Spoken Language Research Articles

Exploring Sentiment Analysis across Text, Audio, and Video: A Comprehensive Approach and Future Directions

Abstract: This study presents a comprehensive exploration of sentiment analysis techniques across text, audio, and video modalities. Leveraging natural language processing (NLP), speech recognition, and computer vision algorithms, the research demonstrates the versatility and adaptability of sentiment analysis across diverse data sources. The necessity of such an approach lies in its ability to provide deeper insights into user emotions and opinions expressed in various mediums, including written text, spoken language, and visual content. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of sentiment analysis in understanding customer feedback, market trends, social media sentiments, and sentiment-aware recommendation systems. Future directions include advancing algorithmic accuracy and efficiency, integrating multimodal fusion techniques, and exploring applications in diverse domains, thereby paving the way for enhanced sentiment analysis capabilities and broader realworld applications

Learning to predict: Second language perception of reduced multi-word sequences

The cognitive entrenchment of frequent sequences comes as ‘chunking’ (holistic storage) and as ‘procedure strengthening’ (predicting elements in a sequence). A growing body of research shows effects of entrenchment of multi-word sequences in the native language, which is learned and shaped continuously and intuitively. But how do they affect second language (L2) speakers, whose language acquisition is more analytic but who nonetheless also learn through usage? The present study tests advanced English learners’ receptive processing of multi-word sequences with a word-monitoring experiment. Recognition of to in the construction V to Vinf was tested for full and reduced forms ([tʊ] vs. [ɾə]), conditioned by the general frequency of the V- to sequence and the transitional probability (TP) of to given the verb (V > to). The results are compared with those previously obtained from native speakers. Results show that recognition profits from surface frequency, but not from TP. Reduced forms delay recognition, but this is mitigated in high-frequency sequences. Unlike native speakers, advanced learners do not exhibit a chunking effect of high-frequency reduced forms, and no facilitating effect of TP. We attribute these findings to learners’ lesser experience with spontaneous speech and phonetic reduction. They recognize reduced forms less easily, show weaker entrenchment of holistic representations, and do not draw on the full range of probabilistic cues available to native speakers.

Emotion recognition for human-computer interaction using high-level descriptors.

Recent research has focused extensively on employing Deep Learning (DL) techniques, particularly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), for Speech Emotion Recognition (SER). This study addresses the burgeoning interest in leveraging DL for SER, specifically focusing on Punjabi language speakers. The paper presents a novel approach to constructing and preprocessing a labeled speech corpus using diverse social media sources. By utilizing spectrograms as the primary feature representation, the proposed algorithm effectively learns discriminative patterns for emotion recognition. The method is evaluated on a custom dataset derived from various Punjabi media sources, including films and web series. Results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves an accuracy of 69%, surpassing traditional methods like decision trees, Naïve Bayes, and random forests, which achieved accuracies of 49%, 52%, and 61% respectively. Thus, the proposed method improves accuracy in recognizing emotions from Punjabi speech signals.

Talking Hands & D and D (Dump & Deaf) Assistant

The largest issue facing the deaf and dumb community these days is communication with both the general public and fellow deaf and dumb people. Ordinary individuals can learn new information from spoken language, everyday conversations, and surrounding sounds. Individuals who are hard of hearing or deaf do not enjoy this luxury. These people will gain from this approach since it provides a means of communication. The term "assistive technology" describes gadgets that are rehabilitative, adaptive, and made for people with disabilities. This project aims to develop a system that can recognize sign language, bridging the communication gap by enabling those with speech impairments to interact with others who do not. Hand gestures are important because, in contrast to other techniques, they enable people to express their ideas rapidly. The current work aims to recognize signs using an image processing-based gesture recognition module and convert the corresponding speech to text using a text-to-speech synthesizer

Naturalistic L2 acquisition and the formation of an immigrant variety of Spanish

Immigrants in their host country sometimes take advantage of the assistance offered in order to learn formally the host country language in a classroom setting. This is not always the case. This contribution examines the variety of Spanish that was created by an immigrant who arrived in Spain to work in the restaurant industry. Because of her work situation, she did not take formal Spanish lessons. Rather, she constructed her own variety of Spanish based on input she received on the job and in her interactions with native Spanish speakers. Three aspects of her grammatical system are the focus: tense-aspect marking, copula use, and the pronoun system. The solutions the immigrant created for communication show she has developed a grammar that is different from that of the native speakers of the host language , and its nature is largely predictable by appealing to frequency and detectability of forms in discourse and the process of L1 transfer.

A meta‐analysis of the association between teacher support and school engagement

AbstractSchool engagement is a multidimensional concept describing how students behave, feel, and think. Previous meta‐analyses suggest that school engagement may be underpinned by specific aspects of teacher support. However, given that school engagement is also multifaceted, it is important to examine how each aspect of school engagement is related to different aspects of teacher support. Thus, a meta‐analysis was conducted to ascertain the magnitude of the association between different domains of teacher support and various dimensions of school engagement. We also considered the moderating roles of study (e.g., study design) and sample characteristics (e.g., school level). Of the 1249 studies identified from three databases, 141 studies (i.e., 525,129 students) met the inclusion criteria. Results indicated that teacher support was positively associated with school engagement, but the magnitude of this association differed depending on which aspects of teacher support and school engagement were examined. Significant moderating effects were evident for sample language discrepancy (i.e., discrepancy between the language spoken by the student at home and in school), school level, sex, study design, and informants. Current findings emphasize a need to adopt a comprehensive approach when examining teacher support and school engagement. Findings also suggest the importance of fostering an emotionally supportive school context to promote school engagement among students. Implications for educational research and practice are discussed.

Exploring the Interaction of Guiyangese Dialect and Mandarin in Daily Life through Transcription and Discourse Analysis

Although it is easier for people to understand each other and communicate in a fairly complete and standard “official” language, the distinctive culture of a region is in most cases reflected and conveyed by the language spoken by the local people. With the spread of Mandarin and the influence of education since the founding of New China, coupled with the negative effects of new media and the Internet, Guiyang accent is disappearing among young people. The author practiced Professor Seedhouse’s approach by transcribing and discursively analyzing a video of a family chatting and having a meal in the mountains of Guizhou. Mutual understanding in cross-cultural communities is not only achieved in educational contexts such as schools, but also in person-to-person interactions. Awareness of issues related to bilingualism is naturally raised in everyday life situations.

One suitcase, two grammars: what can we conclude about Australian Turkish heritage speakers’ divergent processing of evidentiality?

Abstract This study investigates the processing of evidentiality using an auditory sentence verification task in heritage speakers of Turkish residing in Sydney, Australia. Evidentiality is a grammatical category that marks the sources of information through which the speaker comes to know information regarding an event. Turkish obligatorily marks two distinct forms of direct and indirect evidentials. We compare the sensitivity to evidentiality-information source mismatches of the speakers of Turkish as a heritage language to Turkish speakers who were late arrivals to Australia. The results show that the heritage language speakers perform less accurately and with longer response times than late arrivals, and both the groups’ response accuracy is largely predicted by amount of exposure to Turkish during their development. The data suggest that heritage speakers of Turkish show insensitivity to evidentiality. Moreover, diminishing exposure to Turkish throughout heritage speakers’ development appears to be an important trigger for divergent attainment of evidentiality in Turkish heritage grammar.

Interacting with virtual characters, objects and environments: investigating immersive virtual reality in rehabilitation

Purpose This pilot study aimed to (a) investigate opportunities for immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technology in communication, physical, and visual rehabilitation by examining the interaction of people without disabilities in a range of structured virtual environments; and (b) validate research protocols that might be used to evaluate the physical, visual, and verbal interaction of users in virtual worlds, and their safety while using the technology. Methods Thirteen adults identifying as people without disability were exposed to VR via a head-mounted display. A video-review method was used to qualitatively code and analyse each participant’s communication, movement, orientation, and support needs. Results All participants oriented to their virtual environments sufficiently to use applications. Their spoken language was effective for interaction, although unconventional social behaviours were also observed. Two participants reported minor adverse reactions consistent with mild cybersickness. Conclusion The results provide insight into the types of environments and characters that support the greatest communicative, physical, and visual interaction in immersive VR. The tested protocols are useful to assess safety when using VR, and to observe communicative, physical, and visual interaction with virtual environments and characters. Implications for future research and use of VR with people with communication, physical and visual disability are discussed.

Listen-and-repeat training of non-native vowel quality

This study investigated how listen-and-repeat training affects the production of non-native (Swedish) vowels /y/ and /u/ by speakers of different Namibian languages. Seventeen speakers, who did not have /y/ or /u/ categories in their L1, participated in the experiment. Training effects were measured with acoustic analysis and an identification task performed by 40 proficient Swedish speakers, to see whether the acoustic quality and the perceptual salience of the speakers’ non-native production evolved during training. We expected the speakers’ production to change as a function of training, and the change to be reflected on the vowel formant values and the identification task. The results showed that the speakers produced /u/ close to the trained target already in the first session, but changed their production away from the target after the first training. The speakers’ production of /y/ did not change significantly. The speakers did not reach a perceivable spectral difference between the two non-native vowels. The participants’ productions remained inconsistent throughout the experiment. There was great inter-speaker variation, which could not be accounted for by the speakers’ language backgrounds.

Developing linguistic competence for 6th grade students in Vietnam

Developing linguistic competence for junior level students in Vietnam is an emerging issue that needs attention. This paper applies interdisciplinary research methods which are a combination of linguistics and educational sciences. The combination of the questionnaire survey method and class observation is used to evaluate students' language competencies, especially, speaking and listening. The analytical method is used to analyze linguistic skills that are necessary to be created for students during this stage. Developing linguistic competence is considered the most effective means to grow thinking capacity. The scope of this paper is aimed at sixth grade students specifically surveying their linguistic competence thereby providing an overview of the language development stage for juniors at the secondary school level in Vietnam in general and in Ha Dong district, Hanoi in particular. We conducted a case study by collecting data at two secondary schools in Hanoi city (implementation period of two months: December 2021 and February 2022). According to these factual survey results, we can primarily suggest concrete measures to develop linguistic competence for 6th-grade students in Vietnam. This will also be an information source for reference in completing the Literature textbook series edited according to the new “General Education Program in Literature (2018)” in Vietnam which is in the early stages of being put into use.

How is discursive practice on l2 learners conducted? Exploring peace values in environmental conservation texts in textbooks for Indonesian language for foreign speakers

How is discursive practice on l2 learners conducted? Exploring peace values in environmental conservation texts in textbooks for Indonesian language for foreign speakers

An audio-visual resource to improve transparency in SAIL Databank’s data access process.

BackgroundSince 2007, SAIL Databank has been entrusted with anonymised health and administrative data for the population of Wales. This includes ~85% of primary and 100% secondary care health records, and a range of administrative data that includes education, employment, environment, housing, justice and social care data. This data is accessible to approved researchers who can demonstrate positive societal impact from its use. IntroductionIt has always been vital for SAIL Databank to build and maintain extremely high levels of trust amongst its stakeholders; data users, data providers and the public who are represented in the anonymised datasets. This trust has been earned through a robust range of technical, physical and procedural safeguards known as SAIL’s ‘privacy-by-design’. Public-facing information has been vital to maintain trust through transparency and manifests in SAIL’s data use register, publications register, and clear information offered via its website. This work represents the next evolution in SAIL’s commitment to transparency in creating an audio-visual representation of its data access process. Method Ensuring current available information on SAIL’s public facing website was clear and accessible through consultation with SAIL’s public involvement panel – The Consumer Panel. Streamlining and presenting this information based on Consumer Panel feedback. Maintaining SAIL’s commitment to Welsh language standards by translating this information. Consultation with colleagues and Swansea University procurement to identify a suitable creative agency to take forward the idea of a data access process animated video. Communicating requirements and providing briefing documents to the selected creative agency, Buffoon Media. Reviewing potential voiceovers for narration of animated video to ensure an accessible tone, pace and dual language delivery. Receipt of completed animated video placed alongside corresponding data access process text on SAIL’s website. ResultsProduction of an audio-visual resource that improves transparency around SAIL’s data access process and compliments its existing process guidance. This resource is freely and publicly accessible via its website, including components such as: Accessible design colours, fonts and presentation in keeping with SAIL’s existing brand. Use of images, graphics and animation that bring the process to life. A professional and accessible voice-over audio explaining each element within the process. A bi-lingual voice-over that recognises Wales’ large number of Welsh language speakers. Resource can be found at: https://saildatabank.com/data/apply-to-work-with-the-data/ ConclusionBuilding on SAIL’s commitment to trust and transparency since inception its anticipated that this new video resource will improve transparency for all of SAIL’s stakeholders in understanding and engaging with SAIL’s data access process.

Coherence and Comprehensibility in Second Language Speakers’ Academic Speaking Performance

Abstract This study examined the role of discourse organization in second language (L2) comprehensibility ratings. Twelve English for Academic Purposes teachers listened to 60 L2 speech samples elicited through a TOEFL–type integrated speaking task, evaluating each sample for comprehensibility and coherence (perceived interconnectedness of ideas). The samples were analyzed for the occurrence of discourse features at micro and macro levels. Results revealed a strong association between coherence and comprehensibility (r = .70). Whereas L2 speakers’ use of additive connectives (e.g., and) uniquely predicted comprehensibility, ordering of ideas and source–speech similarity in speakers’ performances predicted coherence. Lexical overlaps predicted both constructs. Findings underscore the importance of coherence to comprehensible academic L2 speech demonstrating that the two constructs include partially overlapping yet distinct characteristics.

The Perceptions of Saudi EFL Students Toward the Effect of Anxiety on Their Oral Communication

Oral communication is one of the most important skills of communication among individuals with each other. It refers to communication between the students and their teachers through the spoken language, which includes a group of distinctive words, phrases, and sentences which are associated with specific meanings. However, there are many barriers that affect this communication. Therefore, this study addresses some of the barriers of anxiety when communicating using the English language in which it constitutes a major problem for EFL students and hinders their goals in learning the English language. This study aims to investigate the EFL students’ perceptions towards the effect of anxiety on their oral communication in various Saudi universities. Moreover, it explores some strategies that may help EFL students to overcome this problem. The research instrument used in this study was a questionnaire that was modified for the purposes of the study. The questionnaire consisted of 20 items divided into two parts. Furthermore, 102 EFL students participated in this study. The results showed that EFL students suffer from anxiety while speaking English, whether in a discussion class with the teacher or when presenting a presentation. The participants also agreed with most of the strategies stated in the survey. Based on the findings, recommendations and suggestions for further research are provided.

Speech Emotion Recognition using Machine Learning

This research paper presents a Speech Emotion Recognition (SER) system utilizing a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) classifier and real-time audio analysis. The system records audio samples, extracts relevant features, and employs machine learning techniques to predict emotions in spoken language. The study focuses on the development of an intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) using the Kivy framework, providing a user-friendly platform for real-time emotion analysis. In shortly In this project, we attempt to detect underlying emotions such as (sad, happy, neutral, angry, disgust, surprised, fearful and calm) in recorded speech by analysing the acoustic features of the audio data of recordings and Created an application to implement the same on user input.

Examining the Linguistic Tapestry of Globalization: Structural Borrowings

Purpose: Redefining economies, cultures, language dynamics, and societies worldwide, globalization has become one of the hallmarks of the contemporary era. The impact of this phenomenon in language is examined in this article, with a particular emphasis on structural borrowings from English into Albanian. Theoretical Framework: Scientific criteria have been chosen to determine whether the linguistic data are internal constructions of the language or structural borrowings from English, and to examine the extent to which a global language like that has influenced the structure of 'small' languages like Albanian. Methodology: Thirty-three new constructions were chosen from Albanian textual media, which were then split into groups examined in detail according to their semantic and syntactic features. Findings: Fifty-five percent of native speakers accept semantic-syntactic borrowings from English, which exhibit synonymy and compete with existing normative constructions. Borrowings enhancing the semantics of Albanian are welcome, while those affecting syntactic structure and leading to ambiguity, meaninglessness, and ungrammaticality are not. Research Practical and Social Implication: The knowledge of how syntactic-semantic systems can be modified and impacted by interaction with other language systems is increased by this work. Simultaneously, it advances our understanding of the social dimensions of language use, including language planning and identity maintenance in the area of globalization. Originality/Value: The connections between ‘small’ languages like Albanian and world culture have not received adequate consideration. This study advances our understanding of how globalization impacts communication between speakers of diverse languages and cultural backgrounds by shedding light on the process of structural borrowings.

Notation and phonology of the Tri language in Vilabouly*

Abstract Gérard Diffloth (1937–2023) was a leading authority on Austroasiatic languages, with a wide range of linguistic interests ranging from historical reconstruction to expressives, and much more. He was a tireless fieldworker who firmly believed that research into the linguistic history of Austroasiatic need be grounded in long-term fieldwork with native speakers in their daily speech environment. In this paper we introduce an unpublished manuscript on the phonology of the Tri language spoken in Vilabouly District, Savannakhet Province in southern Laos. We frame this with a brief introduction to his work, with a tribute to his commitment to fieldwork and the principles he maintained throughout the many decades of working with speakers of Austroasiatic languages.

Accommodation an However, studies in the literature Language Contact.

The paper introduces the Special Issue on Language Contact and Speaker Accommodation, which originates from the conference Phonetics and Phonology in Europe (PaPE) held at the University of Lecce, Italy, in 2019. It discusses the topics of language contact and speaker accommodation, summarizing the contributions included in the Special Issue, and arguing explicitly in favour of a unitary view of how both temporary and stable changes happen in (part of) the linguistic systems. Accommodation is seen as the same gradual and non-homogeneous process at play in different contact settings. In the introductory sections, a discussion is offered on various situations in which linguistic systems are in contact and on the main factors that may be at play; the following sections offer an overview of the papers included in the Special Issue, which focus on accommodation in L2 and heritage speakers as well as on the time dimension of dialect or language societal contact. Finally, accommodation is discussed as the same process that is at work in any interaction, that may modify temporarily or long-term the system of L2 learners and bilinguals (e.g., immigrants), that usually affects in the long-term the heritage speakers' system, and that only in the long term can lead to language changes involving entire communities.

Language Ideologies and Dialect Shift in Helvécian Portuguese

Abstract Speakers from the Helvécian community in Bahia, Brazil, have been accommodating their language variety towards standard Brazilian Portuguese for the past 60 years. This article demonstrates that a complex web of socioeconomic events is tied to this phenomenon. It provides an overview of the most recent socioeconomic and political changes in the community, combined with a discourse analysis of the metalinguistic commentaries identified in narratives collected during my 2019 fieldwork in the community. The research demonstrates that speakers’ metalinguistic patterns are mediated by iconization, which sees younger speakers linguistically differentiate themselves from the traditional dialect. The findings support the theory that socioeconomic events cause direct linguistic change, especially among speakers of minority languages.