Characteristics Of Prosody Research Articles

Identification of the emotional component of inner pronunciation: EEG-ERP study

The article discusses the problems of identifying the emotional component of inner pronunciation using psychophysiological methods. In the course of preliminary analysis, P200, N400 and LPC were identified, associated with various parameters of prosody regulation during inner pronunciation. An experimental study of inner pronunciation using event-related potentials from EEG was conducted to isolate these components. In addition, a new method of localizing sources of activity using EEG “virtually implanted electrode” was applied in order to study possible sources of the isolated components. The results show the connection of EEG components with various characteristics of prosody (P200 − the beginning of prosody encoding, N400 − the valence of the emotion, LPC − the intensity of the emotion). Based on the results, the participation of various brain structures in the generation of each of the components was also analyzed.

Mapping acoustic characteristics of emotional prosody in Mandarin disyllabic words: A machine-learning approach

This study conducted an acoustic-prosodic mapping analysis of emotional prosody in Mandarin Chinese. It utilized a validated audiometry corpus with 450 disyllabic words. The spoken words covered five basic emotions produced by a female speaker: angry, sad, happy, fearful, and neutral. A machine-learning approach was adopted to map key acoustic-prosodic features for Mandarin emotional vocalization. The results revealed distinctive acoustic profiles for each emotion, highlighting variations in fundamental frequency, intensity, speaking rate, and voice quality. Emotional utterances consistently exhibited higher mean F0 values than neutral expressions. Fear displayed the highest crest in F0. Angry and happy utterances showed greater vocal intensity and a faster speaking rate compared to fearful and sad expressions. While anger was associated with a creaky voice quality, sadness corresponded with a breathier voice quality. The current findings are limited with the use of the single-speaker corpus. Ongoing efforts aim to expand the corpus with more speakers to test the generalizability and scalability of the analysis approach for subsequent investigations.

Objective assessment of autism spectrum disorder based on performance in structured interpersonal acting-out tasks with prosodic stability and variability.

In this study, we sought to objectively and quantitatively characterize the prosodic features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) via the characteristics of prosody in a newly developed structured speech experiment. Male adults with high-functioning ASD and age/intelligence-matched men with typical development (TD) were asked to read 29 brief scripts aloud in response to preceding auditory stimuli. To investigate whether (1) highly structured acting-out tasks can uncover the prosodic of difference between those with ASD and TD, and (2) the prosodic stableness and flexibleness can be used for objective automatic assessment of ASD, we compared prosodic features such as fundamental frequency, intensity, and mora duration. The results indicate that individuals with ASD exhibit stable pitch registers or volume levels in some affective vocal-expression scenarios, such as those involving anger or sadness, compared with TD and those with TD. However, unstable prosody was observed in some timing control or emphasis tasks in the participants with ASD. Automatic classification of the ASD and TD groups using a support vector machine (SVM) with speech features exhibited an accuracy of 90.4%. A machine learning-based assessment of the degree of ASD core symptoms using support vector regression (SVR) also had good performance. These results may inform the development of a new easy-to-use assessment tool for ASD core symptoms using recorded audio signals.

A Comparative Study of Synonyms Semantic Prosody of Effect, Impact and Influence Based on Corpus

The development of corpus linguistics and the establishment of different corpora provide effective and reliable evidence for the comparison of synonyms. This paper is going to compare and analyse the characteristics of semantic prosody of effect, impact and influence from register and collocation, with the methodology of quantitative and qualitative. The result shows that there exist discrepancies in using this group of words, that is, effect, impact and influence, which can serve as guidance for the research of synonym comparison.

“Do I sound happy?” Acoustic characteristics of affective prosody in older adults

It is known that older adults have difficulty comprehending affective prosody. However, it is unclear how well they manipulate affective prosody to express emotion. Five older adults were recorded when they completed three speech tasks: (1) Talking about happy and sad life events; (2) Describing the Refused Umbrella pictures; (3) Explaining how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Two independent investigators listened to the recordings and parsed them into utterances considering pauses and connectivity. Afterwards, the investigators identified the primary emotion (i.e., happy, sad, neutral) in each utterance. The recordings were acoustically analyzed using Pratt for rate, pitch, and amplitude measures. The rate measures included speech and articulation rates and the pitch/amplitude measures contained initial, final, minimum, maximum f0/dB and the difference between the maximum and minimum f0/dB. Multivariate ANOVAs with Tukey post-hoc test were conducted to analyze the acoustic data. Among the acoustic measures, all rate and pitch measures were significantly different across the three emotions. However, none of the amplitude measures differed significantly. Research on production of affective prosody in healthy older adults has been scarce and this study may serve as a catalyst for further exploration in this area.

읽기장애아동과 일반아동의 통사적 다양성에 따른 운율 특성 비교*

Proper prosody in reading allows the reader to naturally convey the meaning, which manifests as changes in pitch, loudness, and speech rate. Children with reading disability face difficulty in delivering information due to poor prosody. This study identified the difference in prosodic features between children with reading disabilities and nondisabled children through means of reading tasks. Reading tasks, according to sentence types (short sentences, assumptions/ conditions, intentions, relative-clause), were recorded by 15 children studying in the 3rd to 6th grade in elementary school. Children with reading disability had a statistically significant wider range of pitch, slower speech rate, more frequent usage of pauses, longer total pause duration, and steeper pitch slope than nondisabled one in sentence-final and -medial words. Children with reading disability, therefore, exhibited a less natural and expressive reading than nondisabled children. Through this study, the characteristics of prosody observed in children with reading disability were identified and the need for an approach for effective intervention was also suggested.

좌반구 손상과 우반구 손상 뇌졸중 환자의 의문문 유형에 따른 운율 특성 비교*

This study examined the characteristics of linguistic prosody in terms of cerebral lateralization in three groups of 9 healthy speakers and 14 speakers with a history of stroke (7 with left hemisphere damage (LHD), 7 with right hemisphere damage (RHD)). Specifically, prosodic characteristics related to speech rate, duration, pitch, and intensity were examined in three types of interrogative sentences (wh-questions, yes-no questions, alternative questions) with auditory perceptual evaluation. As a result, the statistically significant key variables showed flaws in production of the linguistic prosody in the speakers with LHD. The statistically significant variables were more insufficiently produced for wh-questions than for yes-no and alternative questions. This trend was particularly noticeable in variables related to pitch and speech rate. This result suggests that when Korean speakers process linguistic prosody, such as that of lexico-semantic and syntactic information in interrogative sentences, the left hemisphere seems to be superior to the right hemisphere.

"Textual Prosody" Can Change Impressions of Reading in People With Normal Hearing and Hearing Loss.

Recently, dynamic text presentation, such as scrolling text, has been widely used. Texts are often presented at constant timing and speed in conventional dynamic text presentation. However, dynamic text presentation enables visually presented texts to indicate timing information, such as prosody, and the texts might influence the impression of reading. In this paper, we examined this possibility by focusing on the temporal features of digital text in which texts are represented sequentially and with varying speed, duration, and timing. We call this “textual prosody.” We used three types of textual prosody: “Recorded,” “Shuffled,” and “Constant.” Recorded prosody is the reproduction of a reader’s reading with pauses and varying speed that simulates talking. Shuffled prosody randomly shuffles the time course of speed and pauses in the recorded type. Constant prosody has a constant presentation speed and provides no timing information. Experiment 1 examined the effect of textual prosody on people with normal hearing. Participants read dynamic text with textual prosody silently and rated their impressions of texts. The results showed that readers with normal hearing preferred recorded textual prosody and constant prosody at the optimum speed (6 letters/second). Recorded prosody was also preferred at a low presentation speed. Experiment 2 examined the characteristics of textual prosody using an articulatory suppression paradigm. The results showed that some textual prosody was stored in the articulatory loop despite it being presented visually. In Experiment 3, we examined the effect of textual prosody with readers with hearing loss. The results demonstrated that readers with hearing loss had positive impressions at relatively low presentation speeds when the recorded prosody was presented. The results of this study indicate that the temporal structure is processed regardless of whether the input is visual or auditory. Moreover, these results suggest that textual prosody can enrich reading not only in people with normal hearing but also in those with hearing loss, regardless of acoustic experiences.

Temporal Characteristics of Prosody in Imperative Utterances and the Phenomenon of Emphatic Length in the English Language

The paper focuses on one of the most effective factors of linguistic manipulation, i.e. imperative utterance. The subject of the study was direct contact appeals, whose structures corresponded to the literary norms of the English language. The research determined and described the temporal component of imperative prosody. The author employed electro-acoustic, mathematical and statistical methods. The phonetic experiment revealed four prosodic structures, as well as their inter-structural and inter-style levels, the degree of temporal fluctuation and the phenomenon of emphatic length, the latter being recognized as the basic temporal feature of imperative prosody. Temporal variation in a phrase and its functional segments in different prosodic structures and in certain extra-linguistic conditions convincingly demonstrates the set of absolute and inter-style markers of this prosodic subsystem. In practice, the results of the present research can be applied in teaching communicatively oriented utterances and in making up the algorithm of automatic speech recognition and synthesis.

Prosody as a window into speaker attitudes and interpersonal stance

New research is exploring ways that prosody fulfils different social-pragmatic functions in spoken language by revealing the mental or affective state of the speaker, thereby contributing to an understanding of speaker’s meaning. Prosody is often pivotal in signaling speaker attitudes or stance in the interpersonal context of the speaker-hearer; in contrast to the vocal communication of emotions, the significance of prosodic cues serving an emotive or interpersonal function is often dependent on the type of speech act being made and other contextual-situational parameters. Here, we discuss recent acoustic-perceptual studies in our lab demonstrating how prosody marks the interpersonal stance of a speaker and how this information is used by listeners to uncover social intentions that may be non-literal or covert. Focusing on how prosody operates in the communication of politeness, ironic attitudes, and sincerity, our data add to research on the acoustic-perceptual characteristics of prosody in these interpersonal contexts. Future implications for how acoustic cues underlying “prosodic attitudes” affect the interpretive process during on-line speech processing and how they influence behavioral outcomes are considered.

Prosody Processing of Korean Language in Stroke Patients: A Preliminary Study

ObjectiveTo investigate the hemispheric contributions to prosody recognitions and interference effects of semantic processing on prosody for stroke patients by using the Korean language.MethodsTen right hemisphere damaged patients (RHD), nine left hemisphere damaged patients (LHD), and eleven healthy controls (HC) participated. In pure prosody recognition task, four semantically neutral sentences were selected and presented in both sad and happy prosodies. In interference task, participants listened to emotionally intoned sentences in which the semantic contents were congruent or incongruent with prosody. Participants were asked to rate the valence of prosody while ignoring the semantic contents, and thus, reaction time and accuracy were estimated.ResultsIn pure prosody recognition task, RHD showed low accuracy as compared to HC (p=0.013), and the tendency of group response showed that RHD performed worse than HC and LHD with regards to accuracy and reaction time. In interference task, analysis of accuracy revealed a significant main effect of groups (p=0.04), and the tendency implied that RHD is less accurate as compared to LHD and HC. The RHD took longer reaction times than HC in congruent and incongruent items (p<0.001).ConclusionRight hemispheric laterality to prosody processing of Korean language in stroke patients was observed. Interference effects of semantic contents to prosody processing were not observed, which suggested unique characteristics of prosody for Korean language. These results could be referred as preliminary data for future researches on Korean languages.

When “okay” is not okay: Acoustic characteristics of single-word prosody conveying reluctance

The present study explored the acoustic characteristics of prosodic cues that indicate a speaker's reluctance when giving permission or agreement using a single word ("okay"). Eight speakers (four male, four female) produced the recorded materials that were subsequently validated through a listening experiment using 12 normal-hearing listeners. Acoustic analyses revealed that significantly longer word duration was the cue used most consistently across speakers to communicate reluctance. Voice quality, fundamental voice frequency, and intensity cues also differed significantly between the two prosodic conditions, but the manner in which these cues were applied varied greatly across speakers.

Rytinių šiaurės žemaičių fonologinė sistema: mitai ir tikrovė

The North-Eastern Žemaitian phonology: MythS and reality Summary It has been commonly believed that the North-eastern Žemaitian dialects form a specific border dialect with their unique characteristics of vocalism and prosody. The purpose of the research is to separate facts from assumptions and to dispel myths concerning the stress retraction, the secondary stress, the contrast of phonemes / i / : / ẹ / and / u / : / ọ / at the end of the word and et cetera, in other words, to identify the phonological elements, examine their interrelationship and give an exhaustive description of the phonological system of the dialect employing instrumental and statistical methods. The findings from the instrumental and statistical research have lead to the following conclusions: 1. The shifted secondary stress is regularly used in long endings containing a long vowel or a pure diphthong. In the south-western part of the dialect the secondary stress is not realized in long endings, containing a semi-diphthong (i.e., a vowel + sonorant cluster). This tendency can be observed throughout the whole area of the dialect. 2. When the stress is retracted to the beginning of the word, the secondary stress is preserved consistently. 3. A more consistent retraction of stress from acute final syllables is observed only in ā and ē stems of present and past tense forms in the first and second person singular. From the diachronic point of view, this is a new morphological phenomenon. 4. The distinctive accent contrast is realized in long stressed syllables; it is neutralized in the endings in which the archiprosodeme is represented by the acute. In the retracted-stress syllables the contrast of accents is consistently maintained only in the north-eastern part of the dialect. 5. The contrast of phonemes / i / : / ẹ / and / u / : / ọ / is systematically realized at the end of a word. In the stem this contrast is neutralized: the realization of high or mid-open phonemes depends upon the vocalism of the following syllable (the regressive assimilation of vowels). 6. The phonological vowel system of the dialect consists of 14 phonemes: / i · , u · , ie , uo , ( ẹ· ), ( ọ · ) ( e · ), a · , i , u , ẹ , ọ , ( e ), a /. The long / ẹ· / and / ọ · / belong to the periphery of the system. The open front phonemes / e · /, / e / are not found in the system of vowels of the south-eastern fringe of the dialect.

The Auditory-Perceptual Characteristics of Articulation and Prosody by the Types of Cerebral Palsyin Reading Tasks

The Auditory-Perceptual Characteristics of Articulation and Prosody by the Types of Cerebral Palsyin Reading Tasks

Left-hemispheric dominance for articulation: a prospective study on acute ischaemic dysarthria at different localizations

Dysarthria is a frequent symptom in cerebral ischaemia. However, speech characteristics of these patients have not previously been investigated in relation to lesion site in a prospective study. We investigated the auditory perceptual features in 62 consecutive patients with dysarthria due to a single, non-space-occupying cerebral infarction confirmed by MRI. Standardized speech samples of all patients were stored within 72 h after stroke onset using a digital tape recorder. Speech samples were assessed independently by two experienced speech therapists, who were unaware of the clinical and neuroradiological findings, using an interval scale ranging from 0 to 6. Separately assessed were features of articulation, phonation, prosody, and the global severity for a total of 31 items. Extracerebellar infarctions (85.5%) were located in the lower motor cortex (14.5%), striatocapsular region (46.8%) and base of the pons (24.2%). Isolated cerebellar infarctions were present in 14.5% of patients. There was a strong correlation between the findings of both examiners, showing identical scores, or only minor differences (<1 on the assessment scale) for 80% of all items. The average severity of dysarthria was 2.9 +/- 1.3. Articulatory abnormalities were the predominant deviation characteristics, affecting in particular the production of consonants. However, phonatory and prosodic abnormalities were also frequently observed speech characteristics. As revealed by factor analysis of speech characteristics the total severity of dysarthria was mainly influenced by the impairment of articulation. Speech parameters describing characteristics of articulation and prosody showed significant side-to-side and area differences, while this effect was lacking for any voice parameter. Left cerebral lesions showed a more severe overall impairment of speech and articulation, independent of lesion topography. Thirty-eight of 62 patients were available for follow-up. Speech evaluation showed normal speech within weeks in 15 out of 38 patients (39.5%). In the other 23 patients overall severity of dysarthria was mild. This is the first prospective study which describes speech characteristics of dysarthria due to acute unilateral cerebral infarctions. We could demonstrate that dysarthria in extracerebellar infarctions was more frequently caused by left-sided lesions and that the severity of dysarthria was more pronounced in left-sided lesions independent from lesion topography. All extracerebellar lesions were located along the course of the cortico-bulbar tract fibres. Compatible with a common pathophysiological basis of dysarthria in these patients, none of the 31 speech items differed significantly between subcortical and brainstem lesions.

Hemispheric specialisation in processing prosodic structures: Revisited

Background : Research addressing prosodic deficits in brain-damaged populations has concentrated on the specialised capabilities of the right and the left cerebral hemispheres in processing the global characteristics of prosody. This focus has been of interest in that the fundamental frequency (F0), duration and intensity acoustic characteristics within a prosodic structure can convey different linguistic and nonlinguistic information. Much of the research investigating this interesting phenomenon has produced conflicting results. As such, different theories have been proposed in an attempt to provide plausible explanations of the conflicting findings regarding hemispheric specialisation in processing prosodic structures. Aims : The purpose of this study was to examine one of the theories, the functional lateralisation theory, through four experiments that altered the linguistic and nonlinguistic functions across a range of prosodic structures. Methods & Procedures : Three groups of subjects participated in each of the four experiments: (1) eight subjects with LHD, (2) eight subjects with RHD, and (3) eight control subjects. The first experiment addressed the extent to which the processing of lexical stress differences would be lateralised to the left or right hemisphere by requiring listeners to determine the meanings and grammatical assignments of two-syllable words conveyed through stressed or unstressed syllables. In another linguistic condition, the second experiment placed demands on syntactic parsing operations by requiring listeners to parse syntactically ambiguous sentences which were disambiguated through the perception of prosodic boundaries located at syntactic junctures. A third linguistic condition required listeners to determine the categorical assignment of a speaker's intention of making a statement or asking a question conveyed through the prosodic structures. The fourth experiment was designed to determine hemispheric lateralisation in processing nonlinguistic prosodic structures. In this experiment, listeners were required to determine the emotional state of a speaker conveyed through the prosodic structures in sentences that contained semantic information which was either congruent or incongruent with the emotional content of the prosodic structures. Results : When subjects were asked to identify lexical stress differences (Experiment 1), syntactically ambiguous sentences (Experiment 2), and questions and statements (Experiment 3) conveyed through prosody, the LHD group demonstrated a significantly poorer performance than the control and RHD groups. When asked to identify emotions conveyed through prosody (Experiment 4), the RHD group demonstrated a significantly poorer performance than the control and LHD groups. Conclusion : These findings support the functional lateralisation theory that proposes a left hemisphere dominance for processing linguistic prosodic structures and a right hemisphere dominance for processing nonlinguistic prosodic structures.

Acoustic characteristics of affective prosody in young children

Acoustic characteristics of affective prosody in 30 children aged between 36 and 48 months, matched for SES and IQ, were measured in spontaneous and imitated utterances. Intonation patterns for neutral-normal, happy, sad, and angry affect were elicited and audiorecorded under controlled conditions. The responses were transcribed phonetically to account for speech variations relevant in the analysis. The recordings were analyzed acoustically for characteristics of fundamental frequency, intensity, duration, and their co-variation for each affective pattern using Oscillomink (Siemens) tracings and a PM pitch analyzer (voice identification). It was hypothesized that the production of affective prosody would parallel its perception. An earlier study (C. Baltaxe, Proceedings of the Sixth International Phonology Meeting, 1–7 July 1988, Krems, Austria) had shown that the same age group perceived the above affective patterns beyond chance. However, degree of success was linked to specific emotion, with a Polyanna effect toward happy emotion. The results of the present study showed that affective productions did not parallel perception, even in the imitation condition. Results are discussed with respect to articulatory control necessary for each pattern. [Work supported by Maternal Child Health.]