using a mixed effects multiple regression model, I found, as expected, that higher entropy resulted in higher complexity ratings. Other factors did, too, namely: number of notes, syncopation, lack of periodicity, and the effects of each complexity rating on the following one. It is possible that entropy was mediated by lack of periodicity. I then transcribed (or compiled and checked) a corpus of 88 solos by Armstrong, Hawkins, Young, Christian, and Parker, and calculated entropies based on the IOI’s between stress-accented notes. I used the technique of estimated marginal means with number of distinct IOI’s and number of accents as covariates to show that entropy depends significantly on soloist: solos by Lester Young were significantly more entropic than those by Armstrong, Christian, and Parker. Stress accent density and contour accent density were used to explain the unexpected lack of differentiation between Parker and Hawkins in terms of entropy. I demonstrated that jazz renditions of popular songs had higher entropy than their sheet music counterparts. Finally, I used mutual information to show that interrelationships between Parker and his accompanists were stronger than those between Parker and a Charleston comping rhythm. This work demonstrates the utility of entropy-based methods in predicting a listener’s perceived complexity, in characterizing a soloist’s oeuvre, and in describing embellished versions of songs. It also demonstrates the utility of mutual information in describing soloist/accompanist interactions

Between Art-Object, situations and performativity investigating performativity as an ontological and psychoanalytic process within trans- disciplinary art practices.

The research investigates the possibility that performativity in relation to art points toward a change from the emphasis on an artwork depicting and representing issues of an artist’s contemplation to the affect and experience an artwork may provide for a viewer. It proceeds by analysing art historical models of post conceptual and dematerialised practice and critical literature linking performativity, relational-psychoanalytic theory and methods of performative ontology. From this, the research works through trans-disciplinary arts practice as a substantive site of enquiry. One of the driving aims of this project is to investigate performative ontology in and through artistic inquiry. The research engages participatory and inter-subjective exchange in and through artworks as its principle practice-based methodology. The research proposes that performativity is connected to iterative practices, which both authorise and negate subjects and their performances. The project investigates performativity as durational, by which the present gesture, enacted by the subject is always an iteration or repetition of preceding events. It is the assertion of this project that practice-led research, within performative modes of practice, need to enable the multi-variant voice emanating from participatory exchange. This enablement may then open to a more comprehensive articulation of a performative research culture, realised through enactments

Hierarchical duration modeling for a speech recognition system

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-105).by Grace Chung.M.S