Variation In Speech Research Articles

A Comparative Study of Speech Acts in EFL Textbook Life Today and Train of Thoughts For Student Grade XII of Curriculum Merdeka

Since it turns out the textbook's value as the primary focus of the curriculum, particularly in EFL environments cannot be understated. According to recent studies, even the most-latest textbooks provide insufficient amounts of pragmatic material to help learners enhance their pragmatic competence. Much more research regarding the extent and level of speaking acts must be conducted before future textbooks, specifically for EFL purposes. They are must able to deliver reliable and suitable examples of pragmatic information. Train for Thoughts and Life Today EFL Textbook are not yet comparable. To establish which of the two has more varieties of speech act categories, as well as the percentage and content of each. The study analyzes dialogue speech acts in two Indonesian EFL textbooks created by Kemendikbud and based on the Merdeka Curriculum. In this study, the descriptive qualitative method is applied. To examine each chapter of the dialogue section, the researcher implemented a table of checklists from Searle's (1979) Speech-Act Classification. Then, multiply the total number of speech acts categorised in each chapter by the percentage of the EFL Textbook. The two results were then compared.

Exploring the intricacies of politeness and impoliteness in Acehnese speech variations

This study examines politeness and impoliteness in Acehnese speech variations conveyed through various linguistic features, including honorifics, politeness markers, and respectful forms of address. The research employed a descriptive qualitative method, commencing with observation in different social settings in Acehnese society to identify instances of polite and impolite speech. The data for this study consists of oral data obtained from 13 informants residing in North Aceh, Aceh Pidie, Aceh Besar, and South West Aceh. Data were collected using direct observation techniques and free recall techniques. To ensure well-documented data collection, the researcher recorded the data in manual notes and electronic recordings. Data analysis was conducted using contextual methods. The results demonstrate that in Acehnese language, the politeness and grammaticality of an utterance are highly dependent on the region of use or dialect. Generally, in Acehnese, language is considered polite if the utterance uses proclitics corresponding to the actor in a sentence. However, in the South West Aceh dialect, this rule does not apply. In this dialect, language politeness does not rely on the regular use of proclitics. Proclitics are usually not used in speech and should be attached to the verb, given in the repetition of the subject as the doer of the action. Additionally, politeness in this language is highly dependent on pronouns. Conversely, the rules for using honorific pronouns in other dialects do not measure politeness and grammaticality.

From Delays to Densities: Exploring Data Uncertainty through Speech, Text, and Visualization

AbstractUnderstanding and communicating data uncertainty is crucial for making informed decisions in sectors like finance and healthcare. Previous work has explored how to express uncertainty in various modes. For example, uncertainty can be expressed visually with quantile dot plots or linguistically with hedge words and prosody. Our research aims to systematically explore how variations within each mode contribute to communicating uncertainty to the user; this allows us to better understand each mode's affordances and limitations. We completed an exploration of the uncertainty design space based on pilot studies and ran two crowdsourced experiments examining how speech, text, and visualization modes and variants within them impact decision‐making with uncertain data. Visualization and text were most effective for rational decision‐making, though text resulted in lower confidence. Speech garnered the highest trust despite sometimes leading to risky decisions. Results from these studies indicate meaningful trade‐offs among modes of information and encourage exploration of multimodal data representations.

Sensory Processing Difficulties and Occupational Therapy Outcomes for Functional Neurological Disorder: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Occupational therapy (OT) consensus recommendations and articles outlining a sensory-based OT intervention for functional neurological disorder (FND) have been published. However, limited research has been conducted to examine the efficacy of OT interventions for FND. We performed a retrospective cohort study aimed at independently replicating preliminarily characterized sensory processing difficulties in patients with FND and reporting on clinical outcomes of a sensory-based OT treatment in this population. We hypothesized that (1) a history of functional seizures, anxiety, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder would be associated with increased sensory processing difficulties and (2) the number of OT treatment sessions received would positively relate to clinical improvement. Medical records were reviewed for 77 consecutive adults with FND who received outpatient, sensory-based OT care. Data from the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile characterized self-reported sensory processing patterns across 4 quadrants (low registration, sensory sensitivity, sensory seeking, and sensory avoidance) in this population. Following univariate screenings, multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to identify neuropsychiatric characteristics associated with discrete sensory processing patterns. Clinical improvement was quantified using an estimated, clinician-determined improvement rating ("improved" vs "not improved"), and relationships between clinical participation, baseline neuropsychiatric factors, and outcomes were investigated. Patients with FND reported sensory processing patterns with elevated scores in low registration, sensory sensitivity, and sensation avoidance compared with normative values; differences in sensory processing scores were not observed across FND subtypes (i.e., motor, seizure, and speech variants). In linear regression analyses, lifetime history of an anxiety disorder, history of migraine headaches, current cognitive complaints, and a comorbid major neurologic condition independently predicted individual differences in sensory processing scores. Following a sensory-based OT intervention, 62% of individuals with FND were clinician determined as "improved." In a multivariate logistic regression analysis controlling for baseline characteristics associated with improvement ratings, number of treatment sessions positively correlated with clinical improvement. These findings support the presence of sensory processing difficulties in patients with FND and provide Class IV evidence for the efficacy of an outpatient, sensory-based OT intervention in this population. Controlled prospective trials are warranted.

Theoretical considerations on linguistic innovation through new combinations in African youth language practices, exemplified in Yanké and Langila (DR Congo)

Abstract In youth language practice, diverse creative linguistic strategies are applied to derive a language variant distinct from what is perceived as the norm. Since linguistic innovation is of primary interest for the study of “deviant” speech varieties, this paper discusses whether the structural similarities and differences observed between African youth languages can be addressed by determining the linguistic strategies employed by speakers in order to innovate. Defining innovation as a new combination of existing material, I identify two higher-level types of practices that I propose lead to linguistic innovation: (i) combining two or more resources from different languages in the speaker’s linguistic repertoire, and (ii) using a linguistic strategy with a part of the speaker’s linguistic repertoire. To illustrate these two types, reference is made to the Lingala-based youth language practices Yanké and Langila. Although both types of strategy may occur simultaneously, I argue that Yanké speakers rely more on combining different languages from their repertoire, whereas Langila speakers more heavily rely on applying creative language games to their repertoire. The question is raised as to whether the structural differences between the two youth language practices can be accounted for by determining the type of innovation practices employed by the speakers.

Linguistic analysis of human-computer interaction

This article reviews recent literature investigating speech variation in production and comprehension during spoken language communication between humans and devices. Human speech patterns toward voice-AI presents a test to our scientific understanding about speech communication and language use. First, work exploring how human-AI interactions are similar to, or different from, human-human interactions in the realm of speech variation is reviewed. In particular, we focus on studies examining how users adapt their speech when resolving linguistic misunderstandings by computers and when accommodating their speech toward devices. Next, we consider work that investigates how top-down factors in the interaction can influence users’ linguistic interpretations of speech produced by technological agents and how the ways in which speech is generated (via text-to-speech synthesis, TTS) and recognized (using automatic speech recognition technology, ASR) has an effect on communication. Throughout this review, we aim to bridge both HCI frameworks and theoretical linguistic models accounting for variation in human speech. We also highlight findings in this growing area that can provide insight to the cognitive and social representations underlying linguistic communication more broadly. Additionally, we touch on the implications of this line of work for addressing major societal issues in speech technology.

Productions of Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation–Third Edition Stimulus Words Among Teenage Speakers of Anguillian Eastern Caribbean English

Purpose: This study documents consonant and vowel variation in typically developing teenage speakers of Anguillian English, demonstrates how consonant variation impacts performance on the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation–Third Edition (GFTA-3), and provides culturally responsive clinical recommendations for GFTA-3 scoring involving native speakers of Anguillian English. Method: Twenty Anguillian teenagers (14;3–17;9 [years;months]) completed the GFTA-3 Sounds in Words subtest. The audio-recorded productions were phonetically transcribed and analyzed to determine consonant and vowel variations that differed from Mainstream U.S. English. To demonstrate the importance of culturally responsive assessment, deficit scores were compared with language-appropriate scores. Results: Anguillian consonant variation heavily impacted GFTA-3 stimuli that were meant to elicit /ɚ/, postvocalic /ɹ/, interdental fricatives, and present participle /ŋ/. Vowel variations included production of /ʌɪ/ in knife, /ɑɪ/ in boy, and /oʊ/ in house. Some speakers demonstrated more consistent use of Anguillian speech variation than others. When language-appropriate scoring was not used, 19 of the 20 participants scored below the first percentile in the Sounds in Words subtest. Conclusions: Culturally and linguistically responsive practices and tools are needed throughout the Eastern Caribbean region. This study's description of Anguillian English speech variation in GFTA-3 stimuli is a resource that will improve culturally responsive speech sound assessment in Anguillian children. We encourage clinicians and researchers to replicate this study with speakers of other Eastern Caribbean English languages.

Predicting Social Competence in Autistic and Non-Autistic Children: Effects of Prosody and the Amount of Speech Input.

Autistic individuals often face challenges perceiving and expressing emotions, potentially stemming from differences in speech prosody. Here we explore how autism diagnoses between groups, and measures of social competence within groups may be related to, first, children's speech characteristics (both prosodic features and amount of spontaneous speech), and second, to these two factors in mothers' speech to their children. Autistic (n = 21) and non-autistic (n = 18) children, aged 7-12 years, participated in a Lego-building task with their mothers, while conversational speech was recorded. Mean F0, pitch range, pitch variability, and amount of spontaneous speech were calculated for each child and their mother. The results indicated no differences in speech characteristics across autistic and non-autistic children, or across their mothers, suggesting that conversational context may have large effects on whether differences between autistic and non-autistic populations are found. However, variability in social competence within the group of non-autistic children (but not within autistic children) was predictive of children's mean F0, pitch range and pitch variability. The amount of spontaneous speech produced by mothers (but not their prosody) predicted their autistic children's social competence, which may suggest a heightened impact of scaffolding for mothers of autistic children. Together, results suggest complex interactions between context, social competence, and adaptive parenting strategies in driving prosodic differences in children's speech.

Optimization-based planning of speech articulation using general Tau Theory

This paper presents a model of speech articulation planning and generation based on General Tau Theory and Optimal Control Theory. Because General Tau Theory assumes that articulatory targets are always reached, the model accounts for speech variation via context-dependent articulatory targets. Targets are chosen via the optimization of a composite objective function. This function models three different task requirements: maximal intelligibility, minimal articulatory effort and minimal utterance duration. The paper shows that systematic phonetic variability can be reproduced by adjusting the weights assigned to each task requirement. Weights can be adjusted globally to simulate different speech styles, and can be adjusted locally to simulate different levels of prosodic prominence. The solution of the optimization procedure contains Tau equation parameter values for each articulatory movement, namely position of the articulator at the movement offset, movement duration, and a parameter which relates to the shape of the movement’s velocity profile. The paper presents simulations which illustrate the ability of the model to predict or reproduce several well-known characteristics of speech. These phenomena include close-to-symmetric velocity profiles for articulatory movement, variation related to speech rate, centralization of unstressed vowels, lengthening of stressed vowels, lenition of unstressed lingual stop consonants, and coarticulation of stop consonants.

Is There a Place for Pseudostuttering Assignments in Speech-Language Pathology Training Within the Neurodiverse Paradigm?

Purpose: The continued use of pseudostuttering assignments, a disability simulation for speech-language pathology students, needs to be reexamined to align with neurodiversity and students' reluctance to participate in these studies. Stuttering, from a neurodiverse perspective, is regarded as a normal speech variation, rather than a disorder. The purpose of this research was for people who stutter, speech-language therapy students, and faculty members to respond to a survey to determine the future of these assignments, in terms of developing empathy and clinical skills of pseudostuttering. Method: A descriptive design electronic survey using typical case sampling was disseminated globally. A total of 134 participants, divided into three participant groups, completed the survey. The survey consisted of 84 closed- and open-ended questions. Percentages and thematic analysis were used to determine the results. Results: Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that 83% of speech-language pathology faculty members supported these assignments. Forty-eight percent of people who stutter and 58% of speech-language pathology students felt negatively toward pseudostuttering assignments. Students reported being more comfortable performing augmentative and alternative communication simulations than pseudostuttering or aphasia simulations. Students were concerned that pseudostuttering assignments were offensive and stigmatizing for people who stutter. Conclusions: The results reflect the benefits of partnering with all the constituent groups. Adaptations to pseudostuttering assignments, such as speaking with people who stutter and adopting a neurodiverse, inclusive approach to student education, are recommended.

Home Language Experience Shapes Which Skills Are Used during Unfamiliar Speech Processing

Speech mixed with noise and speech that is of an unfamiliar variety both make the task of understanding more difficult. Children are often more negatively affected by these situations than adults. Numerous studies have examined the cognitive and linguistic skills that support spoken language processing. In the current study, we examine the contribution of linguistic exposure and various cognitive and linguistic skills for spoken word recognition of an unfamiliar variety of speech (German-accented English). The Ease of Language Understanding model predicts that working memory skills are needed in the most difficult listening situations. Two groups of school-age children were drawn from a larger sample: those with exposure to multiple languages in the home and those exposed to only English in the home. As predicted, working memory skills predicted performance for children with less varied linguistic experience (those only exposed to English in the home), but not for children with varied linguistic exposure. In contrast, linguistic skills predicted performance for children with more varied linguistic experience, even though the two groups did not differ overall in any of the assessed skills. These findings support the Ease of Language Understanding model of language processing.

Large variations in intensive speech– language rehabilitation post-stroke

Background: Intensive rehabilitation of aphasia is recommended in the national guidelines for stroke care, but is far from implemented in Swedish healthcare. Aim: To explore current practice and detect barriers and enablers for intensive aphasia rehabilitation among Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) before they were enrolled in a national intervention study.Method: Thirty-six SLPs in 26 clinics answered a web-based questionnaire. Responses were processed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.Result: Treatment intensity, duration and delivery format varied widely, and two-thirds offered intensive rehabilitation rarely or never. Thematic analysis generated the following five barriers: understaffing, patient factors, teamwork/scheduling, prioritization, and accessibility, and three enablers: increased staffing, planned intervention programmes, and comprehensive delivery formats.Conclusions: Compliance with Swedish stroke guidelines for intensive aphasia rehabilitation is low, and the current practice varies widely between different clinics. Increasing SLPs in primary care and restructuring care by using planned and comprehensive intervention approaches are suggested to stimulate implementation.

Examining /l/ variation in Singaporean bilingual child-directed speech for sociophonetic insights

Language is integrated into multiple dimensions of human behavior, and social work is essentially a language-centered activity. Although language plays a key role in many social work activities, few studies have explored its significance from the perspective of differences. This paper introduces the process of language conceptualization in social work and points out the limitations of some existing conceptual perspectives in the multilingual context in which language and social work are viewed. In English language variation, language variation mainly includes dialect, stress, register and variation. Dialects are the starting point of the study of language variation, so this paper takes dialects as a representative to study this field. First, the definition of language variation and its related factors are introduced and discussed, and how to define and study language variation is further discussed. Second, dialects are taken as a representative area to delve deeper into language variation. The different types and features of dialects are analyzed. Finally, the influence of dialects and language variation on education, society and other aspects is reviewed, highlighting some of the important effects observed in previous research.

A Fine-Tuned CatBoost-Based Speech Disorder Detection Model

The classification of speech disorders (SDs) is crucial for treating children with speech impairment (SI). An automated SD classification can assist speech therapists in rendering services to children with SI in rural areas. Automated techniques for detecting SDs provide objective assessments of speech attributes, including articulation, fluency, and prosody. Clinical examinations and quantitative assessments provide an in-depth understanding of the patient’s speaking abilities and limitations. Existing deep learning (DL) models for SD detection often lack generalization across diverse populations and speech variations, leading to suboptimal performance when applied to individuals with different linguistic backgrounds or dialects. This study introduces a DL-based model for classifying normal and abnormal speeches using voice samples. To overcome the overfitting and bias, the authors construct convolutional neural network models with the weights of MobileNet V3 and EfficientNet B7 models for feature extraction (FE). To improve performance, they integrate the squeeze and excitation block with the MobileNet V3-based FE model. Similarly, the EfficientNet B7-model-based FE is improved using the structure pruning technique. The enhanced CatBoost model differentiates the normal and abnormal speeches using the extracted features. The experimental analysis is performed using the public dataset that contains 4620 utterances of healthy children and 2178 utterances of children with SI. The comparative study reveals the exceptional performance of the proposed SD classification model. The model outperforms the current SD classification models. It can be employed in clinical settings to support speech therapists. Substantial training with diverse voice samples can improve the generalizability of the proposed model.

Neurogenic Bladder: A Rare Autonomic Sign in a Patient With Preserved Speech Variant (Zappella Variant) Rett Syndrome

Background: Rett syndrome is characterized by the loss of speech and purposeful hand movements, ambulation problems, and typical hand stereotypies. Preserved speech variant Rett syndrome (Zappella Variant) is a much less common form where speech is relatively preserved, from words to simple sentences. Lower urinary tract dysfunction and neurogenic bladder due to autonomic involvement have been only rarely reported in Rett syndrome. We aimed to emphasize neurogenic bladder due to autonomic dysfunction, which has very rarely been reported in the literature, in a patient with preserved speech variant Rett syndrome, a rare form of the Rett syndrome. Case presentation: A 7-year-old female patient who had been diagnosed with severe vesicoureteral reflux and neurogenic bladder when 11 months old due to the inability to urinate was suspected of suffering from Rett syndrome after intense eye contact and the stereotypic movement of hand wringing were observed. The patient could talk with phrases and walk and had purposeful hand movements. The presence of the c.961C>T (p.Arg321Trp) mutation in the C terminal region of the MECP2 gene was demonstrated with Sanger sequencing. The patient is currently 13 years old and is receiving special education and continues to be monitored for chronic renal disease at the pediatric nephrology department. Conclusion: The presence of hand stereotypies and intense eye pointing could indicate the Zappella variant Rett syndrome in a female patient who has developmental problems, can talk, has purposeful hand skills. Rett syndrome patients can also have lower urinary tract dysfunction although this is less common than cardiac, respiratory and gastrointestinal autonomic involvement. The development of intermittent urinary retention and vesicoureteral reflux may be associated with neurogenic bladder caused by autonomic involvement should be considered in these patients and one must be aware of the complications.

Examining Illocutionary Acts: Male and Female Judges’ Comments on Indonesia’s Next Top Model

This article delves into the linguistic and discursive aspects of communication, exploring the application of theories proposed by J.L. Austin (1975) and John Searle (1969) to understand the illocutionary acts employed by the male and female judges in Indonesia's Next Top Model. Within the context of reality television, where judgments and critiques are integral components, the language used by judges holds particular significance. This study aims to delve into the illocutionary acts employed by male and female judges in the popular television show "Indonesia's Next Top Model Cycle 3." The research method for this study employed a qualitative research approach, involved describing data from real-life situations or phenomena in their natural context within the reality show to explore the nuances and meanings of illocutionary acts in judges' comments. A sample of episodes from Indonesia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 was selected for analysis, ensuring representation of both male and female judges' comments. The dataset consisted of 266 utterances, 132 utterances from male judges' comments and 134 utterances from female judges' comments. In this study, it is found that the female judges had a greater variety of speech acts where they used all types of speech acts when giving comments. Whereas male judges only used three types of speech acts. The most dominant type of speech act of both male and female judges is assertives/representatives. It is inferred that both male and female judges are having or showing a confident and forceful personality in their utterances. In this study, it can also be seen that female judges are more to the point or overt than male judges.

ФРАЗЕОЛОГИЯЛЫҚ БІРЛІКТЕРДІҢ КӨРКЕМ МӘТІНДЕГІ ҚОЛДАНЫСЫ

Abstract. The article discusses the use of phraseological units in a literary text. It is obvious that the winged words, Proverbs, sayings, sentimental reasoning, thoughtful, key examples, phraseologisms found in our language are all stable expressions due to their own characteristics, thoroughness of the phrase, constancy, etc. Scientists also study the conditions of Use and different transformations of phraseological units, their variability in speech and text. The article discusses the fact that phrases that come mainly from Kazakh phraseology in the form of wisdom, testament, proverbs are also widely used in language use. It is obvious that these studies attach special importance to the study of phraseology in conjunction with the worldview, cultural, historical, spiritual, material values of the nation. In the analysis of the semantic features of phraseology found in works of art, there is a comprehensive coverage of the human factor in the language. There are specific examples of positive and negative emotions that occur in a person, his speech skills, personal qualities of this character, social status in the public environment, mood, etc.are conveyed by figurative phraseological (stable) phrases in the language. A review of research on phraseology is also carried out, it is analyzed whether the definition of the stylistic functions of phraseology allows us to more deeply reveal the features of the author's creative methods, master the skill of accurate creation of artistic images and images using the artistic means of the language.

Let There Be Sound: Reconstructing High Quality Speech from Silent Videos

The goal of this work is to reconstruct high quality speech from lip motions alone, a task also known as lip-to-speech. A key challenge of lip-to-speech systems is the one-to-many mapping caused by (1) the existence of homophenes and (2) multiple speech variations, resulting in a mispronounced and over-smoothed speech. In this paper, we propose a novel lip-to-speech system that significantly improves the generation quality by alleviating the one-to-many mapping problem from multiple perspectives. Specifically, we incorporate (1) self-supervised speech representations to disambiguate homophenes, and (2) acoustic variance information to model diverse speech styles. Additionally, to better solve the aforementioned problem, we employ a flow based post-net which captures and refines the details of the generated speech. We perform extensive experiments on two datasets, and demonstrate that our method achieves the generation quality close to that of real human utterance, outperforming existing methods in terms of speech naturalness and intelligibility by a large margin. Synthesised samples are available at our demo page: https://mm.kaist.ac.kr/projects/LTBS.

The Correlation Between Awareness and Oral Communication Competency in Students of X from Ages 13 to 18

The research aims to frame an individual's awareness of being monitored as potentially exclusive in altering the quality of one's oral communicative speech by controlling other extraneous factors and isolating the aforementioned variable of interest. A mixed, qualitative, and quantitative method study was conducted by quantifying the qualitative data collected during voluntary interviews. A total of 14 subjects were engaged in the quantitative part of this research study, interview. The results showed that the Hawthorne Effect has a positive and negative relationship between awareness and efficacy in ameliorating speech disfluencies. However, it is not necessarily negatively moderated by the magnitude of explicitness of their state of being monitored. As with any dependent measures, variability in speech is one concern as it may obscure potential differences or indicators due to speech disfluencies for other diseases. Because this study validated that the number of speech disfluencies one exhibits are moderately dependent on the state of awareness, such may be a problem depreciating the credibility of diagnosis of speech disfluencies or other relevant ailments. Exploring this field will advance the contemporary understanding of speech disfluencies, the Hawthorne effect, and the nudge theory.

‘Let’s talk! What will you say to me … ?’: comparing spontaneous dyad-focused maternal speech to singleton and dizygotic twin infants at home

ABSTRACT We compared dyad-focused maternal speech (protoconversations and maternal speech describing the dyad) in interactions of mothers with their twin and singleton infants. Nine twins and nine singletons, coming from urban areas of Crete (Greece), were video-recorded at home in spontaneous face-to-face interactions with their mothers, from the 2nd to the 6th month at 30-day intervals. Continuous micro-analysis revealed that the following: (a) variations in proto-conversations favoured singleton compared to twin infants; (b) twin and singleton mothers addressed different, but possibly of equivalent communicative significance, verbal comments to their infants within protoconversations; (c) both twin and singleton mothers showed age-variant efforts for conversation with their young infants. Though we showed quantitative variations of maternal dyad-focused speech between mother-singleton infant and mother-twin infant dyads, both singleton and twin mothers used devices of equivalent communicative significance and age-variant attempts to respond sensitively to their infants’ expressive behaviours according to the latter’s age-related motives for communication.