This is a psychoacoustic study investigating experimentally the role of intonation as indicative of the human phenomenon of emotion in both Arabic and English. Itstudies both the acoustic properties of emotion in speech and their impact on intonational contours.Utterances representing five emotions (anger, fear, happiness, sadness, and neutral) in both the declarative and interrogative modes were collected from the speech of eight professional actors (4 Arabic, and 4 English) as they performed roles in movies and drama series. Two types of judges were used: viewers and listeners. The former watched the clips carrying the utterances and identified their emotional content. Their responses determined which utterances were included in the acoustic analysis. The listeners listened only to the utterances chosen by the viewers, and their responses were used to determine the acoustic clues for emotions. The acoustic analysis involved measuring the parameters of fundamental frequency (FO), intensity, and duration of four units of analysis: utterance as a whole unit, the initial and the final syllables of the utterance, and the syllable with the highest FO value (the peak).The ANOVA statistical test was run on the acoustic data. The listeners' responses were used in the Kappa test to determine their emotion recognition accuracy.The results showed that no single parameter can be taken as the sole marker or clue to a certain emotion. Rather, the expression of emotion is viewed as a complicated process involving the three parameters combined. Profiles for each emotion involving the levels of the three parameters at both the utterance and syllable levels are provided. The data analysis did not show emotion to have an impact on international contours. The KAPPA test showed a high degree of emotion recognition accuracy in both languages. The comparison of Arabic and English showed differences in the three parameters between the two languages. The most remarkable feature distinguishing the people of the two languages speech is intensity, with Arabic speakers showing higher decibel levels. / Department of English

Although the complexity of prosody is widely recognised, there is a lack of widely-accepted descriptive standards for prosodic phenomena. This situation has become particularly noticeable with the development of increasingly capable text-to-speech (TTS) systems. Such systems require detailed prosodic models to sound natural. For the languages of Southern Africa, the deficiencies in our modelling capabilities are acute. Little work of a quantitative nature has been published for the languages of the Nguni family (such as isiZulu and isiXhosa), and there are significant contradictions and imprecisions in the literature on this topic. We have therefore embarked on a programme aimed at understanding the relationship between linguistic and physical variables of a prosodic nature in this family of languages. We then use the information/knowledge gathered to build intonation models for isiZulu and isiXhosa as representatives of the Nguni languages. Firstly, we need to extract physical measurements from the voice recordings of the Nguni family of languages. A number of pitch tracking algorithms have been developed; however, to our knowledge, these algorithms have not been evaluated formally on a Nguni language. In order to decide on an appropriate algorithm for further analysis, evaluations have been performed on two stateof- the-art algorithms namely the Praat pitch tracker and Yin (developed by Alain de Cheveingn´e). Praat’s pitch tracker algorithm performs somewhat better than Yin in terms of gross and fine errors and we use this algorithm for the rest of our analysis.<./p> For South African languages the task of building an intonation model is complicated by the lack of intonation resources available. We describe the methodology used for developing a generalpurpose intonation corpus and the various methods implemented to extract relevant features such as fundamental frequency, intensity and duration from the spoken utterances of these languages. In order to understand how the ‘expected’ intonation relates to the actual measured characteristics extracted, we developed two different statistical approaches to build intonation models for isiZulu and isiXhosa. The first is based on straightforward statistical techniques and the second uses a classifier. Both intonation models built produce fairly good accuracy for our isiZulu and isiXhosa sets of data. The neural network classifier used produces slightly better results for both sets of data than the statistical method. The classification model is also more robust and can easily learn from the training data. We show that it is possible to build fairly good intonation models for these languages using different approaches, and that intensity and fundamental frequency are comparable in predictive value for the ascribed tone. / Dissertation (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Computer Science / MSc / unrestricted

Prosody is the flow of speech created by controlling elements such as pitch, rate, loudness, and stress (Tiffany and Carrell, 1977). Prosody is vital to intelligibility of speech and also communicates meaning. Despite the importance of prosody, however, few tests for the adequacy of prosodic ability in young children have been published (Koike and Asp, 1981a). To remedy this paucity of tools, Koike and Asp published the Tennessee Test of Rhythm and Intonation Patterns (T-TRIP). The clinical usefulness of the T-TRIP has been limited by a lack of normative data against which to compare individual children's performance. The purpose of this study was to collect normative data on the T-TRIP scores of normal four and six-year-olds. The question this study asked was: What are the means and standard deviations of T-TRIP scores from the samples of four and six-year-olds? A secondary question was: Are differences between the means of the two age groups statistically significant?

The main aim of this thesis is to begin to extend phonetic distance measurements to the domain of intonation. Existing studies of segmental phonetic distance have strong associations with historical linguistic questions. I begin with this context and demonstrate problems with the use of feature systems in these segmental measures. Then I attempt to draw strands from the disparate fields of quantitative historical linguistics and intonation together. The intonation of Belfast and Glasgow English provides a central case study for this. Previous work suggests that both varieties display nuclear rises on statements, yet they have never been formally compared. This thesis presents two main hypotheses on the source of these statement rises: the Alignment hypothesis and the Transfer hypothesis. The Alignment hypothesis posits that statement rises were originally more typical statement falls but have changed into rises over time through gradual phonetic change to the location of the pitch peak. The Transfer hypothesis considers that statement rises have come about through pragmatic transfer of rises onto a statement context, either from question rises or continuation rises. I evaluate these hypotheses using the primary parameters of alignment and scaling as phonetic distance measurements. The main data set consists of data from 3 Belfast English and 3 Glasgow English speakers in a Sentence reading task and Map task. The results crucially indicate that the origin of the statement rises in Belfast and Glasgow English respectively may be different. The Glasgow statement nuclear tones show support for the Alignment hypothesis, while the Belfast nuclear tones fit best with the Transfer hypothesis. The fundamental differences between Glasgow and Belfast are the earlier alignment of the peak (H) in Glasgow and the presence of a final low (L) tonal target in Glasgow and a final high (H) target in Belfast. The scaling of the final H in Belfast statements suggests that the transfer may be from continuation rather than from question rises. I then present a proposal for an overall measure of intonational distance, showing problems with parameter weighting, comparing like with like, and distinguishing between chance resemblance and genuine historical connections. The thesis concludes with an assessment of the benefits that intonational analysis could bring to improving segmental phonetic distance measures.

This work concerns how information structure is signalled prosodically in English, that is, how prosodic prominence and phrasing are used to indicate the salience and organisation of information in relation to a discourse model. It has been standardly held that information structure is primarily signalled by the distribution of pitch accents within syntax structure, as well as intonation event type. However, we argue that these claims underestimate the importance, and richness, of metrical prosodic structure and its role in signalling information structure. We advance a new theory, that information structure is a strong constraint on the mapping of words onto metrical prosodic structure. We show that focus (kontrast) aligns with nuclear prominence, while other accents are not usually directly 'meaningful'. Information units (theme/rheme) try to align with prosodic phrases. This mapping is probabilistic, so it is also influenced by lexical and syntactic effects, as well as rhythmical constraints and other features including emphasis. Rather than being directly signalled by the prosody, the likelihood of each information structure interpretation is mediated by all these properties. We demonstrate that this theory resolves problematic facts about accent distribution in earlier accounts and makes syntactic focus projection rules unnecessary. Previous theories have claimed that contrastive accents are marked by a categorically distinct accent type to other focal accents (e.g. L+H* v H*). We show this distinction in fact involves two separate semantic properties: contrastiveness and theme/rheme status. Contrastiveness is marked by increased prominence in general. Themes are distinguished from rhemes by relative prominence, i.e. the rheme kontrast aligns with nuclear prominence at the level of phrasing that includes both theme and rheme units. In a series of production and perception experiments, we directly test our theory against previous accounts, showing that the only consistent cue to the distinction between theme and rheme nuclear accents is relative pitch height. This height difference accords with our understanding of the marking of nuclear prominence: theme peaks are only lower than rheme peaks in rheme-theme order, consistent with post-nuclear lowering; in theme-rheme order, the last of equal peaks is perceived as nuclear. The rest of the thesis involves analysis of a portion of the Switchboard corpus which we have annotated with substantial new layers of semantic (kontrast) and prosodic features, which are described. This work is an essentially novel approach to testing discourse semantics theories in speech. Using multiple regression analysis, we demonstrate distributional properties of the corpus consistent with our claims. Plain and nuclear accents are best distinguished by phrasal features, showing the strong constraint of phrase structure on the perception of prominence. Nuclear accents can be reliably predicted by semantic/syntactic features, particularly kontrast, while other accents cannot. Plain accents can only be identified well by acoustic features, showing their appearance is linked to rhythmical and low-level semantic features. We further show that kontrast is not only more likely in nuclear position, but also if a word is more structurally or acoustically prominent than expected given its syntactic/information status properties. Consistent with our claim that nuclear accents are distinctive, we show that pre-, post- and nuclear accents have different acoustic profiles; and that the acoustic correlates of increased prominence vary by accent type, i.e. pre-nuclear or nuclear. Finally, we demonstrate the efficacy of our theory compared to previous accounts using examples from the corpus.

Syftet med arbetet var att undersöka när och varför problem med tonhållning i körsånguppkommer, samt hur jag som körledare och dirigent kan lösa detta genom arbete medintonation och gestik. Idén till arbetet grundade sig i att jag har upplevt att många kördirigenter har bristandekunskap i hur de kan hjälpa kören med intonation och att hålla ton. Jag har med en vokalensemble bestående av 17 sångare instuderat fem körverk, valdaför att av olika anledningar vara svåra att hålla ton i, mot bakgrund från litteratur ochintervjuer jag genomfört. Jag har provat och utvärderat metoder för att hjälpa kören atthålla ton, både som repetitör och som dirigent under konsert. Arbetet ledde till en konsert i Studio Acusticum och har gjort mig uppmärksam på attden största nyckeln till att hålla ton är att ensemblen är överens om parametrar somexempelvis konsonantplacering och att de sjunger med samma vokalfärg.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo realizar uma análise da entoação de voz de pacientes com esquizofrenia para, a partir dessas variantes linguísticas examinar dados que caracterizem a prosódia como um possível indicativo diagnóstico. A esquizofrenia é uma doença mental grave sem sintomas patognomônicos, caracterizada por um misto de sinais e sintomas disformes. A prosódia afetiva é definida como o processamento e o reconhecimento de elementos emocionais e afetivos provindos das informações da entoação vocal. Pesquisas realizadas anteriormente apontam déficits singulares na verbalização das emoções contidas na fala desses pacientes, o seu discurso é considerado vago, com poucos ou quase nulos sinais emocionais entoacionais. Para a realização desta pesquisa, inicialmente, 16 clientes e frequentadores do Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente, uma das alas do hospital psiquiátrico Instituto Nise da Silveira (SEIs) e mais 16 pessoas sem transtorno mental que compuseram um grupo de controle (SCs), tiveram sua voz gravada em quatro etapas: entrevista de anamnese que segue um roteiro semiestruturado; relato empírico de experiências felizes e tristes; descrição de seus trabalhos artísticos; por fim, a leitura de um trecho de uma história infantil sem conotação afetiva. Na sequência, os mesmos procedimentos foram aplicados em usuários do CAPS II Espaço Vivo, um dos serviços de saúde mental que compõe o Centro de Atenção Integral à Saúde (CAIS) Prof. Cantídio Moura de Campos. A análise dos dados coletados foi possibilitada pela rotina ExProsodia (FERREIRA-NETTO, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2016), aplicativo elaborado para examinar automaticamente os elementos constituintes da prosódia. Através desses procedimentos foi possível identificar que houveram diferenças significativas nas variáveis acústicas da assimetria e dispersão do Tom Médio e da frequência fundamental (F0) nas etapas de fala espontânea e na leitura narrativa. Em especial, nessa última etapa, destaca-se o comportamento adverso da curtose de foco/ênfase que possibilitou a individualização dos grupos. Por fim, este trabalho de cunho quantitativo exploratório, corrobora a perspectiva de diferenciar pessoas acometidas pela esquizofrenia de sujeitos sem histórico anterior de transtornos psíquicos baseado na análise de parâmetros acústicos de voz. Em suma, tais apontamentos poderiam indicar pistas salutares para a constituição de um diagnóstico mais acurado para a esquizofrenia, assim como podem ser propriedades relevantes para colaborar para organização do tratamento individual. / This research aimed to perform an analysis of the patients voice intonation with schizophrenia to examine the data that characterize prosody as a possible diagnostic indication. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness with no pathognomonic symptoms, characterized by a mix of misshapen signs and symptoms. The affective prosody is defined as the processing and recognition of emotional and affective elements from voice of the intonation. Previous studies point to singular deficits in the verbalization of the emotions contained in the speech of these patients, their discourse is considered vague, with few or almost no intonational emotional signals. In order to carry out this research, initially, 16 clients and visitors of the \"Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente\", one of the departament of the psychiatric hospital \"Instituto Nise da Silveira\" (SEIs) and 16 people without mental disorder who composed a control group (SCs) had their voice recorded in four stages: anamnesis interview that follows a semi-structured script; empirical report of happy and sad experiences; description of your artwork; finally, the reading of an excerpt from a children\'s story without affective connotation. Subsequently, the same procedures were applied to users of the \"CAPS II Espaço Vivo\", one of the mental health services that make up the \"Centro de Atenção Integral à Saúde (CAIS) Prof. Cantídio Moura de Campos \". The analysis of the collected data was made possible by the routine ExProsodia (FERREIRA-NETTO, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2016), an application designed to automatically examine the constituent elements of prosody. Through these procedures it was possible to identify that there were significant differences in the acoustic variables of the asymmetry and dispersion of both the Middle Tone and the fundamental frequency (F0) in the stages of spontaneous speech and narrative reading. In this last stage, we highlight the adverse behavior of the focus / emphasis kurtosis that allowed the individualization of the groups. Finally, this quantitative exploratory study corroborates the perspective of differentiating people affected by schizophrenia from subjects without previous history of psychic disorders based on the analysis of acoustic parameters of voice. In short, such notes could indicate salutary clues for the constitution of a more accurate diagnosis for schizophrenia, as well as they may be relevant properties to collaborate for the organization of individual treatment.

O objetivo deste trabalho é determinar os limiares de diferenciação tonal (LDTs) do Português Brasileiro, no que se refere à entoação. LDTs são definidos como valores a partir dos quais a percepção de uma determinada grandeza passa a ser perceptualmente relevante. Consoni (2011) determinou que tais valores seriam de +3 e -4 semitons para palavras manipuladas em uma frase. Nosso objetivo é rever tais valores para o nível frasal. Nossa hipótese é a de que a extensão temporal afeta a percepção, graças ao efeito tau (SHIGENO, 1986). Para este fim foram aplicados dois experimento com 13 pares de uma mesma oração falada por uma voz masculina não-marcada. Os pares consistiam de uma sentença neutra (com tom zero) pareada à outras doze com F0 manipulados (6 semitons ascendentes e 6 semitons descendentes, a partir do zero), mais o par zero-zero. O primeiro teste possuía apenas duas alternativas sim e nãoe foi chamado de teste 2AFC, ao passo que no segundo havia três opções: sim, não e talvez, chamado de 3MFC. Aos participantes foi requisitado que respondessem se notavam ou não qualquer diferença entre os pares apresentados. Os testes foram aplicado em 16 pessoas. O teste3 MFC teve seus resultados desconsiderados, seus dados foram utilizados como um padrão qualitativo para o teste de nossa hipótese. A seguir foi aplicada uma ANOVA entre as variáveis do teste 2AFC a fim de se determinar se havia algum efeito, obtivemos um p < 0, 001, para n = 16, Fo > Fe. Para determinar os limiares de diferenciação tonal foi aplicada uma análise de componentes principais, a qual retornou como limiares os valores de -3 e +3 semitons. / The aim of this study is to determine the differential treshold of pitch (DTPs) for Brazilian Portuguese, with regard to intonation. DTPs are defined as values ??from which the perception of a certain greatness becomes perceptually relevant. Consoni et (2011) determined that such values ??would be of +3 and -4 semitones for manipulated words in a sentence. Our goal is to review these values ??from the phrasal level. Our hypothesis is that the temporal extension affects perception, due to the effect tau (SHIGENO, 1986). For this purpose two experiments were applied using 13 pairs of the same sentence, spoken by a male voice unmarked. The pairs consisted of a neutral setence (with zero tone) paired with the others twelve sentences with manipulated F0 (6 semitones ascending semitones and 6 descendants, from zero), plus the zero-zero pair. The first test had only two alternatives yes and no and was named 2AFC test, while the second one had three options: yes, no and maybe and was named 3MFC. Participants were asked to answer whether or not noticed any difference between the presented pairs. The tests were applied to 16 people. The results from 3MFC test were disregarded, the 3MFC data were used as a qualitative standard for testing our hypothesis. Following, ANOVA was applied in the 2AFC test in order to determine whether there was any effect, we obtained a p < 0.001 to n = 16, Fo > Fe. To determine the differential treshold of pitch was applied principal component analysis, which returned as threshold values ??of -3 and +3 semitones.

In the century or so that syllogisms have received the attention of psychologists, their interpretation both as and within particular types of discourse has been largely downplayed. A significant element in the guidance of interpretation is information structure as expressed in prosody. This thesis explores the role of intonation in syllogistic discourse and its effect on reasoning. A theoretical analysis of the information structures of syllogisms is presented which produces two classes of intonation patterns, the 'contextually concordant' (CC) and the 'contextually neutral' (CN), putatively corresponding to two discourse types. These are then investigated in a series of experiments. The initial observational study aims at confirming the use and significance of CC and CN patterns in a syllogism solving task. The remaining two experiments employ a purpose-built voice synthesiser to investigate the effects of imposing CC and CN contours on premises, first in a syllogism solving task and then in a syllogism evaluation task. The results show that both CC and CN intonation patterns are indeed used by participants and bear a systematic relationship to both the number and accuracy of conclusions they draw. When used in the presentation of syllogisms, however, these patterns do not influence the production of conclusions, only the evaluation of them. It is therefore argued that the discourse types to which they relate depend upon whether the syllogism is interpreted as a proof or as a problem. Further work based on these findings could aim to probe the informational links between conclusions and premises and thereby elucidate the coherence of arguments.

This dissertation is comprised of a pair of related compositions, Sadhana (2015) for viola and electronics, and k. tracing (2015), a violin concerto, and a thesis that outlines my approach, detailing the influences and derivation of some of the parameters of these works and my compositional process. I offer a clear approach to working in relative intonation, for which I’ve also developed a small device called the “Maya proportional scale tool.” In this essay, I trace the structure and inner-movement of each work with regard to the derivation of its harmony, melody, rhythm and orchestration.The discussion of Sadhana focuses on the derivation of its harmonies and melodic lines from the influence of a string, as well as the conception of the electronics part and the role electronics play in the formation of the composition, whereas the discussion of k. tracing focuses on the coordinating of many independent instrumental parts, and the adaptation of rhythm and orchestration.