• MALSORI
• /
• no.67
• /
• pp.1-16
• /
• 2008

Stress effects upon Korean vowels were investigated with reference to rhythm. We measured three acoustic correlates (Duration: VOT, Vowel Duration; F0; Intensity) of stress from the seven pairs of stressed vs. unstressed Korean vowels /i, ${\varepsilon}(e)$, a, o, u, i, e/. The results of the experiment revealed that stress gave only inconsistent and weak effects on duration, which supports that Korean is not a stress-timed language as far as strong stress effects on duration are still considered crucial in stress-timing. On the other hand, Korean stressed vowels were most characterized with higher F0 and next with stronger intensity. But speakers generally showed tactics to reversely use F0 and intensity in stressing an utterance rather than proportionately strengthening both of the two acoustic correlates of stress. There was found great inter-speaker variability especially in the variations of duration.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.43-60
• /
• 2008

Instrumental studies (e.g., aerodynamic, EPG, and EMMA) have shown that the first of two stops in sequence can be articulatorily reduced in time and space sometimes; either gradient or categorical. The current EMMA study aims to examine possible factors_linguistic (e.g., speech rate, word boundary, and prosodic boundary) and paralinguistic (e.g., natural context and repetition)_to induce gradient reduction of $C_1$ in /pk/ cluster sequences. EMMA data are collected from five Seoul-Korean speakers. The results show that gradient reduction of lip aperture seldom occurs, being quite restricted both in speaker frequency and in token frequency. The results also suggest that the place assimilation is not a lexical process, implying that speakers have not fully developed this process to be phonologized in the abstract level.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.19-29
• /
• 2018

The present study investigated whether there are differences in articulation rate by gender, age, and individual speakers in a spontaneous speech corpus produced by 40 Seoul Korean speakers. This study measured their articulation rates using a second-per-syllable metric and a syllable-per-second metric. The findings are as follows. First, in spontaneous Seoul Korean speech, there was a gender difference in articulation rates only in age group 10-19, among whom men tended to speak faster than women. Second, individual speakers showed variability in their rates of articulation. The tendency for some speakers to speak faster than others was variable. Finally, there were metric differences in articulation rate. That is, regarding the coefficients of variation, the values of the second-per-syllable metric were much higher than those for the syllable-per-second metric. The articulation rate for the syllable-per-second metric tended to be more distinct among individual speakers. The present results imply that data gathered in a corpus of Seoul Korean spontaneous speech may reflect speaker-specific differences in articulatory movements.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.19-27
• /
• 2019

Lateral approximants are well known as having complex articulatory characteristics, which vary cross-linguistically, across speakers, and across utterances. However, less attention has been paid to the articulation of Korean laterals, which do not contrast with a rhotic and may thus exhibit greater-than-normal variability. The focus of this study is to investigate the general articulatory characteristics of the Korean lateral [l] as well as the articulatory variation using novel 3D ultrasound imaging methods. The results of this study revealed significant between-speaker variation and some vowel-dependent variation with regard to the articulation of the Korean lateral [l], which has not been reported previously. Even though all participants in this study showed an anterior occlusion, the place of articulation and the size of the occlusion varied greatly across speakers. The data also revealed that left-right asymmetry is present in the articulation of the Korean lateral. The individual variation of the Korean lateral [l] suggests that it has a large articulatory-acoustic space for variation, since it has no contrasting sound that causes perceptual confusion.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
• /
• 1996.10a
• /
• pp.274-274
• /
• 1996

This presents the preliminary results from work in progress of a paired study of the acquisition of voiceless stops by Spanish speakers learning English, and American English speakers learning Spanish. For this study the hypothesis was that the American speakers would have no difficulty suppressing the aspiration in Spanish unaspirated stops; the Spanish speakers would have difficulty acquiring the aspiration necessary for English voiceless stops, according to Eckman's Markedness Differential Hypothesis. The null hypothesis was proved. All subjects were given the same set of disyllabic real words of English and Spanish in carrier phrases. The tokens analyzed in this report are limited to word-initial voiceless stops, followed by a low back vowel in stressed syllables. Tokens were randomized and then arranged in a list with the words appearing three separate times. Aspiration was measured from the burst to the onset of voicing(VOT). Both the first language (Ll) tokens and second language (L2) tokens were compared for each speaker and between the two groups of language speakers. Results indicate that the Spanish speakers, as a group, were able to reach the accepted target language VOT of English, but English speakers were not able to reach the accepted range for Spanish, in spite of statistically significant changes of p<.OOl by speakers in both groups of learners. A closer analysis of the speech samples revealed wide variability within the speech of native speakers of English. Not only is variability in English due to the wide range of VOT (120 msecs. for English labials, for example) but individual speakers showed different patterns. These results are revealing for the demands requied in experimental designs and the number of speakers and tokens requied for an adequate description of different languages. In addition, a simple report of means will not distinguish the speakers and the respective language learning situation; measurements must also include the RANGE of acceptability of VOT for phonetic segments. This has immediate consequences for the learning and teaching of foreign languages involving aspirated stops. In addition, the labelling of spoken language in speech technology is shown to be inadequate without a fuller mathematical description.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.31-37
• /
• 2021

The fundamental frequency, or f0, is an important acoustic measure in the prosody of human speech. The current study examined the f0 distribution of a corpus of spontaneous speech in order to provide normative data for Korean speakers. The corpus consists of 40 speakers talking freely about their daily activities and their personal views. Praat scripts were created to collect f0 values, and a majority of obvious errors were corrected manually by watching and listening to the f0 contour on a narrow-band spectrogram. Statistical analyses of the f0 distribution were conducted using R. The results showed that the f0 values of all the Korean speakers were right-skewed, with a pointy distribution. The speakers produced spontaneous speech within a frequency range of 274 Hz (from 65 Hz to 339 Hz), excluding statistical outliers. The mode of the total f0 data was 102 Hz. The female f0 range, with a bimodal distribution, appeared wider than that of the male group. Regression analyses based on age and f0 values yielded negligible R-squared values. As the mode of an individual speaker could be predicted from the median, either the median or mode could serve as a good reference for the individual f0 range. Finally, an analysis of the continuous f0 points of intonational phrases revealed that the initial and final segments of the phrases yielded several f0 measurement errors. From these results, we conclude that an examination of a spontaneous speech corpus can provide linguists with useful measures to generalize acoustic properties of f0 variability in a language by an individual or groups. Further studies would be desirable of the use of statistical measures to secure reliable f0 values of individual speakers.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 2020

In this study, a method for measuring the jitter component in continuous speech is presented. In the conventional jitter measurement method, pitch variabilities are commonly measured from the sustained vowels. In the case of continuous speech, such as a spoken sentence, distortion occurs with the existing measurement method owing to the influence of prosody information according to the sentence. Therefore, we propose a method to reduce the pitch fluctuations of prosody information in continuous speech. To remove this pitch fluctuation component, a curve representing the fluctuation is obtained via polynomial interpolation for the pitch track in the analysis interval, and the shift is removed according to the curve. Subsequently, the variability of the pitch frequency is obtained by a method of measuring jitter from the trajectory of the pitch from which the shift is removed. To measure the effects of the proposed method, parameter values before and after the operations are compared using samples from the Kay Pentax MEEI database. The statistical analysis of the experimental results showed that jitter components from the continuous speech can be measured effectively by proposed method and the values are comparable to the parameters of sustained vowel from the same speaker.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.17-27
• /
• 2020

This paper examines kinematic characteristics of /pk/ clusters, as compared to /kk/ and /pp/ with varying vowel contexts and speech rate. The results of EMMA data from eight Seoul-Korean speakers indicate as follows. Firstly, comparing /pk/ to /pp/ sequences, lips closing movement was faster and spatially greater in the /a/-to-/a/ context while temporally longer in the /i/-to-/i/ context. It was smaller in spatial displacement and shorter in temporal duration in /pk/ sequences. Peak velocity did not vary. Secondly, comparing /pk/ with /pp/ and /kk/ controls, lip aperture was less constricted in the /a/-to-/a/ context than /i/-to-/i/, but the maximum contact between the upper and lower lips was invariant across different vocalic contexts within /pk/ sequences (/apka/=/ipki/). Categorical reduction of C1 in /pk/ sequences fell in with the low-vowel and fast-rate conditions with across-/within-speaker variability. Gradient reduction of C1 was observed in all C1C2 types, being more frequent in fast rate. Lastly, the jaw articulator was a stable indicator of rate effects. The implication of the current study is that gestural reduction occurs with categorical reduction and general spatiotemporal weakening in the assimilating contexts, while quantitative properties of gestures may be a reason for gradient reduction, not necessarily confined to place assimilation.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.11-16
• /
• 2024

The fundamental frequency (f0), representing an acoustic measure of vocal fold vibration, serves as an indicator of the speaker's emotional state and language-specific pattern in daily conversations. This study aimed to examine the f0 distribution in an English corpus of spontaneous speech, establishing normative data for American speakers. The corpus involved 40 participants engaging in free discussions on daily activities and personal viewpoints. Using Praat, f0 values were collected filtering outliers after removing nonspeech sounds and interviewer voices. Statistical analyses were performed with R. Results indicated a median f0 value of 145 Hz for all the speakers. The f0 values for all speakers exhibited a right-skewed, pointy distribution within a frequency range of 216 Hz from 75 Hz to 339 Hz. The female f0 range was wider than that of males, with a median of 113 Hz for males and 181 Hz for females. This spontaneous speech corpus provides valuable insights for linguists into f0 variation among individuals or groups in a language. Further research is encouraged to develop analytical and statistical measures for establishing reliable f0 standards for the general population.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.309-316
• /
• 2010

This paper proposes healthcare bathing system for improving the multisensory function and not washing. We designed various types of bathtub for developing bathing system. This system consists of whirlpool bathtub for multisensory stimulation, a cover of bathtub with visual-auditory stimulation function, a small size PC for main control, touch panel, digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), color-changeable LED mood lighting system for improving visual sensibility and speaker. We investigate the effects on autonomic nervous system during bathing with healthcare bathing system for improving the multisensory functions. To analysis physiological parameter, body temperature, blood pressure, intraocular pressure and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured before, during and after bath using healthcare bathing system. Experiments were performed on partial immersion bath and the water temperature was kept $39{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$. The body temperature and the heart rate variability of the subject were measured every 5 minutes before, during, and after the bath. In analysis of HRV, the parasympathetic nerve increased from starting bath and decreased after 15 minutes. So the subjects felt comfortable at 15 minutes after starting bath. Blood pressure decreased to 16mmHg maximumly however pulse increased. Bath using healthcare bathing system for improving the multisensory functions affects positively the circulation of the blood. From this results, it leaves something to be desired in evaluation of serviceability and physiological analysis using the healthcare bathing system, however, we expect to analyze more clearly the relationship between the serviceability of product, physiological change and sensibility by various physiological parameters.