The role of segment rate in speech tempo perception by English listeners

Studies in which speech tempo is quantified commonly use either syllable or segment rate as a proxy measure of tempo. Perception studies have shown that syllable rate measurements correlate closely with elicited tempo judgements across languages. Some research suggests that segment rate is an additional, independent predictor of perceived tempo — in other words, that both syllable rate and syllable complexity matter for tempo perception. However, direct empirical evidence for this is as yet lacking. This paper reports on three experiments that test the hypothesis that when segment rate is varied on a constant syllable rate, listeners estimate utterances with higher segment rates as faster. Our results provide evidence for listeners’ orientation to syllable rate in estimating tempo, and evidence for listeners’ additional orientation to segment rate — that is, to syllable complexity. However, the latter orientation is only observable when stimuli are variable in duration: when presented with stimuli that are identical both in syllable rate and duration, listeners do not appear to hear stimuli with more complex syllables as faster

Two sides of a coin: targets and by-products of water and wastewater treatment

With time new methods/technique developed for clean/portable as same, it is essential to authenticate them. In this chapter the discussion on what is the disadvantage of tertiary treatment including harmful disinfection by-products (DBP). The details of Trihalomethanes, Haloacetic acid, Nitrosamine and Perfluorinated compounds, its necessary condition like precursors for formation the in treatment. As well as how to get rid of these compounds and their pathways are also summarized. Chlorination is the cheapest, realistic and most effective method in comparison to ozonation and UV radiations. Among all the methods mentioned above, chlorination is the cheapest, realistic and most effective method for achieving the best results. However, its results in harmful disinfection by-products, which need to understand the critical situation.by Bhagwana Ram, Divya Sharma and Manish Kuma

Phonotactic and phrasal properties of speech rhythm. Evidence from Catalan, English, and Spanish

The goal of this study is twofold: first, to examine in greater depth the claimed contribution of differences in syllable structure to measures of speech rhythm for three languages that are reported to belong to different rhythmic classes, namely, English, Spanish, and Catalan; and second, to investigate differences in the durational marking of prosodic heads and final edges of prosodic constituents between the three languages and test whether this distinction correlates in any way with the rhythmic distinctions. Data from a total of 24 speakers reading 720 utterances from these three languages show that differences in the rhythm metrics emerge even when syllable structure is controlled for in the experimental materials, at least between English on the one hand and Spanish/Catalan on the other, suggesting that important differences in durational patterns exist between these languages that cannot simply be attributed to differences in phonotactic properties. In particular, the vocalic variability measures nPVI-V, ΔV, and VarcoV are shown to be robust tools for discrimination above and beyond such phonotactic properties. Further analyses of the data indicate that the rhythmic class distinctions under consideration finely correlate with differences in the way these languages instantiate two prosodic timing processes, namely, the durational marking of prosodic heads, and pre-final lengthening at prosodic boundaries