Segmental foreign accent

200 p.Tradicionalmente, el acento extranjero se ha estudiado desde una perspectiva holística, es decir, tratándolo como un todo en lugar de como una serie de rasgos individuales que suceden simultáneamente. Los estudios previos que se han centrado en alguno de estos rasgos individuales lo han hecho generalmente en el plano suprasegmental (Tajima et al., 1997, Munro & Derwing, 2001, Hahn, 2004, etc.). En esta tesis se lleva a cabo un análisis del acento extranjero desde un punto de vista segmental. Considerando que no existe mucha investigación en este campo, nuestro principal objetivo es averiguar si los resultados de estudios holísticos previos pueden ser extrapolados al nivel segmental. Con el objetivo de analizar el nivel segmental en detalle, en esta tesis se presentan técnicas que hacen uso de nuevas tecnologías. Para recabar la mayor información posible, los experimentos perceptivos son llevados a cabo con oyentes con muy distintos perfiles lingüísticos en términos de primera lengua o conocimiento de la segunda lengua y comparados con la literatura existente. Nuestros resultados muestran que algunos efectos importantes relativos a la producción y percepción de segmentos acentuados pueden pasar inadvertidos en un análisis holístico y acreditan la necesidad de continuar realizando estudios de unidades mínimas para comprender en profundidad los efectos del acento extranjero en la comunicación

Segmental foreign accent

200 p.Tradicionalmente, el acento extranjero se ha estudiado desde una perspectiva holística, es decir, tratándolo como un todo en lugar de como una serie de rasgos individuales que suceden simultáneamente. Los estudios previos que se han centrado en alguno de estos rasgos individuales lo han hecho generalmente en el plano suprasegmental (Tajima et al., 1997, Munro & Derwing, 2001, Hahn, 2004, etc.). En esta tesis se lleva a cabo un análisis del acento extranjero desde un punto de vista segmental. Considerando que no existe mucha investigación en este campo, nuestro principal objetivo es averiguar si los resultados de estudios holísticos previos pueden ser extrapolados al nivel segmental. Con el objetivo de analizar el nivel segmental en detalle, en esta tesis se presentan técnicas que hacen uso de nuevas tecnologías. Para recabar la mayor información posible, los experimentos perceptivos son llevados a cabo con oyentes con muy distintos perfiles lingüísticos en términos de primera lengua o conocimiento de la segunda lengua y comparados con la literatura existente. Nuestros resultados muestran que algunos efectos importantes relativos a la producción y percepción de segmentos acentuados pueden pasar inadvertidos en un análisis holístico y acreditan la necesidad de continuar realizando estudios de unidades mínimas para comprender en profundidad los efectos del acento extranjero en la comunicación

Subsidia: Tools and Resources for Speech Sciences

Este libro, resultado de la colaboración de investigadores expertos en sus respectivas áreas, pretende ser una ayuda a la comunidad científica en tanto en cuanto recopila y describe una serie de materiales de gran utilidad para seguir avanzando en la investigació

Foreign accent strength and intelligibility at the segmental level

The relationship between strength of foreign accent and intelligibility is not straightforward. This relationship resists a simple characterisation due in part to the multiplicity of cues that carry accent in the word- and sentence-level materials typically used in the study of accent. One of the principal conveyors of accent is the phonetic segment. The current study attempts to isolate this segmental contribution to foreign accent and consequently measure the relationship between segmental accent and intelligibility for listeners with differing linguistic correspondence to the target and accented language. English, Spanish and Czech listeners identified English words in which the initial consonant was either intact, or had been replaced by a Spanish-accented counterpart; in a second task, they rated the accent strength of the same tokens. All speech material was produced by an English-Spanish bilingual talker. Overall, Spanish listeners displayed a smaller loss of intelligibility due to the accented segment than native English listeners, while the Czech cohort experienced the largest intelligibility loss. However, the relationship between accent strength and intelligibility loss was not linear, varying with phoneme identity and its role in a listener’s first language. These findings suggest that how accented and intelligible a sound is depends strongly on the interactions between the phonological systems of speakers and listener

Is segmental foreign accent perceived categorically?

The second language learning process involves acquisition of sounds that differ to varying degrees from the sounds of a learner’s native language. Learners’ productions are strongly influenced by their native language par- ticularly for sounds which are similar but non-identical in the two languages. However, foreign accent is typically investigated at the level of utterances and as a consequence the segmental basis of foreign accent and its role in communication remain unclear. The principal issues addressed by the current study are whether accentedness at the segmental level is judged categorically by native listeners, and whether consonantal and vocalic segments are treated similarly. British English listeners judged as native or non-native a series of words in which a single vowel or consonant had been replaced by its Spanish-accented counterpart. The degree of segment accent was varied in equal amounts along a 21-step continuum using a blending technique based on native and non-native segments excised from words spoken by a balanced bilingual talker. Listeners assessed 24 distinct consonant and vowel continua. Averaged across all vowel or consonant continua, listeners’ nativeness judgements varied with segment nativeness in a non-categorical fashion. However, most individual consonant continua, as well as those vowel continua that involved durational changes, were perceived categorically. These results suggest that while overall segment-level foreign accent might be considered to vary in degree, in reality at the level of individ- ual segments –where second language learners’ pronunciation awareness and control has to be focussed–small acoustic changes can convey a foreign accent.This work was funded by the Spanish MINECO project DIACEX (FFI2012-31597)

Generating segmental foreign accent

For most of us, speaking in a non-native language involves deviating to some extent from native pronunciation norms. However, the detailed basis for foreign accent (FA) remains elusive, in part due to methodological challenges in isolating segmental from suprasegmental factors. The current study examines the role of segmental features in conveying FA through the use of a generative approach in which accent is localised to single consonantal segments. Three techniques are evaluated: the first requires a highly-proficiency bilingual to produce words with isolated accented segments; the second uses cross-splicing of context-dependent consonants from the non-native language into native words; the third employs hidden Markov model synthesis to blend voice models for both languages. Using English and Spanish as the native/non-native languages respectively, listener cohorts from both languages identified words and rated their degree of FA. All techniques were capable of generating accented words, but to differing degrees. Naturally-produced speech led to the strongest FA ratings and synthetic speech the weakest, which we interpret as the outcome of over-smoothing. Nevertheless, the flexibility offered by synthesising localised accent encourages further development of the method

LA INTEGRACIÓN DE LOS PROCESOS DE FORMACIÓN EN LA MICROUNIVERSIDAD

In this paper the three formation processes that take place in the Cuban microuniversities are approached in their interrelationship: the one referred to the student's formation from the educational level to which belongs the referred institution and those related with the initial and permanent teacher training, with special emphasis in these last ones. It is recommended to follow a logic way for the integration of these processes; it is used as axis to energize and integrate the formation processes, in order to solve professional problems; there are also suggested actions to sum up that integration.En este trabajo se abordan los tres procesos de formación que tienen lugar en la microuniversidad cubana en su interrelación: el referido a la formación del estudiante del nivel educativo al cual pertenece la referida institución y los relacionados con la formación inicial y permanente de docentes, con especial énfasis en estos últimos. Se recomienda una lógica para la integración de los citados procesos, donde se emplee como eje dinamizador e integrador de los procesos de formación, a la solución de problemas profesionales y se sugieren acciones para concretar esa integración

Nonafluorobutanesulfonyl Azide: A Shelf-Stable Diazo Transfer Reagent for the Synthesis of Azides from Primary Amines

6 páginas, 2 esquemas, 2 tablasNonafluorobutanesulfonyl azide is an efficient, shelf-stable and cost-effective diazo transfer reagent for the synthesis of azides from primary amines. The reagent can also be successfully applied to the one-pot regioselective synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles from primary amines by a sequential diazo transfer and azide–alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition process catalyzed by copper. The cycloaddition step can be conducted in an inter- or intramolecular way to afford 1,4- or 1,5-disubstituted triazoles, respectively. The atypical 1,5-regioselectivity under copper catalysis is a consequence of geometrical constraints of the amino-alkyne substrates used in the intramolecular version. Nonafluorobutanesulfonyl azide offers an advantageous alternative to the better known and most commonly used trifluoromethanesulfonyl azide.We thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (projects CTQ-2006-15515-C02-02/BQU and CTQ2009- 14551-C02-02) and Comunidad de Madrid (project S2009/ PPQ-1634 “AVANCAT”) for financial support. We also thank Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación for a FPU predoctoral fellowship to B. T. and C.S.I.C. for a JAE-Doc contract to J. R. S., a JAE-Predoc fellowship to M. E. P.-O., and a JAE-Intro fellowship to R. M.-B.Peer reviewe

International Conference on Broadband Communications, Networks and Systems

Producción CientíficaNetwork Function Virtualization (NFV) is considered to be one of the enabling technologies for 5G. NFV poses several challenges, like deciding the virtual network function (VNF) placement and chaining, and adding backup resources to guarantee the survivability of service chains. In this paper, we propose a genetic algorithm that jointly solves the VNF-placement, chaining and virtual topology design problem in WDM metro ring network, with the additional capacity of providing node protection. The simulation results show how important is to solve all of these subproblems jointly, as well as the benefits of using shared VNF and network resources between backup instances in order to reduce both the service blocking ratio and the number of active CPUs.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant TEC2017-84423-C3-1-P)Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo (grant BES 2015-074514)INTERREG V-A España-Portugal (POCTEP) (grant 0677_DISRUPTIVE_2_E)

2020 22nd International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON)

Producción CientíficaNetwork Function Virtualization (NFV) is a promising networking paradigm that will ease the network manageability and increase its flexibility, while reducing costs. In this paradigm, operators must solve the Virtual Network Function (VNF) placement and chaining problems. It is also important to provide backup resources to ensure the survivability of the offered services when a node failure happens. In this paper, we compare two different protection approaches to ensure the service resilience: individual VNF protection and end-to-end protection. Results show the benefits in terms of use of computing resources and energy consumption of protecting each VNF individually, compared to the end-to-end protection approach.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant TEC2017-84423-C3-1-P)Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo (fellowship BES-2015-074514)Research network Go2Edge (grant RED2018-102585-T)Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal (POCTEP) programme 2014- 202