Hypoarticulation as a tool for assessing social distance: an acoustic study of speech addressed to different types of interlocutors

Work within Hyper-Hypoarticulation Theory (H&H) and Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) is increasingly focused on the adaptation of speech to the identity of the interlocutor (Koppen et al. 2017, Pardo et al. 2012, among others). These studies show a correlation between changes in the rate and spectral characteristics of speech (especially vowels) and the relationship between the speakers. Using the Diapix task (Baker & Hazan 2011), 10 Québec-French-speaking couples were invited to interact together and with two strangers, one French and one Québécois. This produced a corpus of 25h of speech and 121000 vowels. Spectral variations (especially hyper- / hypo- articulation), and changes in speech rate depending on the interlocutor, were studied using ((G)LMM) analysis. Our results reveal a correlation between the degree of social distance and speech reduction: the closer the interlocutors are (partners), the more speech is reduced

Toward “English” phonetics: variability in the pre-consonantal voicing effect across English dialects and speakers

Recent advances in access to spoken-language corpora and development of speech processing tools have made possible the performance of “large-scale” phonetic and sociolinguistic research. This study illustrates the usefulness of such a large-scale approach—using data from multiple corpora across a range of English dialects, collected, and analyzed with the SPADE project—to examine how the pre-consonantal Voicing Effect (longer vowels before voiced thanvoiceless obstruents, in e.g., bead vs. beat) is realized in spontaneous speech, and varies across dialects and individual speakers. Compared with previous reports of controlled laboratory speech, the Voicing Effect was found to be substantially smaller in spontaneous speech, but still influenced by the expected range of phonetic factors. Dialects of English differed substantially from each other in the size of the Voicing Effect, whilst individual speakers varied little relative to their particular dialect. This study demonstrates the value of large-scale phonetic research as a means of developing our understanding of the structure of speech variability, and illustrates how large-scale studies, such as those carried out within SPADE, can be applied to other questions in phonetic and sociolinguistic research

Whaddya call that again? Materials for teaching connected speech

In order to examine the phenomena of connected speech and the place technology has in its instruction, I must first examine the developments in speaking and listening instructor that have contributed to this area of research, instruction, and learning. The literature review, then, will present (a) an overview of current speaking instruction trends, (b) an overview of current listening instruction trends, (c) an explanation of connected speech and its features, (d) an overview of technology and computer-assisted language learning (CALL), and (e) an overview of technological interventions in connected speech instruction. Through my findings, I hope to explore the following research questions: 1. How do instructors and learners feel about pronunciation, listening, and connected speech instruction? 2. How do instructors and learners feel about using technology to mediate the above instruction? 3. What do instructors and learners think of a number of activities developed in light of RQs 1 and 2? 4. How does the research literature reflect the topics of pronunciation, pronunciation with suprasegmentals, and suprasegmentals with technology? 5. How can a series of pedagogical materials support the technology-mediated instruction of connected speech

The effect of speech situation on the occurrence of reduced word pronunciation variants

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