The need for interacting with machines using spoken natural language is growing, along with the expectation that synthetic speech in this context sound natural. Such interaction includes answering questions, where prosody plays an important role in producing natural English synthetic speech by communicating the information structure of utterances. CCG is a theoretical framework that exploits the notion that, in English, information structure, prosodic structure and syntactic structure are isomorphic. This provides a way to convert a semantic representation of an utterance into a prosodically natural spoken utterance. GF is a framework for writing grammars, where abstract tree structures capture the semantic structure and concrete grammars render these structures in linearised strings. This research combines these frameworks to develop a system that converts semantic representations of utterances into linearised strings of natural language that are marked up to inform the prosody-generating component of a speech synthesis system. / Computing / M. Sc. (Computing)

This text investigates the harmonic dimension of music and the various social, cultural and political consequences that arise through the act of tuning and tempering harmonic space. While no singular musical domain can exist divorced from the rest (i.e., duration, rhythm, dynamics, spatiality, etc.), in order to examine its afflictions and possible remedies, this text focuses only on the harmonic domain and the severity of its influence over listeners. This text questions the standardisation of twelve tone equal temperament, the implications it has inflicted culturally, the capital agents it may serve, and the possible insights just tuning systems and alternate temperaments may provide. / Cast of Mind

The aim of the thesis is to describe methods which may be applied to develop a child's voice and its musicality within the first grade of a primary school. The thesis should be used as an inspirational teaching aid for teachers. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part is based on scholarly literature and deals with voice hygiene, proper technique of singing (breathing, posture, non-overstraining of voice). Peripherally it also mentions voice disorders and proper voice preparation for singing. I would like to transfer (apply) the knowledge gained in the theoretical part into an elaborately developed theme plan in the practical part. The conclusion of the theoretical part deals with the development of child's rhythmic creativity. The practical part includes a theme plan compiled for the peroid fo a school year. I tis arranged according to particular months and embraces the description of various activities, which are used to fill each music lesson whithin the period of a school year.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonia Zago.pdf: 7331087 bytes, checksum: fa90d51ec13ff19c6bab78b18a034ec3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-22 / This paper analyses words used by Brazilian federal police officers for naming their work operations. Our basis is Bakhtin s dialogical discourse analysis (Bakhtin, 1997, 1998, 2003; Bakhtin/Volochínov, 2004), according to which the materiality of language is constitutively linked to an active and responsive intersubjective interaction and some theories about work activity, which takes as essential analyzing language for understanding human relations at the workplace (Boutet, 2001; Faïta, 2007; Nouroudine, 2002; Schwartz, 2007). The proposed analysis is based on the epistemological presupposition of dialogism as constitutive of all language expression, which allows examining how sense is constructed in sentences. Our main goal is the identification of dialogical relations present in words Brazilian federal police re(create) for naming their work operations in order to retrieve characteristics of Brazilian federal police activities and the way it is presented by the media. We analyze five terms naming operations that took place from 2006 to 2007: Leech (2006), Macunaíma (a literary Brazilian character - 2006), Hurricane (2007), Razor (2007) and Rodin (2007). The analysis considers simultaneously sphere of activity, genre and linguistic materiality and develops in two steps linked to two spheres of activity: the police sphere and the media sphere. In the first step, we present a brief description of what an Operation is. Besides retrieving police operations, the word that names each operation is analyzed considering Bakhtin s (2003) terms shared word , alien word and own word . In the second step, we describe the impact of operations on the media and examine the word/operation in a genre of Veja magazine and Zero Hora newspaper, considering both verbal and non-verbal aspects of enunciation. We observed that these designations receive on the media, as bivocal words, new accentuations, or evaluative intonations, many times adding to an effect of spectacularization. These words used for naming police work not only provide time economy but are also essential for maintaining the secrecy of Operations, and they are full of accentuations, which on the media resonate with a certain power / Este trabalho estuda palavras que os policiais federais usam para nomear as suas Operações de trabalho. Para tanto, parte da teoria dialógica do discurso (Bakhtin, 1997, 1998, 2003; Bakhtin/Volochínov, 2004), paradigma segundo o qual a matéria lingüística é indissociável de um processo ativo e responsivo, isto é, intersubjetivo, e estabelece diálogo com estudos sobre o trabalho, que consideram imprescindível a análise da linguagem para a compreensão das relações humanas no trabalho (Boutet, 2001; Faïta, 2007; Nouroudine,2002; Schwartz, 2007). A articulação proposta parte do pressuposto epistemológico do dialogismo como constitutivo de toda a expressão linguageira, o que permite observar a movimentação de sentidos nos enunciados. O objetivo geral da pesquisa é analisar discursivamente palavras que os Policiais Federais (re)criam para designar suas operações de trabalho, verificando relações dialógicas estabelecidas de modo a recuperar pistas da atividade do trabalho policial e características da sua divulgação na mídia. São analisadas cinco designações de operações que ocorreram entre 2006 e 2007: Sanguessuga (2006), Macunaíma (2006), Hurricane (2007), Navalha (2007) e Rodin (2007). A análise, seguindo uma reflexão interdependente entre esfera, gênero e matéria lingüística, está organizada em duas etapas, a partir de duas esferas de atividade: a esfera policial e a esfera midiática. Na primeira etapa, esfera policial, além de um breve resgate da Operação policial, a palavra é analisada a partir da proposta de Bakhtin (2003) como palavra da língua , palavra alheia e minha palavra . Na segunda etapa, esfera midiática, é apresentada a repercussão da Operação na mídia e efetuada uma análise da palavra/operação em um gênero da revista Veja e/ou do Jornal Zero Hora, observando aspectos verbais e não-verbais do enunciado. Como conclusão, destaca-se que essas palavras de trabalho, além da economia de tempo que proporcionam e de serem essenciais para manter o sigilo das Operações, são impregnadas de acentos de valor que, na mídia, passam a ressoar com certa força. Assim, o que se observa é que essas designações, como palavras bivocais, na esfera midiática, recebem novos acentos valorativos, muitas vezes contribuindo para o efeito de espetacularização

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:11:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 8 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação focaliza a problemática da referência na perspectiva enunciativa. Por essa razão, é também um estudo sobre a subjetividade. Propõe que há uma dimensão dêitica no processo de construção de referência no discurso, uma vez que o sujeito está implicado no que diz. Fundamenta-se nas teorias de Benveniste e Bakhtin. Da contribuição de Benveniste, traz a idéia de que a subjetividade está implicada em todo uso feito da linguagem. Da contribuição de Bakhtin, a concepção de que esse sujeito que advém na enunciação é constituído na interação viva com as vozes sociais. Tomando como objeto de investigação cartas de Caio Fernando Abreu que tematizam a síndrome da imunodeficiência adquirida (AIDS), busca descrever, a partir da materialidade lingüística, o modo como o enunciador subjetiva a experiência de encontrar-se diante da morte. Para alcançar esse objetivo, a análise é apresentada em dois momentos: no primeiro, busca-se, em cada carta, situar o quadro da enunciação. Particularmente, observa-se como a / This monograph focuses on the reference issue from the enunciating perspective. Thus, it is also a study on subjectivity. It proposes that there is a deictic dimension within the process of reference creation on discourse, since the subject is implied in what she or he says. It is grounded on Benveniste’s and Bakhtin’s theories. From Benveniste’s contribution, it brings the idea that subjectivity is entailed whenever language is used. From Bakhtin’s contribution, it brings the concept according to which the subject that comes out through enunciation is built within live interaction with social voices. Taking as our research object the letters from Caio Fernando Abreu that talks about Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), it tries to describe, from linguistic materiality, the way how enunciator subjectivizes the experience of finding himself in the face of death. In order to reach this goal, our analyses are presented in two moments: in the first one, we try, in each letter, to establish the situation of

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:22:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Augusto Mauad.pdf: 2697048 bytes, checksum: cb9e46abe7ae9b9773d2889a65374ab8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-13 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Due to its interaction with the sound segments, prosody is one of the elements to be considered when investigating foreign accent. In this study, the speech patterns of a dialogue read by two Brazilians and two Americans are contrasted, and two prosodic elements are investigated: rhythm and intonation. Speech rhythm, which refers to a temporal patterning of elements in the flow of speech, plays a relevant role in discourse. Intonation, the melody of speech, organizes the flow of speech and expresses modalities, emotions and attitudes. In the case of L2 speakers, it is very likely that certain prosodic patterns of L1 will be transferred to L2. In this study, the rhythmic and intonational patterns of a read dialogue are contrasted through acoustic-phonetic analysis by means of the PRAAT software. The acoustic data comprises duration measuraments of V-V units, syllables, feet and adjacent full vowels, as well as pitch accent markings. The analysis of the rhythm of American English is mainly based on Bolinger&#8223;s Pitch Accent Theory. ToBI (Tones and break índices) is used for the tonal labelling, and ANOVA and the variability index for the statistical treatment of the data. Results point to significant differences (p<.05) in syllable and V-V unit duration means, and differences in the variability index of the syllabic feet. The rhythmic structure of the utterances produced by the Brazilian subjects was affected by L1 transfer of tonicity, juncture, vowel quality as well as processes of segmental reduction and elision. As regards intonation, it was observed, in the productions of the American subjects, a systematic occurrence of the phenomenon of downstep, and, in the productions of the Brazilian subjects, a productive occurrence of L*+H e L+H* tones, which affected the production of meaning. With this study, I wish to contribute to the research on the teaching of rhythm and intonation to Brazilian speakers of English / A prosódia, pela interação que estabelece com os segmentos fônicos, é um dos elementos a ser considerado na investigação do sotaque estrangeiro. Neste estudo, tenho como objetivo investigar, com apoio na análise fonético-acústica, dois elementos prosódicos: o ritmo e a entoação, contrastando as produções de fala de duas brasileiras e de duas norte-americanas na leitura de um diálogo em inglês. O ritmo, que implica em regularidade e estruturação ao longo do tempo, exerce papel relevante no discurso oral. A entoação, a melodia da fala, organiza o fluxo sonoro e expressa modalidades, emoções e atitudes. No caso de falantes aprendizes de uma língua estrangeira, são grandes as possibilidades de transferência de padrões prosódicos da língua materna. Neste trabalho, os padrões rítmicos e entoacionais das sentenças de um diálogo são contrastados com o apoio da análise fonético-acústica, utilizando-se o software PRAAT. A extração de medidas contempla a duração, em milisegundos, das unidades V-V, sílabas, pés rítmicos e vogais plenas em adjacência, bem como marcações de f0 em alvos específicos do contorno entoacional: os pitch accents. A fundamentação teórica para o ritmo do inglês norte-americano baseia-se na Teoria de Pitch Accent, proposta por Bolinger. Para a notação dos padrões entoacionais, é utilizado o sistema ToBI (Tones and Break Indices) e, para o tratamento estatístico dos dados, o teste ANOVA e o índice de variabilidade. Foram constatadas diferenças significativas (p<,05) entre as produções de fala dos sujeitos norte-americanos e brasileiros em relação à duração média relativa de sílabas e unidades V-V e diferenças em relação ao índice de variabilidade dos pés silábicos. Também foram constatadas nas produções das brasileiras interferências de L1 em relação à tonicidade, junturas, qualidade vocálica e processos de redução e elisão segmental que afetaram a estrutura rítmica dos enunciados. Em relação à entoação, observou-se, nas emissões das norte-americanas, a ocorrência, de forma mais sistemática, do fenômeno de downstep, e, nas produções das brasileiras, a ocorrência produtiva dos tons L*+H e L+H*, o que afeta a produção de sentidos. Com o desenvolvimento deste trabalho, pretendo contribuir para aprofundar os conhecimentos sobre o ritmo e a entoação no contexto de ensino de inglês para brasileiros

本論文評量臺灣學生國中三年對英文重音與語調的學習成果，並探討造成學生學習困難的原因。五，名高一學生唸相同兩篇對話和十名母語為英語的外藉人士比較。結果顯示可暗示說話者態度的調型對學生最難，一些特殊句型的調型次之，而普通句型的升、降調最容易。重音方面則以牽涉到英文節奏和前後文的重音型較難。 　　經由對比分析，發現英文本身的問題和中英文的差異都對學習不利。英文本身的問題包括重音與語調的多變性和書面表示方式的不足。中英文的差異包括音調的範圍、語調對單字發音的影響、訊息焦點的表示方式、態度的表示方式、音調的高低度、以及中文調型的干擾。另外，由五十位國中老師和五十位學生所回答的問卷結果也顯示一些教學上的因素也會造成某種程度的干擾。 　　文末對教學方法、教材以及老師和學生的教學均有建議，期望對英語教學的更臻完善有所幫助。 / This thesis evaluates Taiwan junior high school students' performances in English stress and intonation and uncovers some reasons causing students' learning difficulties.　Compared against ten native speakers' performances, forty students' performances in reading two dialogues are evaluated.　The results show that the contours with attitudinal meanings are more difficult for students than the contours of special grammatical constructions, which in turn are more difficult than ordinary falling and rising contours.　And students have more difficulties in the stress patterns involving English rhythm and discourse knowledge than those that do not. 　　Through contrastive analysis, we find intralingual and interlingual factors interfering with students' learning. Intralingual factors include the variability of English stress and intonation, and the deficiency in their representation.　Interlingual factors include the scope of pitch, the influence of intonation on citation forms, expressions of focus, expressions of attitudes, ranges of pitch, and interference from Mandarin contours.　Moreover, the results of two sets of questionnaires answered by fifty teachers and fifty students show some pedagogical factors also come into play. 　　Suggestions for teaching methods, teaching materials, teachers, and students are also given with a view to helping improve English teaching and learning.

Cette thèse présente une étude expérimentale de la relation entre l'annotation des formes et des fonctions prosodiques en anglais britannique. Elle porte essentiellement sur le rôle de l'intonation dans la communication orale et le codage de cette contribution dans un système d'annotation. Elle se divise en deux grandes parties : une partie théorique proposant une revue de lecture analytique des principaux ouvrages portant sur l'intonation et faisant le point sur la façon dont la question de la relation forme/sens a été abordée dans le passé et une partie expérimentale décrivant la nouvelle méthodologie développée pour étudier cette thématique et les résultats obtenus. Cette méthodologie est basée sur le traitement automatique des données par l'intermédiaire de scripts, sur l'étude de deux grands corpus oraux (EUROM1 et Aix-MARSEC) et sur une procédure d'analyse par synthèse permettant de tester différentes théories de l'intonation et de les évaluer.

The study sheds light on the interrelations between interlanguage pragmatics and the use of a popular acting method, the Stanislavsky System, for second language (L2) acquisition. The theoretical investigation explores various uses of acting in second language education. The empirical enquiry represents an exploratory case-study of two adult EFL learners attending a theatre course in English. Through teacher journals, interviews, and the analysis of the students’ pragmatic performance as captured by a video camera, the researcher hypothesizes that the pragmatic development of the students involved in drama comes from three main sources: the script, the acting exercises, and the necessity to communicate in English during the theatre course. In all three cases, the zone of proximal development in relation to pragmatic competence emerged as a result of a teacher-generated impetus to use L2, numerous opportunities for imitation and repetition, continuous peer-support, and the collaborative spirit created in the classroom.

The study sheds light on the interrelations between interlanguage pragmatics and the use of a popular acting method, the Stanislavsky System, for second language (L2) acquisition. The theoretical investigation explores various uses of acting in second language education. The empirical enquiry represents an exploratory case-study of two adult EFL learners attending a theatre course in English. Through teacher journals, interviews, and the analysis of the students’ pragmatic performance as captured by a video camera, the researcher hypothesizes that the pragmatic development of the students involved in drama comes from three main sources: the script, the acting exercises, and the necessity to communicate in English during the theatre course. In all three cases, the zone of proximal development in relation to pragmatic competence emerged as a result of a teacher-generated impetus to use L2, numerous opportunities for imitation and repetition, continuous peer-support, and the collaborative spirit created in the classroom.