• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.106-109
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• 1997

In the area of the speech synthesis techniques, the waveform coding methods maintain the intelligibility and naturalness of synthetic speech. In order to apply the waveform coding techniques to synthesis by rule, however, we must be able to alter the pitches for prosody control of synthetic speech. In this paper, we propose a new pitch alteration technique in time-frequency hybrid domain, that compensates phase distortion of the cepstral pitch alteration method with time scaling method in the time domain. This method can remove some phase spectrum distortion which is occurred in conjunction point between the waveforms in continued frames. Also, we can obtain little magnitude spectrum distortion below 1.18% for pitch alteration of 200%.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.249-267
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• 2012

Individual differences in working memory predict qualitative differences in language processing. High span comprehenders are better able to integrate probabilistic information such as plausibility and animacy, the use of which requires the computation of real world knowledge in syntactic parsing (e.g.,[1]). However, it is unclear whether similar individual differences exist in the use of informative prosodic cues. This study examines whether working memory modulates the use of prosodic boundary information in attachment ambiguity resolution. Prosodic boundaries were manipulated in globally ambiguous relative clause sentences. The results show that high span listeners are more likely to be sensitive to the distinction between different types of prosodic boundaries than low span listeners. The findings suggest that like high-level constraints, the use of low-level prosodic information is resource demanding.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.213-241
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• 2003

As an attempt to characterize the English test section of CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) and to get some suggestions, this study raised the research questions, as 'What are the main factors that affect students' English test scores in CSAT, and how big influences do they have?' It has been hypothesized that among main factors are the L1 competence, represented by the Korean test scores in CSAT, background knowledge or intelligence, represented by the "total" scores in CSAT, and the two types of L2 knowledge (vocabulary and grammar on one hand and prosody m the other hand), measured by the test devised specially for this study. The individual effect of the L2 vocabulary and grammar (one kind of L2 knowledge) was 70%, that of background knowledge or intelligence 61%, that of the L1 competence 50%, and that of the L2 prosody knowledge (the other kind of L2 knowledge) 32%. According to the stepwise regression, the whole effect of these four factors was 74%. The findings suggest that first, although CSAT is based on the top-down model of comprehension, the bottom-up model of learning should be more emphasized in our English class. Also, since background knowledge or intelligence is the second most influential factor, the top-down model of learning that helps students learn to understand by activating their various schemata must also be very effective.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.11-22
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• 2010

The present study attempts to investigate declination in Korean and its relevant aspects to the length of utterance, the clause boundary, and focus. More specifically, I examine the relation of declination with the length of utterance, the declination reset at the clause boundary, and the effect of focus on declination. Results showed that the length of utterance had no relation with the first and last pitch values of the utterance but that they were consistent regardless of the length of utterance. However, the declination slope changed to be relatively gentle from the fourth accentual phrase to the end of the whole intonational phrase. There was a reset of declination in such a way that the first pitch in the second phrase was always lower than that of the first phrase, but the first pitch in the third phrase was not always lower than that of the second phrase when the whole utterance was composed of three phrases. Finally, the pitch values of the focusing words decreased as their position went back in a sentence. One declination line was formed in the case of focused utterance, but in the case of an utterance that contained a clause boundary, a new declination line was formed at the start of each new clause. These findings can be applied to developing a Korean speech synthesizer that contains natural prosody; they can be also utilized for teaching Korean prosody.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.91-98
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• 2013

This paper investigated Korean prosody as it relates to graded internal structure in an identification function. Within Korean prosody, variants regarded as dialectal variations can appear as different prosodic scales, which contain the range of within-category variations. The current experiment was intended to show how the prosodic scale corresponding to the range of within-category differences relates to f0 contours for speakers of two Korean dialects, North Kyungsang and South Cholla. In an identification task, participants responded by selecting an item from two answer choices. The probability of choosing the correct response from the two choices was computed by a logistic regression analysis using intercepts and slopes. That is, the correct response between two choices was used to show a linear line with an s-shape presentation. In this paper, to investigate the graded internal structure of labeling, 25%, 50%, and 75% of predicted probability were assessed. Listeners from North Kyungsang showed progressive variations, whereas listeners from South Cholla revealed random patterns in the internal structure of the identification function. In this paper, the results were plotted using scatterplot graphs, applying the range of within-category variation and predicted probability obtained from the logistic regression analyses. The scatterplot graphs showed the different degree of the responses for f0 scales (i.e., variations within categories). The results demonstrate that the gradient structures of native pitch accent users become more progressive in response to f0 scales.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.362-371
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate difficulties in using prosodic information to identify the meaning of ambiguous sentences in children with high functioning autism (HFA). Fifteen high functioning autistic children and fifteen children who matched their chronological age (CA) participated in this study. We compared the performance of the two groups by conducting syntactically and affectively ambiguous sentence comprehension (SASC and AASC) tasks. The results of this study show that in both tasks, the difference between the two groups was statistically significant at each condition and the performance of high functioning autistic children was significantly lower. In a correlation analysis of major variables, children who matched CA showed a correlation between prosody-only (PO) and AASC, while children with HFA showed a correlation between PO and MO (morpheme-only). Children with HFA used grammatical morpheme information to understand general sentences. We found that the ability to use prosodic information in children with HFA is significantly lower than that of normally developed children. Considering the relevance of prosody to linguistic, non-linguistic and emotional aspects of communication, improving prosodic perception is thought to be a way to mediate deficits in the comprehension of ambiguous sentences in children with HFA.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2010

The current study exploresacoustic variation induced by prosodic contexts in different speech styles,with a focus on motherese or child-directed speech (CDS). The patterns of variation in the acoustic expression of voicing contrast in English stops, and the role of prosodic factors in governing such variation are investigated in CDS. Prosody-induced acoustic strengthening reported from adult-directed speech (ADS)is examined in the speech data directed to infants at the one-word stage. The target consonants are collected from Utterance-initial and -medial positions, with or without focal accent. Overall, CDS shows that the prosodic prominence of constituents under focal accent conditions variesin the acoustic correlates of the stop laryngeal contrasts. The initial position is not found with enhanced acoustic values in the current study, which is similar to the finding from ADS (Choi, 2006 Cole et al, 2007). Individualized statistical results, however, indicate that the effect of accent on acoustic measures is not very robust, compared to the effect of accent in ADS. Enhanced distinctiveness under focal accent is observed from the limited subjects' acoustic measures in CDS. The results indicate dissimilar strategies to mark prosodic structures in different speech styles as well as the consistent prosodic effect across speech styles. The stylistic variation is discussed in relation to the listener under linguistic development in CDS.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.57-75
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• 1999

The purpose of this paper is to develop an English prosody training system using PC for Korean learners of English. The program is called Intonation Training Tool (ITT). It operates on DOS 5.0. The hardware for this program requires over IBM PC 386 with 4 MBytes main memory, SVGA (1 MByte or more) for graphic, soundblaster 16 and over 14 inch monitor size. The ITT program operates this way: the learners can listen as well as see the English teacher's stress and intonation patterns on the monitor. The learner practices the same patterns with a microphone. This program facilitates the learner's stress and intonation patterns to overlap the teacher's patterns. The learner can find his/her stress and intonation errors and correct these independently. This program is expected to be a highly efficient learning tool for Korean learners of English in their English prosody training in the English class without the aid of a native English speaker in the classroom.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Language and Information Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.405-414
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• 2007

This paper describes a preliminary work on prosody modeling aspect of a text-to-speech system for Thai. Specifically, the model is designed to predict symbolic markers from text (i.e., prosodic phrase boundaries, accent, and intonation boundaries), and then using these markers to generate pitch, intensity, and durational patterns for the synthesis module of the system. In this paper, a novel method for annotating the prosodic structure of Thai sentences based on dependency representation of syntax is presented. The goal of the annotation process is to predict from text the rhythm of the input sentence when spoken according to its intended meaning. The encoding of the prosodic structure is established by minimizing speech disrhythmy while maintaining the congruency with syntax. That is, each word in the sentence is assigned a prosodic feature called strength dynamic which is based on the dependency representation of syntax. The strength dynamics assigned are then used to obtain rhythmic groupings in terms of a phonological unit called foot. Finally, the foot structure is used to predict the durational pattern of the input sentence. The aforementioned process has been tested on a set of ambiguous sentences, which represents various structural ambiguities involving five types of compounds in Thai.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.117-128
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• 2015

This paper investigates the acoustic-perceptual relation between Korean dent-alveolar fricatives and the English voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ in varied prosodic contexts (e.g., stress, accent, and word initial position). The denti-alveolar fricatives in Korean show a two-way distinction, which can be referred to as either plain (lenis) /s/ or fortis /$s^*$/. The English alveolar voiceless fricative /s/ that corresponds to the two Korean fricatives would be placed in a one-to-two non-native phoneme mapping situation when Korean listeners hear English /s/. This raises an interesting question of how the single fricative of English perceptually maps into the two-way distinction in Korean. This paper reports the acoustic-perceptual mapping pattern by investigating spectral properties of the English stimuli that are heard as either /s/ or /$s^*$/ by Korean listeners, in order to answer the two questions: first, how prosody influences fricatives acoustically, and second, how the resultant properties drive non-native listeners to interpret them as segmental features instead of as prosodic information. The results indicate that Korean listeners' responses change depending on the prosodic context in which the stimuli are placed. It implies that Korean speakers interpret some of the information provided by prosody as segmental one, and that the listeners take advantage of the information in their judgment of non-native phonemes.