This Master's thesis deals with the issue of formant extraction. A system of scripts in Matlab interface is created to generate values of the first three formant frequencies from speech recordings with the use of Praat and Snack(WaveSurfer). Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients and Linear Predictive Coefficients are extracted from the audio files in order to be added to the database. This database is then used to train a neural network. Finally, the designed neural network is tested.

This work deals with speaker´s age and gender recognition. At the beginning it introduces the practical usage of this application and discusses the solutions available. The theoretical part of the thesis specifies the feature extraction and reduction methods and speech databases used in the experiments. The practical part describes the recognizer implemented in the Emotional tool and in two chapters describes the individual experiments. Regarding speaker´s gender estimation; we focused on the impact of the emotional state and speaker's age on the classification process. The two remain experiments were dedicated for general gender estimation performed by using two different classifiers – GMM and k-NN. These two classifiers were used in age estimation as well. In this case, four Group of age was formed and two different feature sets namely: segmental and suprasegmental were exploited four groups

This thesis is about design and implementation of application for computing speech parameters on people with Parkinson disease. At the beginning is generaly described Parkinson disease and Hypokinetic dysarthria and how it affects the speech and speech parameters when it occurs. Mainly there are described areas of speech like phonation, prosody, articulation and fluent speech. As a part of next topic this thesis describes specific speech parameters with bigger meaning during diagnosis Parkinson disease and it's progress over the time. There are also mentioned few significant studies dealing with examination of speech of the subjects with diagnoses of Parkinson disease and computing some speech parameters in order to analyze their speech impairments. Part of the thesis is description of implemented standalone application for calculating, exporting and visualizing of speech parameters from selected sound records.

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The efficacy of aural modeling in music education at the primary and secondary levels is well documented, and anecdotal evidence among university studio voice teachers abounds. However, this topic has not previously been explored with undergraduate level singers using acoustic analysis of the singing voice. This investigation utilized a survey on listening behaviors to examine undergraduate voice students’ use of recorded aural models. In addition, an empirical study measured the effect of repeated exposure to recorded aural models on participants’ vocal production. Research was conducted at Southwestern University, a private liberal arts institution in Georgetown, Texas. Study participants were divided into two groups. The control group performed a newly-composed melody after a recorded aural model of the melody was played a single time. The experimental group completed 10-minute listening assignments once a day for a five-day period before performing the same melody. Data between the non-listening and listening groups was compared. Using a second newly composed melody, the control group then completed a five-day listening assignment and performed the second melody. Pre- and post-listening data from this group of subjects was compared. Listening assignments were adapted from a speech pathology remediation technique known as auditory bombardment. They involved listening to multiple repetitions of the recorded aural model without attempting to practice singing the melody. The study measured four acoustic parameters: musical accuracy (pitch and rhythm), vowel/consonant articulation, use of vibrato, and ratio of power between overtones above and below 2 kHz. The listening behavior survey revealed that most students use recorded aural models in their practice time. However, results indicated that students would benefit from professional quality aural models and specific information about appropriate time parameters for listening activities. Results of the empirical study revealed a statistically significant 20-30% improvement in vocal production in both the experimental listening group and the control group post-listening. These data demonstrate that focused periods of listening to an aural model are effective in improving vocal production, even within a short period of time. The results of this study support the inclusion of aural modeling in the applied voice studio. / text

This study examines the relationship between the metaphor in the title and the content of T.T. Cloete’s Volume of Poetry titled Met die aarde praat. It will be demonstrated that the volume title as global metaphor is an integral part of the textual element of the text, that it also fulfills a hermeneutical function in respect to the text in that it offers clues and insights into reading and understanding of the poems or volume contents. In light of the aforementioned metaphor theory is investigated on three levels: on a cognitive or conceptual level, on a linguistic/textual level and on a communicative level. The titles and mottos of the eight sections frame the sections as well as refer to themes and provide clues to reading and understanding the individual poems or volume contents. Section titles are framed by the volume title and often interact with the volume title as global metaphor and together. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature

Notre thèse focalise sur une analyse phonostylistique du discours politique oral de M. Dominique de Villepin. Une étude qui aborde les variations de son style vocal dans plusieurs de ces discours oraux, d'une manière qui nous permet d'analyser les éléments discursifs et prosodiques tout au long de ses discours politiques. L'étude portera sur le double codage (linguistique et paralinguistique) caché derrière ses propos politiques. Notre corpus d'étude est l'ensemble d'échantillons tirés d'entretien, débat, conférence, interview. Cette étude, par ailleurs, soulève sa compétence discursive et communicationnelle manifestée quant à l'emploi des unités linguistiques, prosodiques, et discursive perçus comme un rôle praxéologique de pratiques sociales, politiques et de l'expérience dans son discours. Au niveau discursif, l'étude analyse des éléments pragmatiques tels que le tour de la parole les temps verbaux et les effets persuasifs. Au niveau phonostylistique, plusieurs phénomènes prosodiques de valeurs phonostylistiques (intonation, mélodie, accent et pause) seront analysés à l'aide du logiciel Praat pour connaître les différentes rôles pragmatiques et énonciatives en termes de stratégie de persuasion de cet homme politique. La thèse consiste à démontrer le rôle de ces phénomènes prosodiques dans l'établissement des informations nouvelles capables de transmettre un deuxième message vocal à son public. Ce message phonostylistique, qui renforce le premier message discursif des forces illocutoires, rajoute au style de Dominique de Villepin un nouveau procédé d'influence et de convaincre sur un public auditoire. / This thesis studies the phonostylistical analysis of Mr. Dominique de Villepin's political oral discourse. A study which requires several of his vocal style in his different oral speeches in a way that allows us to analyze the discourse and prosodic elements throughout his political speeches. The study will focus on the dual coding (linguistic and paralinguistic) hidden behind his political purposes. The corpus of study is the set of samples taken from his different speeches: debate, conference, interviews. This study also rises to explain his discursive and communicative competence which is manifested by using linguistic, prosodic and discursive units in order to disclose the praxeological role of social practices, political roles and the role of experience in his speeches. Concerning the discursive level, the present study aims to analyze the pragmatic elements such as the tour of speech and verbal and persuasive effects. Concerning the phonostylistical level, several of phonostylistic phenomena which have prosodic values (intonation, melody, accent and pause) are analyzed under the Praat software to identify different pragmatic and enunciative roles in terms of persuasive strategy of this political man. The thesis is to demonstrate the role of prosodic phenomena in the establishment of new information, capable of transmitting a second vocal message to his audience. This phonostylistical message, which supports the first message carried through discursive illocutionary forces, adds to the style of Dominique de Villepin a new method to influence and persuade the public audience

This study examines the relationship between the metaphor in the title and the content of T.T. Cloete’s Volume of Poetry titled Met die aarde praat. It will be demonstrated that the volume title as global metaphor is an integral part of the textual element of the text, that it also fulfills a hermeneutical function in respect to the text in that it offers clues and insights into reading and understanding of the poems or volume contents. In light of the aforementioned metaphor theory is investigated on three levels: on a cognitive or conceptual level, on a linguistic/textual level and on a communicative level. The titles and mottos of the eight sections frame the sections as well as refer to themes and provide clues to reading and understanding the individual poems or volume contents. Section titles are framed by the volume title and often interact with the volume title as global metaphor and together. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature

Educationists, linguists and other stakeholders are concerned about the effectivity of the level of teaching regarding Afrikaans Additional Language. Some of the teachers of Afrikaans Additional Language are not qualified in the teaching of specifically a foreign language. There is a lot of uncertainty concerning the difference between the teaching of a home language and additional language teaching. In order to ensure learners improvement and achievement as well as future use of Afrikaans Additional Language it is necessary that the teaching of additional languages, especially Afrikaans must be given appropriate attention. The purpose if this study was to determine the selection the teachers made regarding teaching and learning approaches, methods and teaching materials, including the curriculum, textbooks and other documents, as well as to establish the perceptions of the learners regarding these approaches, methods and materials in the teaching of Afrikaans Additional Language in the Dr. Kenneth Kaunda District through empirical research, and to undertake a literature study to establish a teaching-learning program framework that can facilitate to the effective implementation of the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement in all the language skills of Afrikaans Additional Language. An interpretive research paradigm was used as foundation for this study. A literature study was undertaken to establish what such a framework should look like with specific attention to language skills. Qualitative research was undertaken through using multiple case studies where teachers and learners who were willing to take part were questioned and observed regarding the teaching of Afrikaans Additional Language as well as the problems they experienced. Documents such as teaching materials and the curriculum were analysed as well. The analyses had a two-pronged focus: thematic analysis with the use of the computer software program, NVivo 8, where the data was reduced and thereafter analysed manually by the researcher. The researcher then used a comparative analysis to compare the different case studies (schools). The results of this study showed that the implementation of the curriculum was problematic for teachers, they were uncertain about the degree of difficulty of the teaching materials, and would rather stick to textbooks. The results also indicated that the teachers who did not use the communicative approach preferred to teach mainly through direct instruction. The communication in the classrooms was mainly teacher-orientated and the learners got little chance to use the language in interactive activities. The proposed teaching-learning programme framework for Afrikaans Additional Language should help teachers with the planning of their teaching as well as the implementation of the curriculum that could result in more effective Additional Language Teaching to learners. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Teaching and Learning))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Educationists, linguists and other stakeholders are concerned about the effectivity of the level of teaching regarding Afrikaans Additional Language. Some of the teachers of Afrikaans Additional Language are not qualified in the teaching of specifically a foreign language. There is a lot of uncertainty concerning the difference between the teaching of a home language and additional language teaching. In order to ensure learners improvement and achievement as well as future use of Afrikaans Additional Language it is necessary that the teaching of additional languages, especially Afrikaans must be given appropriate attention. The purpose if this study was to determine the selection the teachers made regarding teaching and learning approaches, methods and teaching materials, including the curriculum, textbooks and other documents, as well as to establish the perceptions of the learners regarding these approaches, methods and materials in the teaching of Afrikaans Additional Language in the Dr. Kenneth Kaunda District through empirical research, and to undertake a literature study to establish a teaching-learning program framework that can facilitate to the effective implementation of the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement in all the language skills of Afrikaans Additional Language. An interpretive research paradigm was used as foundation for this study. A literature study was undertaken to establish what such a framework should look like with specific attention to language skills. Qualitative research was undertaken through using multiple case studies where teachers and learners who were willing to take part were questioned and observed regarding the teaching of Afrikaans Additional Language as well as the problems they experienced. Documents such as teaching materials and the curriculum were analysed as well. The analyses had a two-pronged focus: thematic analysis with the use of the computer software program, NVivo 8, where the data was reduced and thereafter analysed manually by the researcher. The researcher then used a comparative analysis to compare the different case studies (schools). The results of this study showed that the implementation of the curriculum was problematic for teachers, they were uncertain about the degree of difficulty of the teaching materials, and would rather stick to textbooks. The results also indicated that the teachers who did not use the communicative approach preferred to teach mainly through direct instruction. The communication in the classrooms was mainly teacher-orientated and the learners got little chance to use the language in interactive activities. The proposed teaching-learning programme framework for Afrikaans Additional Language should help teachers with the planning of their teaching as well as the implementation of the curriculum that could result in more effective Additional Language Teaching to learners. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Teaching and Learning))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012