School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemThe effects of mp3 compression on acoustic measurements of fundamental frequency and pitch range(ISCA, 2016)Recordings for acoustic research should ideally be made in a lossless format. However, in some cases pre-existing data may be available in a lossy format such as mp3, prompting the question in how far this compromises the accuracy of acoustic measurements. In order to determine whether this is the case, we compressed 10 recordings of read speech in different compression rates (16-320 kbps), and reconverted them to wav in order to examine the effect of compression on commonly used suprasegmental measures of fundamental frequency (f0), pitch range and level. Results suggest that at compression rates between 56 and 320 kbps, measures of f0and most measures of pitch range and level remain reliable, with mean errors below 2% and often better than that. The skewness of the distribution of f0measurements, however, shows much greater measurement errors, with mean errors of 6.9%-7.6% at compression rates between 96 kbps and 320 kbps, and 44.8% at 16 kbps. We conclude that mp3 compressed recordings can be subjected to the acoustic measurements tested here. Nevertheless, the indeterminacy added by mp3 compression needs to be taken into account when interpreting measurements.
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ItemMarking of focus in Indian English of L1 Bengali speakers(Australasian Speech Science and Technology Australia (ASSTA), 2010)A production experiment was designed to examine the effect of narrow focus structure on the intonational patterns of f0 and duration in English spoken by L1 Bengali speakers of English. The results show significantly higher pitch excursion on the accented words and a small increase in the duration of the accented syllable in narrow versus broad focus structures. In addition, the shape of the low rising f0 pattern used on narrow focused words is similar to the pattern observed in Bengali and could potentially be an additional cue to focus marking for English speakers of this L1 background. Index Terms: intonational phonology, Indian English, focus, rising pitch
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ItemPhonetic cues to accentual prominence in Bengali English(City University of Hong Kong, 2011)This paper examines the acoustic correlates of accentual prominence in English spoken by L1 Bengali speakers. The acoustic phonetic correlates of stressed unaccented vowels, and stressed vowels produced in positions of narrow focus were compared. As observed for many varieties of English, the main correlates of accentual prominence in narrow focused contexts were presence of/and extent of f0 movement throughout the stressed vowel, followed by a concomitant increase in RMS-db. Vowels were also longer compared to stressed unaccented vowels although the differences were relatively small and highly variable.
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ItemTonal alignment of focal accents in two varieties of Indian English(University of Canterbury, 2014)This study examines the tonal alignment of focal rising pitch movements in two varieties of Indian English: Bengali and Kannada English. The results revealed that all speakers use a bitonal rising pitch accent to realise focal prominence. An examination of the alignment patterns of Low and High tone targets shows that a late rising L*+H accent on focally prominent words is characteristic of Bengali English speakers whereas Kannada English speakers use an L+H* accent. Consistent with the literature, the phonetic location of the tone targets is also strongly correlated with accented syllable duration and a range of other phonetic factors.
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ItemThe placement and acoustic realisation of primary and secondary stress in Indian English(International Phonetic Association, 2015)This study examined the acoustic correlates of primary and secondary stress in Indian English. Together with the patterns of lexical stress placement, the parameters of syllable duration, pitch slope, intensity and spectral balance were examined in six noun-verb pairs. Two L1 backgrounds (Hindi and Malayalam) were examined. Results showed that lexical stress placement varied substantially across the speakers, but was in the majority of cases on the same syllable as in American or British English. Second, speakers relied on (in order of importance) differences in intensity, spectral balance, duration, and pitch slope to distinguish primary from secondary stress. The results also showed that Indian English differs from other varieties in the phonetic realisation of the primary-secondary stress distinction.
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ItemA comparison of the acoustics of nonsense and real word stimuli: coronal stops in Bengali(International Phonetics Society, 2015)Research suggests that nonsense and real words often exhibit differences in their acoustic properties. Despite this, the use of nonsense stimuli is prevalent in acoustic analyses of a range of phenomena and in experimental studies of segmental perception. The present study examined stop duration and preceding vowel formant transitions for two Bengali coronal stops produced in real and nonsense word stimuli. Firstly, significant differences were observed based on the stimulus type. Nonsense word production showed more distinct dental-retroflex differentiation. Secondly, the results revealed that F3 was a more reliable cue to place of articulation than closure duration and voice onset time.
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ItemWubuy coronal stop perception by speakers of three dialects of Bangla.(International Speech Communication Association, 2015)We tested native speakers from three major dialect groups of Bangla, on their discrimination of a four-way coronal stop contrast from the Australian Indigenous language Wubuy. Bangla is generally assumed to have a two-way contrast in coronal stops, with an additional place distinction in affricates. The results show that Bangla speakers are able to discriminate the Wubuy contrasts, but also that certain contrasts are more difficult to discriminate than others. We discuss these results with respect to the Bangla coronal inventory, and importantly, with respect to the variation in the phonetic realisation of coronals between the dialects of Bangla. We argue that the phonetic realisation of what is regarded to be the 'same' phonemic inventory can have implications for the perceptual behaviour of speakers.