Some Speech Basics Phonetic Transcription, Context-dependent variation, and Intonation : Some Speech Basics Phonetic Transcription, Context-dependent variation, and Intonation
Jennifer J. Venditti
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Columbia Computer Science
12 September 2002
1. Phonetic Transcription : 1. Phonetic Transcription
Spelling vs. Sounds : Spelling vs. Sounds same spelling = different sounds
o comb, tomb, bomb oo blood, food, good
c court, center, cheese s reason, surreal, shy
same sound = different spellings
[i] sea, see, scene, receive, thief [s] cereal, same, miss
[u] true, few, choose, lieu, do [ay] prime, buy, rhyme, lie
combination of letters = single sound
ch child, beach th that, bathe
oo good, foot gh laugh
single letter = combination of sounds
x exit, Texas u use, music
‘silent’ letters
k knife, know p psycho, pterodactyl
e moose, bone gh through
Slide4 : Figures 4.1 and 4.2:
Jurafsky & Martin (2000),
pages 94-95.
On-line pronunciation dictionaries : On-line pronunciation dictionaries Source: Jurafsky & Martin (2000), page 121.
Places of articulation : Places of articulation http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html
Vocal fold vibration : Vocal fold vibration [UCLA Phonetics Lab demo]
Articulatory parameters for English consonants (in ARPAbet) : Articulatory parameters for English consonants (in ARPAbet) MANNER OF ARTICULATION VOICING:
American English vowel space : American English vowel space
[iy] vs. [uw] : [iy] vs. [uw] (From a lecture given by Rochelle Newman)
[ae] vs. [aa] : [ae] vs. [aa] (From a lecture given by Rochelle Newman)
Acoustic landmarks : Acoustic landmarks “Patricia and Patsy and Sally”
Articulators in action : Articulators in action “Why did Ken set the soggy net on top of his deck?” (Sample from the Queen’s University / ATR Labs
X-ray Film Database)
Exercise (1) : Exercise (1) Write your name in:
(a) IPA.
(b) ARPAbet (if possible).
Choose one of the following triplets and transcribe each word in both IPA and ARPAbet.
cone, tomb, bottom
blood, fool, hook
court, race, cheese
reason, surreal, cash
thing, these, other
laugh, through, ghoul
Slide15 : Figures 4.1 and 4.2:
Jurafsky & Martin (2000),
pages 94-95.
IPA consonants : IPA consonants (Distributed by the International Phonetics Association.)
IPA vowels : IPA vowels (Distributed by the International Phonetics Association.)
Context-dependent phonetic variation : Context-dependent phonetic variation
Context-dependent variation : Context-dependent variation What we would consider a single ‘sound’ can be pronounced differently depending on the phonetic context. For example, the phoneme /t/:
Figure 4.8: Jurafsky & Martin (2000), page 104.
Another regular alternation : Another regular alternation I can ask [ay k ae n ae s k]
I can see [ay k ae n s iy]
I can bake [ay k ae m b ey k]
I can play [ay k ae m p l ey]
I can go [ay k ae ng g ow]
I can carry [ay k ae ng k ae r iy] n m / __ [+labial stop]
n ng / __ [+velar stop] (inopportune [n], insatiable [n], impervious [m],
immortal [m], incoherent [ng], ingratitude [ng])
English plurals : English plurals hiccup [p] hiccups flood [d] floods
sock [k] socks scab [b] scabs
habit [t] habits frog [g] frogs
spoof [f] spoofs comb [m] combs
hearth [th] hearths grave [v] graves
lathe [dh] lathes
beach [ch] beaches fool [l] fools
dish [sh] dishes sewer [r] sewers
judge [jh] judges pies [ay] pies
race [s] races curfew [uw] curfews
axe [s] axes sofa [ax] sofas
raise [z] raises
Phonological rules for Engl. plurals : Phonological rules for Engl. plurals Assume that the lexical form of plural is /z/.
Insertion: ix / [+sibilant] ^__ z #
Devoicing: z s / [-voice] ^__ # bus+PL cape+PL hen+PL
/b ah s +z/ /k ey p +z/ /h eh n +z/
insertion: b ah s +ix z -- --
devoicing: -- k ey p s --
[b ah s ix z] [k ey p s] [h eh n z] /b ah s +z/ /k ey p +z/ /h eh n +z/
devoicing: b ah s s k ey p s --
insertion: -- -- --
*[b ah s s] [k ey p s] [h eh n z]
3. Intonation : 3. Intonation
Intonation makes the difference : Intonation makes the difference A: I’d like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
B: TWA doesn’t fly there ...
B1: They fly to Des Moines.
B2: They fly to Des Moines.
A: What types of foods are a good source of vitamins?
B1: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
B2: Legumes are a good source of vitamins.
A1: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
A2: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
Intonation is about ... : Intonation is about ...
Pitch
Melody, or “tune”
Alignment
Prominence and focus
Chunking, or “phrasing”
... and more ...
Vocal fold vibration : Vocal fold vibration Physical: Fundamental frequency (F0)
rate of vibration of the vocal folds
Perceptual: Pitch perceived pitch fundamental freq. [UCLA Phonetics Lab demo]
Pitch range : Pitch range Differences can be due to physical size, gender, social identity, excitement level, linguistic, etc ...
English Pitch Accents : English Pitch Accents Certain words in the speech stream can be made structurally and perceptually prominent by the use of pitch accents.
Lenora works for Lucent. * * Pitch accents are local pitch movements (e.g. rising, falling) or pitch maxima/minima that accompany these metrically strong syllables. The intonational “tune” is the melody that is created by sequences of pitch accents over an utterance.
Intonational tunes: What do they mean? : Intonational tunes: What do they mean? Lenora works for Lucent.
Lenora works for Lucent.
Lenora works for Lucent.
Lenora works for Lucent. [Tell me something about the world ...] [... I hope she doesn’t have stock options.] [... Really? I wasn’t aware of that.] [I’ve told you a million times ...] * * * * [See works by Bolinger, Ladd, Hirschberg ...]
Alignment differences cue “assertion” vs. “suggestion” : Alignment differences cue “assertion” vs. “suggestion” A: I’d like to fly to Davenport, Iowa on TWA.
B: TWA doesn’t fly there ...
Alignment with different words : Alignment with different words B: LEGUMES are a good source of vitamins. Legumes are a good source of vitamins. * * * “broad focus” “narrow focus” A: What types of foods are a good source of vitamins? # Legumes are a good source of VITAMINS.
Placement of focal accent : Placement of focal accent LEGUMES are a good source of vitamins The rise-fall tune (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.
Placement of focal accent : Placement of focal accent Legumes are a GOOD source of vitamins The rise-fall tune (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.
Placement of focal accent : Placement of focal accent legumes are a good source of VITAMINS The rise-fall tune (= “I assert this”) shifts locations.
Chunking, or “phrasing” : Chunking, or “phrasing”
A1: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
A2: I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday.
Phrasing can disambiguate : Phrasing can disambiguate I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday Mary & Elena’s mother mall One intonation phrase with relatively flat overall pitch range.
Phrasing can disambiguate : Phrasing can disambiguate I met Mary and Elena’s mother at the mall yesterday Mary mall Elena’s mother Separate phrases, with expanded pitch movements.
Lists of numbers, nouns : Lists of numbers, nouns twenty.eight.five
ninety.four.three
seventy.three.seven
forty.seven.seven
seventy.seven.seven coffee cake and cream
chocolate ice cream and cake
fish fingers and bottles
cheese sandwiches and milk
cream buns and chocolate
[from Prosody on the Web tutorial on chunking]
Exercise (2) : Exercise (2) 1. Sketch out an F0 contour of
Does Manitowoc have a bowling alley?
as uttered in the following two contexts:
(a) “I know Green Bay has a bowling alley, but ...”
(b) “I know Manitowoc has a theater, but ...”
2. Complete the sentence:
When Madonna sings the song ...
Describe the prosodic phrasing of your utterance.
3. How can phrasing help disambiguate the utterance:
that’s right at the traffic light