Acoustic Classification Of Focus: On The Web And In The Lab,
2017
Montclair State University
Acoustic Classification Of Focus: On The Web And In The Lab, Jonathan Howell, Mats Rooth, Michael Wagner
Department of Linguistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works
We present a new methodological approach which combines both naturally-occurring speech harvested on the web and speech data elicited in the laboratory. This proof-of-concept study examines the phenomenon of focus sensitivity in English, in which the interpretation of particular grammatical constructions (e.g., the comparative) is sensitive to the location of prosodic prominence. Machine learning algorithms (support vector machines and linear discriminant analysis) and human perception experiments are used to cross-validate the web-harvested and lab-elicited speech. Results con rm the theoretical predictions for location of prominence in comparative clauses and the advantages using both web-harvested and lab-elicited speech. The most robust …
A Diachronic Approach To The Confusion Of B With V In Spanish,
2016
Portland State University
A Diachronic Approach To The Confusion Of B With V In Spanish, Eva Núñez-Méndez
World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations
This volume presents specific topics in diachronic Hispanic linguistics. These topics include: lexical survivals in Ibero-Romance, Arabisms, lexical variation in early modern Spain, the origins of the confusion of b with v, Andalusian Spanish in the Americas, the expansion of seseo and yeísmo, processes of koineization, syntactic change in scribal documentation from the Middle Ages, and the semantic changes of the verbs ser, estar and haber. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the Spanish lexicon, phonetics, morphosyntax, dialectology and semantics with the input of ten prominent scholars.
It focuses not only on relevant issues in the evolution of Spanish but …
Contextualized Recognition Of Fingerspelled Words,
2016
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Contextualized Recognition Of Fingerspelled Words, Campbell Mcdermid, Lynn Finton, Alexis Chasney
Journal of Interpretation
Fingerspelling, an aspect of American Sign Language, is difficult for second language English-speaking adults to learn (Bahleda, 1998), yet mastery is required by professional ASL-English interpreters. This study compared novice and expert interpreters’ interpretation of fingerspelled words under the assumption that exposure to priming material in their L1, English, would enable the interpreters to recognize those terms when fingerspelled in their L2, ASL. In this study, participants (15 novices, 15 experts) were asked to interpret an ASL text with 25 “carefully” fingerspelled words embedded. Ten subjects were not given priming materials, ten a list of words in printed English that …
¿Vera O Verra? Using Principles Of Task-Based Language Teaching To Practice Spanish Rhotics,
2016
University of Guam
¿Vera O Verra? Using Principles Of Task-Based Language Teaching To Practice Spanish Rhotics, Avizia Long
Faculty Publications
Research on task-based language teaching and learning has demonstrated that tasks may encourage second/foreign language development, specifically by facilitating conditions believed to engage processes that are important for second language acquisition to occur (Robinson, 2011; Skehan, 2014). Recent studies conducted by Solon, Long, and Gurzynski-Weiss (2014, 2015) have demonstrated that tasks designed to make pronunciation task essential do encourage learner attention to pronunciation, and increasing task complexity leads to greater accuracy in the production of the Spanish vowels [o] and [u]. This micro-teaching lesson, inspired by Solon et al., will showcase a task designed to make the pronunciation of the …
Effects Of Online Repetition Practice With Animated Visual Aid On The Acquisition Of Japanese Pitch Accent And Special Moras,
2016
Purdue University
Effects Of Online Repetition Practice With Animated Visual Aid On The Acquisition Of Japanese Pitch Accent And Special Moras, Natsumi Suzuki, Mayu Miyamoto
Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference
This preliminary study examines the effectiveness of online repetition practice using an animated visual aid, "Karaoke Style", in promoting acquisition of Japanese pitch accent and special moras that could be applied to the curriiculum without using any class time.
Neurophysiological Correlates Of English Vowels /I/ And /E/ In Monolingual And Bilingual 4 And 5-Year-Old Children,
2016
CUNY Graduate Center
Neurophysiological Correlates Of English Vowels /I/ And /E/ In Monolingual And Bilingual 4 And 5-Year-Old Children, Nancy Vidal
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Second language (L2) input in the infant and toddler years clearly affects speech processing, particularly for L2 vowels (Cheour, Shestakovab, Ceponieneb, Näätänen 2002), Moreno, Rodriguez-Fornells, Matti, 2008); Rinker, Paavo, Brosch, Kiefer 2010). However, few studies have closely examined how amount of L1 versus L2 input impacts automaticity of speech processing in young children. Greater language use of one than the other language promotes improved speech perception and production in the language of greater use (Flege & Munro 1994; Flege & MacKay 2004). Investigations have used a variety of custom-designed questionnaires to quantify amount of language use, but most have not …
The Perception Of Creaky Voice: Does Speaker Gender Affect Our Judgments?,
2016
University of Kentucky
The Perception Of Creaky Voice: Does Speaker Gender Affect Our Judgments?, Kaitlyn E. Lee
Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics
This study focuses on the phonetics of creaky voice saliency and the perceptual sociolinguistic indexes that are evoked during creaky voice use. This study consists of two experiments: the first a listener judgment based Likert scale, the second an AXB study. The first experiment used modal and creaky voice statement-of-fact tokens to determine whether the speaker is or isn’t x characteristic (intelligent, feminine, educated, masculine, hesitant, and confident). This study found that both male and female speakers were found to be less intelligent, less educated, less feminine, more masculine, less confident, and more hesitant when using creaky voice phonation as …
Stress Variation As Unifying Features Of Upstate New York,
2016
University of Kentucky
Stress Variation As Unifying Features Of Upstate New York, Tracey Vail
Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics
This study investigates sociophonetic stress variation in the Onondaga County area of Upstate New York. I argue that five variations of stress correlate to factors of age, education level, place of residence, frequency, and analogical change. Dinkin and Evanini (2010) have examined and discovered similar outcomes of stress variation in his work with dialectal features across the state of New York. Rather than analyze the state and its borders in their entirety, I focus on morpheme-specific analogical change of stress in specific social categories within the Syracuse, New York region. In terms of lexical items, I analyze stress placement within …
Short‐Term Test-Retest Reliability Of Informal Phonological Analysis For 2‐Year‐Old Late Talkers,
2016
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Short‐Term Test-Retest Reliability Of Informal Phonological Analysis For 2‐Year‐Old Late Talkers, Jordan Gearheart, Ann Walker, Shari L. Deveney
Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Proceedings & Presentations
This poster discusses: Background, Research Question, Method, Results, Conclusions, Clinical Implications, and Limitations & Future Directions.
Relationship Between Acoustic Measures And Speech Naturalness Ratings In Parkinson’S Disease: A Within-Speaker Approach,
2015
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Relationship Between Acoustic Measures And Speech Naturalness Ratings In Parkinson’S Disease: A Within-Speaker Approach, Marie I. Klopfenstein
SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
This study investigated the acoustic basis of across-utterance, within-speaker variation in speech naturalness for four speakers with dysarthria secondary to Parkinson’s disease (PD). Speakers read sentences and produced spontaneous speech. Acoustic measures of fundamental frequency, phrase-final syllable lengthening, intensity and speech rate were obtained. A group of listeners judged speech naturalness using a nine-point Likert scale. Relationships between judgements of speech naturalness and acoustic measures were determined for individual speakers with PD. Relationships among acoustic measures also were quantified. Despite variability between speakers, measures of mean F0, intensity range, articulation rate, average syllable duration, duration of final syllables, vocalic nucleus …
Providing Objective Metrics Of Team Communication Skills Via Interpersonal Coordination Mechanisms,
2015
Trinity College Dublin
Providing Objective Metrics Of Team Communication Skills Via Interpersonal Coordination Mechanisms, Celine De Looze, Brian Vaughan, Finnian Kelly, Alison Kay
Conference Papers
Being able to communicate efficiently has been acknowledged as a vital skill in many different domains. In particular, team communication skills are of key importance in the operation of complex machinery such as aircrafts, maritime vessels and such other, highly-specialized, civilian or military vehicles, as well as the performance of complex tasks in the medical domain. In this paper, we propose to use prosodic accommodation and turn- taking organisation to provide objective metrics of communica- tion skills. To do this, human-factors evaluations, via a coordi- nation Demand Analysis (CDA), were used in conjunction with a dynamic model of prosodic accommodation …
Test-Retest Reliability Of Independent Phonological Measures Of 2-Year-Old Speech,
2015
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Test-Retest Reliability Of Independent Phonological Measures Of 2-Year-Old Speech, Katherine Wittler, Shari L. Deveney
Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Proceedings & Presentations
This poster discusses: Background, Research Question, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Clinical Implications, and Limitations & Future Directions.
The Linguistic Features Of Deceptive Speech,
2015
Boise State University
The Linguistic Features Of Deceptive Speech, Jared Albrecht, Michal Temkin Martinez (Mentor)
Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research
Research on deception within the field of linguistics has been largely focused upon the lexical aspect of lies. However, while the words a liar uses may reveal the lie in some cases, there are certain prosodic features of speech (e.g. pitch or tempo) that may be correlated to lying. This study focuses on these features in an attempt to decode deception. In an experiment with a representative sample of a university campus population, participants were asked to lie for science in a game of ‘Two Truths and a Lie’. Each participant’s speech was recorded while they constructed spontaneous truths and …
Central Auditory Processing And The Link To Reading Ability In Adults,
2015
University of Connecticut - Storrs
Central Auditory Processing And The Link To Reading Ability In Adults, Lisa M. Brody
Honors Scholar Theses
What makes someone a good reader? What makes someone a poor reader? The root biological marker of reading ability has yet to be determined. Many scientists agree that phonological awareness, the understanding of speech sounds, and phonological decoding are key components of reading ability (Melby-Lervag, Lyster, & Hulme, 2012). In addition to this, new research suggests that the auditory system, specifically the timing of auditory processing in the brain, provides a crucial platform that supports the development of reading ability (Banai et al., 2009). This thesis provides empirical data to support the link between reading skill …
Use Of Phonetics In The Beginner French Classroom: An Analysis Of Textbooks,
2015
University of Connecticut - Storrs
Use Of Phonetics In The Beginner French Classroom: An Analysis Of Textbooks, Melissa B. Scarbrough
Honors Scholar Theses
Textbooks are a common resource for teachers in a variety of content areas, as such it is important that teachers know whether or not textbooks are aligned to standards and current research. This study investigates if common textbooks, reported to be in use in schools across Connecticut, are aligned to recent second language acquisition and French linguistics studies.
The Effects Of Cued Speech On Phonemic Awareness Skills,
2015
Eastern Illinois University
The Effects Of Cued Speech On Phonemic Awareness Skills, Jessica M. Phillips
Masters Theses
Research suggests phonemic awareness is enhanced through multimodality training. Cued Speech is a multimodality system that combines hand signs with mouth movements to represent phonemes of the spoken language. This system has been utilized successfully in developing phonological awareness with children with hearing loss. However, no research is available on its effectiveness with children who are not deaf or hard-of-hearing. The efficacy of the use of Cued Speech for the enhancement of phonological skills in typically developing 1st grade students was evaluated in this study. Twenty-six 1st graders identified as low-achieving readers by their classroom teachers were administered the …
The Effect Of Short-Term Study Abroad On Second Language Spanish Phonetic Development,
2015
Indiana University - Bloomington
The Effect Of Short-Term Study Abroad On Second Language Spanish Phonetic Development, Silvina Bongiovanni, Avizia Y. Long, Megan Solon, Erik Willis
Faculty Publications
This study explores the impact of study abroad (SA) on second language Spanish phonetic development. Twenty-seven English-speaking learners of Spanish, 15 who were participating in a 4-week SA program in the Dominican Republic and 12 who were studying at their home (AH) institution, were recorded 5 weeks apart (at the approximate beginning and end of their respective programs). Recordings were analyzed acoustically, and four groups of segments were examined: word-initial /p t k/, intervocalic /b d ɡ/, intervocalic /ɾ/ and /r/, and word-final /l/. Productions at Time 1 and Time 2 as well as between the SA and AH groups …
Student Teachers’ Cognition About L2 Pronunciation Instruction: A Case Study,
2015
University of Wollongong
Student Teachers’ Cognition About L2 Pronunciation Instruction: A Case Study, Michael Burri
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
In view of the minimal attention pronunciation teacher preparation has received in second language (L2) teacher education, this study examined the cognition (i.e. beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and knowledge) development of 15 student teachers during a postgraduate subject on pronunciation pedagogy offered at an Australian tertiary institution. Findings revealed that, as a result of taking the subject, student teachers’ cognition shifted from teaching individual sounds (i.e. segmentals) to favouring a more balanced approach to pronunciation instruction. That is, teaching the melody of the English language (i.e. suprasegmentals) was seen as important as teaching segmentals. Non-native speakers’ self-perceived pronunciation improvement, an increase …
What Predicts The Effectiveness Of Foreign Language Pronunciation Instruction?: Investigating The Role Of Perception And Other Individual Differences,
2014
University of Richmond
What Predicts The Effectiveness Of Foreign Language Pronunciation Instruction?: Investigating The Role Of Perception And Other Individual Differences, Elizabeth M. Kissling
Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications
This study investigated second language (L2) learners’ perception of L2 sounds as an individual difference that predicted their improvement in pronunciation after receiving instruction. Learners were given explicit pronunciation instruction in a series of modules added to their Spanish as a foreign language curriculum and were then tested on their pronunciation accuracy. Their perception of the target sounds was measured with an AX discrimination task. Though the best predictor of pronunciation posttest score was pretest score, perception made a unique and significant contribution. The other factors associated with better pronunciation of some L2 sounds were time spent using Spanish outside …
Comparison Of Two Word Learning Techniques And The Effect Of Neighborhood Density For Late Talkers,
2014
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Comparison Of Two Word Learning Techniques And The Effect Of Neighborhood Density For Late Talkers, Shari L. Deveney, Cynthia J. Cress, Robert Reid
Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications
The investigators compared two techniques for teaching expressive vocabulary to late talkers: modeling with an expectant pause and modeling with an evoked child production. They also explored the influence of neighborhood density on children’s real word learning. Three late talkers (ages 25–33 months) received two alternating vocabulary treatments (expectant pause and evoked production) in the home. Two participants were identified as having an expressive language delay, and one participant was identified as having an expressive and receptive language delay. During the expectant pause treatment, the clinician paused several seconds after each target word model, looking at the child expectantly. In …
