A Dissertation Abstract to Phonology of Masoretic Hebrew II Accents As Prosody Jiří Hedánek řjh (2017) PMH II - Abstract Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Prague 1 Abstract The dissertation Phonology of Masoretic Hebrew: Accents as Prosody (2017) interprets Tiberian 'accents' as speech prosody marking. Traditionally, they are explained as signs for accenting, singing or syntax. But only some were placed on accents. They do not map well to music which has been shaped by local traditions more than the mark-up. Syntactic interpretation is based on dividing marks but many diverse marks link, no links lead outside of verses, some words have two different marks and simple verses often miss stronger dividers. Interpreting them as prosody explains why they gravitated to accent positions; why different musical renditions developed; why they often agree with syntax and sometimes they do not. First a general concept of prosody units is put forward. This is applied to Masoretic Hebrew and the focus turns to intonation. The previous dissertation Phonology of Masoretic Hebrew (2011) analyzed siluq, atnach, segolta, zaqeph, revia (also mugrash, and establishing garsha as a unit), geresh, gershayim, tevir, mercha (also kphula), tiphcha, tarcha and dechi. The 2017 dissertation analyzed (from printed editions, manuscripts...

Studenter med ett icke-tonspråk som modersmål brukar ha svårigheter att lära sig de kinesiskatonerna när de börjar sina studier. Å ena sidan brukar kursböckerna på denna nivån användabara enstaviga ord och det har ansetts vara god pedagogik att läraren visar tonkonturerna medsina händer. Å andra sidan har forskningen om kinesiska länge varit koncentrerad på vilkavärden som grundtonen (F0) uppvisar i enstaviga ord. Det är många faktorer som tvärspråksforskningeninte har uppmärksammat, bl.a. det inflytande som konsonanterna har på F0 (vilketinfödda talare inte alltid är medvetna om).Det finns ingen samsyn när det gäller att förklara tonförväxlingsmönstren. Tidigare teorierinom ämnet andraspråksinlärning (Second Language Acquisition, SLA), som Perception AssimilationModel (PAM) och Speech Learning Model (SLM) har visat sig otillräckliga förstudiet av tonperception. På senare tid har PAM-Suprasegment försökt förklara hur den lärandesmodersmål antas närma sig kinesiskans tonsystem men modellen tar inte upp ordprosodin.Eftersom den moderna kinesiskans ordförråd till majoriteten består av tvåstaviga ord börforskningen lämna gamla spår för att finna andra kriterier – som duration och betoning – föratt förklara hur man lär sig höra kinesiskans toner, t.ex. vad som händer när två toner återfinnsi ett ord.Denna studie har som mål att ta reda på hur svenskar som studerar kinesiska som andraspråk/främmande språk uppfattar tonerna i kinesiska tvåstaviga ord. Experimentet bygger intepå tillrättalagda testord. Resultaten visar att tonerna först och främst påverkas av den initialakonsonanten och sedan av de omgivande tonerna. Vidare visas att det svenska systemet medaccent I och II i sin tur kan åstadkomma tonförväxlingar eftersom kinesiska tvåstaviga orddelvis uppvisar samma mönster.Resultaten illustrerar att tonidentifiering är en dynamisk och komplex process. Det krävsfortsatt forskning om tonerna för att få grepp om dem men det kan inte stanna där: interaktionenmellan ljud och ordprosodi behöver belysas bättre för att uppnå god behärskning avprosodin i språkundervisningen. / Foreign adult students with atonal language usually have, in the beginning of their Chinesestudy, difficulties to identify the Chinese tones. On one side, only monosyllabic tones arementioned in course books during this earlier stage and to illustrate the tone contours withhands has been treated as an effective pedagogy. On the other side, research on Chinese hasfor long been solely concentrated upon the values of the fundamental frequency (F0) of thevowels in monosyllabic words. In cross-linguistic studies many factors, among others the effectsof consonants on F0 that native speakers are not aware of, have still not been paidspecial attention to.There is no consensus regarding the explanation to tone confusion patterns. Earlier theoriesof Second Language Acquisition (SLA) like Perception Assimilation Model (PAM) andSpeech Learning Model (SLM) are no longer suited for tone perception. Recently, PAMSuprasegmenthas tried to approach that the intonation of the learners’ native language is assumedto be assimilated to the Chinese tone system. However, this model ignores the wordprosody. Nowadays, when the modern Chinese vocabulary consists of a majority of disyllabicwords, research has to be re-directed to find other criteria e.g. temporal and stress for explainingthe complexity of Chinese tone perception, i.e. how two tones behave when they arecombined in one word.The purpose of this essay is to explore how native Swedish speakers learning Chinese assecond/foreign language perceive the Chinese tones of disyllabic words. The experiment isnot based on elaborated test words. The results show that tones are first of all affected by theinitial consonants and sequentially influenced by the surrounding tones with accordance toChinese. It further reveals that Swedish accent I/II patterns might be a reasonable explanationfor the Chinese tone confusion patterns since partially acoustic properties of Chinese disyllabicwords overlap the Swedish accents.These results mean that tone perception is a dynamic and complex process. Further researchon tone perception should explore profoundly and widen interaction between sounds andword prosody, which paves the way for more effective prosodic practice in language education.

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of vowel quality in South African English (SAE) using the following data: firstly, the existing impressionistic literature on SAE and other relevant accents of English, the former of which is subject to a critical review; secondly, acoustic data from a similar range of accents, including new SAE data, collected and instrumentally analyzed specifically for the purposes of this research. These various data are used to position, on both a descriptive and theoretical level, the SAE vowel system. In addition, and in the service of providing a careful reconstruction of the linguistic history of this variety, it offers a three-stage koin´eization model which helps, in many respects, to illuminate the respective roles played by endogenous and exogenous factors in SAE’s development. More generally, the analysis is focussed on rendering explicit the extent to which the synchronic status and diachronic development of SAE more generally, and SAE vowel quality more particularly, provides support for a number of descriptive and theoretical frameworks, including those provided in Labov (1994), Torgersen and Kerswill (2004), Trudgill (2004) and Schneider (2003; 2007). With respect to these frameworks, and based on the results of the analysis, it proposes an extension to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model, shows Trudgill’s (2004) model of new-dialect formation to be inadequate in accounting for some of the SAE data, provides evidence that SAE is a possibly imminent but ‘conservative’ member of Torgersen and Kerswill’s (2004) SECS-Shift and uses SAE data to question the applicability of the SECS-Shift to FOOT-Fronting. Furthermore, this thesis provides evidence that SAE has undergone an indexicallydriven arrestment of the Diphthong and Southern Shifts and a subsequent and related diffusion of GenSAE values at the expense of BrSAE ones. Similarly, it shows that SAE’s possible participation in the SECS-Shift constitutes an effective chain-shift reversal ‘from above’. It stresses that, in order to understand such phenomena, recourse needs to be made to a theory of indexicality that takes into account the unique sociohistorical development of SAE and its speakers. Lastly, the adoption of the three-stage koin´eization model mentioned above highlights the merits of considering both endogenous and exogenous factors in the historical reconstruction of new-dialect formation and, for research into SAE in particular, strengthens the case for further investigation into the possible effects of 19th-century Afrikaans/Dutch, Yiddish and north-of-English dialects on the formation of modern SAE. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of vowel quality in South African English (SAE) using the following data: firstly, the existing impressionistic literature on SAE and other relevant accents of English, the former of which is subject to a critical review; secondly, acoustic data from a similar range of accents, including new SAE data, collected and instrumentally analyzed specifically for the purposes of this research. These various data are used to position, on both a descriptive and theoretical level, the SAE vowel system. In addition, and in the service of providing a careful reconstruction of the linguistic history of this variety, it offers a three-stage koin´eization model which helps, in many respects, to illuminate the respective roles played by endogenous and exogenous factors in SAE’s development. More generally, the analysis is focussed on rendering explicit the extent to which the synchronic status and diachronic development of SAE more generally, and SAE vowel quality more particularly, provides support for a number of descriptive and theoretical frameworks, including those provided in Labov (1994), Torgersen and Kerswill (2004), Trudgill (2004) and Schneider (2003; 2007). With respect to these frameworks, and based on the results of the analysis, it proposes an extension to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model, shows Trudgill’s (2004) model of new-dialect formation to be inadequate in accounting for some of the SAE data, provides evidence that SAE is a possibly imminent but ‘conservative’ member of Torgersen and Kerswill’s (2004) SECS-Shift and uses SAE data to question the applicability of the SECS-Shift to FOOT-Fronting. Furthermore, this thesis provides evidence that SAE has undergone an indexicallydriven arrestment of the Diphthong and Southern Shifts and a subsequent and related diffusion of GenSAE values at the expense of BrSAE ones. Similarly, it shows that SAE’s possible participation in the SECS-Shift constitutes an effective chain-shift reversal ‘from above’. It stresses that, in order to understand such phenomena, recourse needs to be made to a theory of indexicality that takes into account the unique sociohistorical development of SAE and its speakers. Lastly, the adoption of the three-stage koin´eization model mentioned above highlights the merits of considering both endogenous and exogenous factors in the historical reconstruction of new-dialect formation and, for research into SAE in particular, strengthens the case for further investigation into the possible effects of 19th-century Afrikaans/Dutch, Yiddish and north-of-English dialects on the formation of modern SAE. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Resume: The work has a special theme of social accents of the prophets in the period before the exile. There is question what the chronology of the history of the royal era, in which the prophets spoke, was, what social processes were taking place at that time and how they are documented by biblical history and archeology. The first part of the work describes the historical situation in which these prophets were spreading their message. In this epoch the King's time was at the top of its peak, after which the crisis of transition from tribal society started into the urban civilization started which was finished by Israel's exile to Assyria and Judea in Babylon. In the northern empire peaks of the prosperity are considered to be the period during the reign of Achab and Jeroboam II. In the southern Empire it is the Uzziah's period. These peak times of prosperity, stemming from the state development, successful battles, and foreign trade, brought with an increase in social inequality and damage to social relations. The work depicts this time according to biblical sources, particulary the 1st and 2nd Books of Kings and the 2nd Paralipomenon. This section is followed by a chapter on interpretations by which Biblical archeology interprets archeological finds related to the time of the kingdom, especially from the...

Generally, the reading of the indications about the use of punctuation marks in didactic material reveals inaccurate orientations, floating and, in some cases, a bit subjective in respect of their applications. The aim of this work is the investigation of the contents and the treatments given to the teaching of these marks in didactic materials of Portuguese Language. The research is based on theories that discuss the nature and the manifestation of the language as a unity of sense; although the first aim of the study does not consist of an analysis according a theory or linguistics perspectives – the reason of the study is the nature and the linguistics functions of the punctuation marks –, the analysis support themselves in the principles of the conceptions of the enunciative and discursive linguistics, according to which, the meanings of an enunciation justify the forms and the resources used on the construction of an communicative event of written language. To attend the proposal of study, a methodological cut was made, what evidenced the problem of the teaching of those resources in a didactic material in Elementary School (6th to 9th grade) adopted in a school from the municipal network in the city of Maceió. From this delimitation, it was worked using the hypothesis that the teaching of these marks is stuck to the traditional concepts, that don’t reflect the dynamicity of the resource in the construction of the meanings of a text, and to methodologies which made incongruous the criteria of applicability with perception of linguistics functions of those resources, which are, in fact, much more related with the social practices of reading and writing of the student than the idea of marks of pause and rhythm of reading. As a final result the research brings a little proposal of categorization of the (now) marks of punctuation that can help teachers and students in the comprehension of the nature and the linguistics functions that so said resource of writing plays on textual organization and in its discursive elaboration. / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / De modo geral, a leitura das indicações sobre o uso dos sinais de pontuação em materiais didáticos revela orientações imprecisas, flutuantes e, em alguns casos, baseadas em critérios subjetivos. O objetivo deste trabalho é a investigação dos conteúdos e dos tratamentos dados aos seus usos e funções nos livros didáticos de Língua Portuguesa adotados no Ensino Fundamental II. A pesquisa fundamenta-se em teorias linguísticas que discutem a natureza e a manifestação da língua enquanto um unidade de sentido; embora não seja o objetivo primeiro do trabalho uma análise segundo uma teoria ou perspectivas linguísticas — a razão do estudo é a natureza e as funções linguísticas dos sinais de pontuação —, as análises apoiam-se nos princípios das concepções da linguística discursiva e enunciativa, segundo as quais os sentidos de um enunciado justificam muito as formas e os recursos utilizados na construção de um evento comunicativo de língua escrita. Para atender a proposta de estudo, fez-se um recorte metodológico que evidenciou o problema do ensino desses recursos em material didático do Ensino Fundamental II (6° ao 9° ano) adotado em uma escola da rede municipal da cidade de Maceió. A partir dessa delimitação, trabalhou-se com a hipótese de que o ensino dos sinais de pontuação mantém-se preso a conceitos tradicionais, que não refletem a dinamicidade do recurso na construção dos sentidos de um texto, e a metodologias que tornam incongruentes os critérios de aplicabilidade com a percepção das funções linguísticas desses recursos, que estão, por sua vez, muito mais relacionadas com as práticas sociais de leitura e escrita dos alunos do que com a ideia de marcação de pausas e ritmo de leitura. Como resultado final, a pesquisa apresenta uma pequena proposta de categorização das (agora) marcas de pontuação que pode ajudar professores e alunos na compreensão da natureza e das funções linguísticas que tal recurso de escrita desempenha na organização textual e na sua elaboração discursiva.

This thesis looks at how accurately one can model accents in jazz solos, more specifically the sound level. Further understanding the structure of jazz solos can give a way of pedagogically presenting differences within music styles and even between performers. Some studies have tried to model perceived accents in different music styles. In other words, model how listeners perceive some tones as somehow accentuated and more important than others. Other studies have looked at how the sound level correlates to other attributes of the tone. But to our knowledge, no other studies have been made modeling actual accents within jazz solos, nor have other studies had such a big amount of training data. The training data used is a set of 456 solos from the Weimar Jazz Database. This is a database containing tone data and metadata from monophonic solos performed with multiple instruments. The features used for the training algorithms are features obtained from the software Director Musices created at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden; features obtained from the software "melfeature" created at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar in Germany; and features built upon tone data or solo metadata from the Weimar Jazz Database. A comparison between these is made. Three learning algorithms are used, Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Support Vector Regression (SVR), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). The first two are simpler regression models while the last is an award-winning tree boosting algorithm. The tests resulted in eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) having the highest accuracy when combining all the available features minus some features that were removed since they did not improve the accuracy. The accuracy was around 27% with a high standard deviation. This tells that there was quite some difference when predicting the different solos, some had an accuracy of about 67% while others did not predict one tone correctly in the entire solo. But as a general model, the accuracy is too low for actual practical use. Either the methods were not the optimal ones or jazz solos differ too much to find a general pattern. / Detta examensarbete undersöker hur väl man kan modellera accenter i jazz-solos, mer specifikt ljudnivån. En bredare förståelse för strukturen i jazzsolos kan ge ett sätt att pedagogiskt presentera skillnaderna mellan olika musikstilar och även mellan olika artister. Andra studier har försökt modellera uppfattade accenter inom olika musik-stilar. Det vill säga, modellera hur åhörare upplever vissa toner som accentuerade och viktigare än andra. Andra studier har undersökt hur ljudnivån är korrelerad till andra attribut hos tonen. Men såvitt vi vet, så finns det inga andra studier som modellerar faktiska accenter inom jazzsolos, eller som haft samma stora mängd träningsdata. Träningsdatan som använts är ett set av 456 solos tagna från Weimar Jazz Database. Databasen innehåller data på toner och metadata från monofoniska solos genomförda med olika instrument. Särdragen som använts för tränings-algoritmerna är särdrag erhållna från mjukvaran Director Musices skapad på Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan i Sverige; särdrag erhållna från mjukvaran ”melfeature” skapad på University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar i Tyskland; och särdrag skapade utifrån datat i Weimar Jazz Database. En jämförelse mellan dessa har också gjorts. Tre inlärningsalgoritmer har använts, Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Support Vector Regression (SVR), och eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). De första två är enklare regressionsalgoritmer, medan den senare är en prisbelönt trädförstärkningsalgoritm. Testen resulterade i att eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) skapade en modell med högst noggrannhet givet alla tillgängliga särdrag som träningsdata minus vissa särdrag som tagits bort då de inte förbättrar noggrannheten. Den erhållna noggrannheten låg på runt 27% med en hög standardavvikelse. Detta pekar på att det finns stora skillnader mellan att förutsäga ljudnivån mellan de olika solin. Vissa solin gav en noggrannhet på runt 67% medan andra erhöll inte en endaste ljudnivå korrekt i hela solot. Men som en generell modell är noggrannheten för låg för att användas i praktiken. Antingen är de valda metoderna inte de bästa, eller så är jazzsolin för olika för att hitta ett generellt mönster som går att förutsäga.

While the field of speech recognition has recently advanced quickly, even the highest performing models struggle with accents. There are several methods of improving the performance on accents, but many are hard to implement or need high amounts of data and are therefore costly to implement. Therefore, examining the performance of the Wav2vec2 architecture, which previously has performed well on small amounts of labeled data, becomes relevant. Using a model trained in Swedish, this thesis fine-tunes the model on small datasets of three Swedish accents, to create both accent-dependent specialized models as well as an accent-independent general model. The specialized models perform better than the original model, and the general model performs approximately as well as each specialized model without sacrificing performance on non-accented Swedish. This means that the Wav2vec2 framework offers a low cost method of improving speech recognition that can be used to improve private and public services for larger parts of the population. / Trots att området för taligenkänning nyligen har avancerat snabbt, presterar även de bästa modellerna sämre vid språk med utländsk brytning. Det finns flera metoder för att förbättra prestandan på accenter, men många är komplexa eller behöver stora mängder data och är därför dyra att implementera. Därför blir det relevant att undersöka prestandan för Wav2vec2-arkitekturen, som tidigare har presterat väl med små mängder märkt träningsdata. En modell tränad i svenska finjusteras i denna avhandling på tre små datamängder bestående av olika svenska brytningar, för att skapa både brytningsberoende specialiserade modeller såväl som en brytningsoberoende generell modell. De specialiserade modellerna presterar bättre än originalmodellen, och den allmänna modellen presterar ungefär lika bra som varje specialiserad modell utan att ge avkall på prestanda på ickebruten svenska. Detta innebär att ramverket Wav2vec2 erbjuder en lågkostnadsmetod för att förbättra taligenkänning som kan användas för att förbättra privata och offentliga tjänster för större delar av befolkningen.

The lyrics of Sammy Cahn played a dominant role in shaping the Golden Age of American light music. He remains the most successful lyricist in cinema history, in terms of Academy Awards and Nominations, yet he has received little acclaim for his achievements. This thesis explores the diverse constituents of his creative genius, focusing on his ability to “romance the vernacular”, and write “bespoke” material on request. The argument follows a chronological path, tracing the major influences on Cahn’s life: vaudeville and musical theatre, the growth of the film industry, and the collaborators and performers who helped him achieve a level of mastery that he sustained for nearly fifty years. Particular emphasis is placed on his relationship with Frank Sinatra, on both a personal and professional level. Cahn had an acute awareness of the human condition and his ability to convey a range of emotions to match mood and moment displayed consummate craft and intellect, with a self-confidence that bordered on bravado. His contemporaries in the Golden Age of popular song have received due recognition, yet little has been written about Cahn, whose appreciation of the interaction between spontaneity and creativity remains unsurpassed by fellow lyricists. He had an intuitive understanding of the vernacular and an instinctive ability to write to order. The imagistic texture of the lyrics coupled with the prosodic intonation demonstrate an intimate correlation between personality and composition which is supported by biographical content. The argument, augmented by an audio-documentary, develops systematically through a study of the lyrics, focusing on the cultural and musicological significance of Cahn’s oeuvre. The material for both the written text and the two accompanying CDs are from personal archives and the Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles, which is the repository for the Sammy Cahn Collection, bequeathed to that institution after the death of Cahn in 1993. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)