Spoken Conversation Research Articles

Exploring the Grammatical Complexity of International Teaching Assistants: A Comparative Corpus Study

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to analyze the grammatical complexity features of international teaching assistants' (ITAs) mock‐teaching presentations and to compare the distributions of these features to those found in the Oral English Proficiency Test (a local ITA assessment), university classroom teaching, conversation, and academic writing. The data consisted of 186 prospective ITAs' mock‐teaching presentations collected from two ITA training courses at a large U.S. university: one higher‐level course and one lower‐level course. All presentations were transcribed, proofread, and built into a corpus consisting of 247,043 words. Based on the previous corpus studies, a total of 22 grammatical complexity features were selected for the analysis. Overall, the discourse of ITA mock‐teaching involved a substantial number of both the grammatical complexity features commonly found in spoken conversation (e.g., finite adverbial clauses and modals) and those commonly used in academic writing (e.g., noun premodifiers and prepositional phrases). The frequency distributions of the features differed in complex ways between ITA mock‐teaching and the other registers, as well as between the higher‐level and lower‐level ITAs. Pedagogical implications for ITA training and assessment, and future research directions are discussed at the end.

‘It’s Depend’, ‘Its Depend’, or ‘It Depends’? A Portrait of ELF Speaking Variations

The present study aims to contribute to the existing knowledge on individual variation in situations where English is a lingua franca (ELF). In spoken conversations, it explores using two ungrammatical constructions, ‘it's + Vø’ (e.g., it’s depend) and ‘its + Vø’ (e.g., its depend). These constructions involve an uninflected present-tense singular verb form with it’s or its as subjects, which diverge from the standard -s inflected third-person singular with the pronoun it (e.g., it depends). This study examines the distribution of the variants of the ‘it's + Vø’ and ‘its+ Vø’ constructions and the factors influencing individual choice from an ELF environment. The data was from transcribed spoken texts of multilingual Asian English speakers in the Asian Corpus of English (ACE). The study identified 29 constructions from the idiolects of 20 individual speakers (4 males and 16 females) of various age groups, nationalities, and L1s. The analysis compared the individual use of the ungrammatical constructions, contracted form it’s in grammatical sentences, and present-tense markers (-s or zero) of singular verbs with singular subjects (he, she, it, this, and that). The findings suggest that ‘it's+ Vø’ and ‘its + Vø’ constructions of individual speakers are by the priming of it’s and zero inflection and chunking of idiomatic it's. The speakers exhibited interchangeability between these constructions and the present-tense markers of singular verbs with singular subjects.

The development of English language connected speech perception skills: an empirical study on Chinese EFL children.

Connected speech processes (CSPs) occur randomly in everyday conversations of native speakers; however, such phonological variations can bring about challenges for non-native listeners. Looking at CSP literature, there seems to be very few studies that involved young foreign language learners. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the development of connected speech perception skills by focusing on 201 9- to 12-year-old Chinese EFL children. It also incorporated systematic error analysis to further probe into the specific perceptual difficulties. The results indicate that: (1) Despite a significantly ascending trend for the overall growth of perception skills, no significant differences were found between 11 and 12 year olds in elision and contraction, which suggests that the developmental trend varied depending on different CSP types; (2) Although random errors decreased with age, the number of lexicon and syntax errors gradually increased, and the distribution of perceptual errors shifted from the level of words and syllables to that of phonemes; (3) The primary types of errors resulting in the perception difficulties for elision and contraction were consonant errors, grammatical errors and morphology errors. Ergo, this study enhances the understanding of connected speech perception among EFL children and provides some implications for EFL/ESL listening instructions.

The Use of Particles in Ngapak Bumiayu Language: A Study of Systemic Functional Linguistics

This study explores the use of particles in Ngapak Bumiayu, a Javanese dialect spoken in Bumiayu, Brebes, Central Java, using Michael A.K. Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics theory. Data was collected from everyday conversations of native speakers using a descriptive analysis method. The identified particles—kok, lho, kok ya, toh, wis, and bar—each have unique roles in sentence structure and meaning. The ideational metafunction shows that these particles enrich the information in sentences. Without particles, sentences present straightforward facts, but with particles, they carry additional nuances that enhance the message. For the interpersonal metafunction, particle placement affects meaning. Kok can be in any sentence position, conveying surprise or emphasis. Lho emphasizes attention. Kok ya, typically at the beginning or middle, shows wonder and affirmation. Toh, usually at the end, indicates finality. Wis, in the middle or end, signifies completion or agreement. Bar indicates ongoing or recent actions. The textual metafunction highlights particles' role in maintaining text coherence and cohesion. They ensure consistency and continuity in discourse through repetition, serving as connectors (referential cohesion), and maintaining consistent meanings across contexts (lexical cohesion). These particles are essential for structuring and organizing information in sentences and conversations. These findings illustrate the significant role of particles in enhancing communication, structuring information, and providing nuanced meanings in the Ngapak Bumiayu language.

SVCGAN: Speaker Voice Conversion Generative Adversarial Network for Children’s Speech Conversion and Recognition

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) refers to a technological process that entails the conversion of spoken language into written text. However, the acoustic distinctions between children’s speech and adult speech are substantial, rendering the automatic speech recognition system trained on adult speech inadequate for effectively recognizing children’s speech. To overcome this issue, in this study, we propose speaker conversion generative adversarial network (SVCGAN). SVCGAN is a novel non-parallel voice conversion model, which enhances three key areas: log-cosh loss, semantic-similarity loss, and third adversarial loss. Therefore, the incorporation of these losses better protects semantic information for young children during voice conversion process and improves the quality of the converted speech. Additionally, the character error rate (CER) of children’s speech recognition can benefit from children’s speech transformed into adult speech. Experimental results suggest that SVCGAN demonstrates superior performance across multiple dimensions compared to both CycleGAN-VC3 and MaskCycleGAN-VC models. It encompasses training efficiency, semantic information similarity, voice type similarity, sound naturalness and intelligibility, which leads to a reduction in the CER of speech recognition for young children.

“GIM grabs you, it takes you into the experience that you're ready to have”: An interview with Jim Borling

Jim Borling is a renowned practitioner and primary trainer of the Bonny method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM). His career spans more than thirty years. From the Atlantis Institute for Consciousness and Music, he offers training in several countries such as Spain, where the interviewer currently attends his seminars. In this interview, he explains that GIM is something that changed his own life as well as the lives of many others. This is due to the fact that GIM approaches not only the psycho-social, psycho-emotional, and biographic aspects of clients’ therapeutic work, but also the spiritual dimension of people. He goes over the past, the present, and the future of BMGIM. This semi-structured interview is based on the transcription of a recorded online meeting. We tried to keep the tone informal, offering the vitality of our spoken conversation. Our aim here is to capture a way of understanding and experiencing this method which is increasingly recognised worldwide.

Protective face masks affect clearly produced diphthongs by L1 and L2 English talkers

The study investigated how the use of protective face masks and language experience shape the production of listener-oriented clear speech. One L1 and one L2 English talker read sentences in a clear and conversational speaking style with and without a surgical mask. Formant trajectories between the onset and offset of two diphthongs, /aɪ/ and /eɪ/, were analyzed using Euclidean distance in the F1–F2 vowel space. The results showed that the distance between the onset /a/ and the offset /ɪ/ was larger when speech was produced without the mask and when speaking clearly. These modifications were larger for L1 talker compared to the L2 talker. The Euclidian distance for /eɪ/was only affected by speaking style. The results suggest that talkers produced hyperarticulated diphthongs characterized by larger formant movements in clear speech. The presence of a mask limited jaw movement for the diphthong containing the low vowel. Additionally, the L1 talker made larger articulatory modifications in response to the presence of a mask and listener-oriented clear speech compared to the talker with less extensive experience with the target language. These production patterns may be related to lower word recognition in noise for masked, conversational, and L2 speech found in previous work.

Gaze-speech coordination during social interaction in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) can affect social interaction and communication as well as motor and cognitive processes. Speech is affected in PD, as is the control of voluntary eye movements which are thought to play an important role in 'turn taking' in conversation. This study aimed to measure eye movements during spoken conversation in PD to assess whether differences in patterns of eye gaze are linked to disrupted turn taking and impaired communication efficiency. Eleven participants with mild PD and 14 controls completed a two-player guessing game. During each 3 min game turn, one of the players had to guess the names of as many objects as possible based only on the other player's description. Eye movements were recorded simultaneously in both participants using mobile eye trackers along with speech onset and offset times. When people with PD played the role of describer, the other player guessed fewer objects compared to when controls described objects. When guessing objects, people with PD performed just as well as controls. Analysis of eye fixations showed that people with PD made longer periods of fixation on the other player's face relative to controls and a lower number of such 'gaze on face' periods. A combination of oculomotor, cognitive and speech abnormalities may disrupt communication in PD. Better public awareness of oculomotor, speech and other deficits in the condition could improve social connectedness in people with Parkinson's. What is already known on this subject? Parkinson's disease is known to affect the control of voluntary eye movements. Direction of eye gaze is important in spoken conversation as a cue to turn-taking, but no studies have examined whether eye movements are different during communication in people with Parkinson's. What this paper adds to existing knowledge? People with Parkinson's showed longer periods of eye fixation during conversations compared to controls. Delays and overlaps between speech turns were also affected in patients. What are the clinical implications of this work? Better knowledge of the effect of the disease on eye gaze control amongst clinicians may help improve communication and social connectedness for patients in the future.

말뭉치 분석을 활용한 ‘붓다’, ‘쏟다’의 유의어 연구

Objectives This study aims to provide foundational insights for effective instruction and learning by examining the synonymous verbs ‘붓다 (to pour)’ and ‘쏟다 (to spill)’. The research focuses on analyzing the co-occurring words and semantic relationships within a corpus and visualizing the results through language networks.
 Methods Based on the examination of vocabulary usage in everyday conversation and spoken corpora of native Korean speakers, as well as the investigation of co-occuring words found in Korean language learner corpora, the semantic relationship and specific patterns of usage for ‘붓다’ (to pour) and ‘쏟다’ (to spill) were explored and visualized through language network analysis.
 Results The results of this study are as follows: while native Korean speakers use various extended meanings of ‘붓다’ (to pour) and ‘쏟다’ (to spill), Korean language learners tend to rely on a limited set of co-occuring words provided in Korean textbooks. It indicates an insufficient understanding of the expanded meanings of these synonyms among learners. Additionally, even intermediate and advanced Korean learners have been found to lack a comprehensive understanding of the co-occuring words of ‘붓다 (to pour)’ and ‘쏟다 (to spill)’, leading them to mistakenly interchange the two terms.
 Conclusions This study employs componential analysis to examine the distinctive characteristics of semantic relationships through the co-occurring words of ‘붓다 (to pour)’ and ‘쏟다 (to spill)’. Furthermore, we propose a suggested order of presenting meanings and representative co-occurring words for Korean language learners at different proficiency levels.

Discourse Markers Used by Non-Native Speakers in Good Morning America Talk Show

Discourse markers have been studied extensively in linguistics and communication studies. Its use is very helpful in understanding the message conveyed, both in formal and informal situations. This study examines the discourse markers used by non-native speakers in Good Morning America Talk Show. Unveil the types and their functions, this study uses a qualitative descriptive method in identifying the use of discourse markers. The data were taken from conversations of non-native speakers using Biber et al (1999) theory to determine the types and functions of discourse markers. The results of this study showed that there are ten types of discourse markers interjection, greetings and farewells, linking adverbials, stance adverbials, vocatives, response elicitors, response forms, hesitators, various polite speech-act formulas and expletives. Those markers have variations functions as marker of information management, marker of response, marker of connectives, marker of cause and effect, marker of temporal adverb and marker of information participation. This study has shown that the use of discourse markers varies across languages and cultures. Moreover, the use of discourse markers can also vary depending on the context of the communication.

Exploring the Structural Metaphors in the Daily Conversations of Persian Speakers in Afghanistan

This research paper explores the use of structural metaphors in the daily conversations of Persian speakers and examines how these metaphors reveal deeper human experiences. In this kind of metaphor, a notion from one area is frequently utilized to create another (debate and controversy, which is a subjective idea but has a cultural element), such as war as a physical or cultural phenomena. Persian daily speech is known for using imagery and symbols, and animal metaphors are a significant aspect of this tradition. This paper analyses war metaphors used in the daily conversation of people in Afghanistan and delves into the meaning and symbolism behind each metaphor. The study was conducted using both field research and library research techniques. Each metaphor was analysed in detail, with a focus on the conflict and debate themes, their characteristics, and how they are used to convey deeper meanings. Through this analysis, this paper aims to uncover the use of animal metaphors as a means of revealing a deeper understanding of the metaphors in the Persian context.

A comparative analysis of English nuclear stress principles in conversation

AbstractNuclear stress (or sentence stress) as a prosodic feature marks information flow in spoken English, and has received some treatment in the linguistics literature, most notably in pragmatics, but less so in newer phonological paradigms. Current theories in linguistics might shed light on this feature, such as Optimality Theory (OT) and cognitive grammar (CG). This paper compares potential insights and likely predictions of these two approaches for nuclear stress, by examining a recorded conversation of native US English speakers. The descriptive statistics indicate stress pattern distributions as expected, and some stress tokens show particular pragmatic and discourse functions of nuclear stress. The OT framework can better explain the interaction of different levels of prosody, grammar, and information structure, while CG might offer a more holistic explanation of stress, and its sociopragmatic and discourse functions, and may thus be likely more applicable to discourse studies, applied linguistics, and pedagogy. Implications are discussed for a CG theory of prosodic phonology, and for L2 pedagogy.

Linguistic Indicators of Psychopathy and Malignant Narcissism in the Personal Letters of the Austrian Killer Jack Unterweger

Forensic authorship profiling aims to extract socio-demographic information about the authors of anonymous texts based on linguistic features found in their written texts. One aspect of such a profile that is not usually considered is an analysis of the author’s personality traits. The present study intends to provide a starting point for research into this area. This will be achieved through the investigation of linguistic features reflective of the conditions of psychopathy and malignant narcissism in 14 personal letters of the killer Jack Unterweger. Previous research in the field of psychology has largely examined “psychopathic” and “narcissistic” language in spoken conversations rather than written ones, or in texts produced for the respective study rather than in naturally occurring texts. The findings of the present study thus diverge from previous findings in some aspects (e.g., the use of first-person pronouns), while they provide support for others (e.g., the incoherence of thoughts and changes in topics).

A prosodic comparison of two types of response tokens in Mandarin Chinese and English

We present an investigation of the phonetic characteristics of the response tokens yeah (English) and dui (Mandarin) which, in spoken conversation, can be used either as backchannel items (not initiating a new turn) or as reply tokens (taking the floor). On the basis of two telephone corpora, we investigate whether there are prosodic differences (specifically: pitch, duration, and intensity) between these two types of uses. We find that the most consistent prosodic cue that distinguishes the two, both in Mandarin and English, is intensity, with mixed results for pitch and no role for duration in either language. The pragmatic difference between a reply and a backchannel token is thus signalled by its position in the sequence but reinforced by prosodic means. The way in which this is achieved, i.e. by intensity, involves the cue that is the least likely to upset existing lexical contrasts, both in English and Mandarin.

Enhancing Oral Communication through Live Streaming: Exploring Opportunities and Challenges

This study evaluates live streaming's effects on spoken conversations. After discussing voice communication's relevance in numerous situations, live streaming is studied. Study live broadcasting's impact on spoken communication. This research evaluates live-streamed spoken communication. Surveys, interviews, and relevant literature accomplished this. Livestream viewers and participants were assessed about spoken communication interest and usage. The research indicated live streaming enhances speech. Engagement, responsiveness, and dispersion increased. Global citizens can speak. Technology, privacy, and nonverbal communication are issues. These are concerns. Livestreaming spoken dialogue was advised. Streaming media is trustworthy and straightforward. Interactivity, standards, and communication best practices are covered here. Researching certain places and demographics may help explain live streaming's influence on speech. This research reveals how live broadcasting influences speech. Livestreaming's benefits and downsides. Live broadcasting helps businesses and people. Understanding this new media may boost communication skills and help organizations meet their communication goals. This approach benefits both.

Non-Parallel Whisper-to-Normal Speaking Style Conversion Using Auxiliary Classifier Variational Autoencoder

This paper is concerned with non-parallel whisper-to-normal speaking-style conversion (W2N-SC), which converts whispered speech into normal speech without using parallel training data. The most relevant to this task is voice conversion (VC), which converts one speaker’s voice to another. However, it differs in three main respects. First, unlike normal speech, whispered speech contains no or little pitch information. Second, whispered speech usually has significantly less energy than normal speech and is therefore more susceptible to external noise. Third, in the actual usage scenario of W2N-SC, users may suddenly switch voice modes from whispered to normal speech, or vice versa, meaning that the speaking-style of input speech cannot be assumed in advance. To clarify whether existing VC techniques can successfully handle these task-specific concerns and how they should be modified to better address them, we consider a variational autoencoder (VAE)-based VC method as a baseline and examine what modifications to this method would be effective for the current task. Specifically, we study the effects of (1) a self-supervised training scheme called fill-in-frames (FIF), (2) data augmentation (DA) using noisy speech samples, and (3) an architecture that allows for any-to-many conversions. Through experimental evaluation of the W2N-SC and speaker conversion tasks, we confirmed that, especially in the W2N-SC task, the version incorporating the above modifications works better than the baseline VC model applied as is.

Who’s got the upper hand?

Abstract A large body of research has highlighted the tight, carefully organised temporal coordination of interaction. When taking turns, people tend to minimise the occurrence of gaps and overlaps (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974). Within the field of signed language linguistics, however, there is an ongoing debate: while some researchers claim that signers orient to a ‘one-speaker-at-a-time’ principle (McCleary and Leite 2013) as found in spoken conversation, others argue that signed language interactions allow for more overlapping turns, displaying a more collaborative floor in their turn-taking mechanics (Coates and Sutton-Spence 2001). The current paper aims at contributing to this discussion by providing a first cross-linguistic, systematic account of the manifestation of overlap in two signed languages, namely LSFB (French Belgian Sign Language) and VGT (Flemish Sign Language). We analysed simultaneous signing in 2 hours of dyadic face-to-face conversations. This paper combines a quantitative account of the turn timing and thus frequency counts of overlap in VGT and LSFB interactions with a more fine-grained qualitative analysis of the interactional, i.e., sequential environment, in which overlap occurs and the strategies deployed to accomplish overlap resolution by deaf participants. In doing so, this paper sheds further light on the orderliness of signed conversation, and ultimately contributes to a better understanding of the semiotic complexity of multimodal interaction management across language ecologies (Ferrara and Hodge 2018).

Coarticulation is reduced in clear speech produced with protective face masks

Talkers dynamically modify their coarticulatory patterns when producing listener-oriented hyperarticulated clear speeches. This study examined how the use of protective face masks interacts with the production of intelligibility-enhancing clear speech to impact coarticulation. A native and a non-native speaker of English read sentences in a clear and conversational speaking style with and without a surgical mask. Coarticulation between word-internal adjacent segments was analyzed with a whole-spectrum analysis including spectral distance and segment overlap duration. Both speakers coarticulated less in clear than in conversational speaking style as indicated by the larger spectral distance and shorter overlap duration between adjacent segments. Coarticulation was further reduced when clear speech was produced with a mask by the native speaker but not by the non-native speaker. The findings showed that producing hyperarticulated intelligibility-enhancing clear speech also involves reducing coarticulatory overlap across adjacent segments. Coarticulatory resistance was adaptively reinforced in the presence of the additional communicative barrier, face mask, particularly for the speaker with extensive experience with the target language. Such cumulative reduction of coarticulation may in part underlie the larger perception-in-noise benefit for clear speech produced with a mask for the native compared to the non-native talker.

Clear speech promotes speaking rate normalization

When speaking in noisy conditions or to a hearing-impaired listener, talkers often use clear speech which is slower, louder, and hyperarticulated relative to conversational speech. In other research, changes in speaking rate are known to affect speech perception (called temporal contrast effects, or speaking rate normalization). For example, when a sentence is spoken quickly, the voice onset time (VOT) in the next word sounds longer by comparison (e.g., more like the /t/ of “tier”); a sentence spoken slowly makes the VOT in the next word sound shorter (e.g., like the /d/ of “deer”). Typically, one sentence is manipulated to produce fast and slow versions. We tested whether naturally produced clear and conversational speaking styles would also produce these temporal contrast effects. On each trial, listeners heard either a clear (slow) sentence or a conversational (fast) sentence followed by a target word to be categorized as “deer” or “tier.” Temporal contrast effects were observed both for conversational relative to clear speech and for conversational relative to a slowed version of the conversational speech. Changing speaking styles aids speech intelligibility but may produce other consequences such as contrast effects that alter sound/word recognition.

Serial Verb Constructions in Nzema: A Descriptive Analysis

This paper aims to discuss Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) in Nzema, a Southern Bia (Kwa) language. It draws on some of the characteristics and properties that have been surveyed in the existing literature, for instance, subject/object sharing, tense, aspect, and negation. It also discusses the types and functions of SVCs in Nzema. The current paper analyses the notions of tense, aspect, and polarity and how they are marked in Nzema SVCs. Most of the data used in the analysis has been derived from the daily conversations of native speakers. Four respondents were approached for the purpose of this study. The analysis shows that Nzema SVCs belong to the types explored in the literature as clause chaining, both integrated and concordial. Moreover, serial verb patterns are used by the speakers to add argument, such as an instrument or beneficiary. Future markers are used before the verbs, while past markers occur after the verbs. On the other hand, progressive aspect markers occur before the verbs in the speech of the respondents. Furthermore, tense and aspect marking are repeated by the respondents on all the verbs in the series. Regarding argument sharing, the object is only shared when the verbs in the series are transitive.
 Keywords: argument sharing, clause chaining serialization, concordial serial verb, integrated serial verb construction