Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most widespread, neurodegenerative diseases in the world. It affects millions of people; and although it is widely researched, an efficient cure has not been discovered yet. Identification of the disease is often costly and time consuming. Additionally, the used tests only allow us to detect AD once it is in progress. Some longitudinal studies have suggested that there is a possibility that changes in certain linguistic features could help us identify future AD patients from their written language production before other changes can be detected. Other studies have identified linguistic differences between people diagnosed with AD and AD-free controls. This paper aimed to find out whether a longitudinal study on oral language production will follow the same patterns as suggested by previous studies that longitudinally examined written production; and studies that cross-sectionally examined oral production. Changes in several linguistic features – number of unique types, frequency of verbs, frequency of adverbs, frequency of coordinate conjunctions, pronoun/noun ratio, number of filled pauses, and number of cohesivity interruptions – were observed in data collected from interviews of several famous people that were later in life diagnosed with AD. The collected data was analysed with simple linear regression. Number of unique types and number of cohesivity interruptions were recognised as the features with the best potential for future studies and their possible use was described.

Memory deficits in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can be reflected in language-based tests, especially spontaneous speech tasks. Three spontaneous speech tests were developed in this study, including Thai Picture description (TPD), Thai Story Recall (TSR), and Semi-structured Interview for Thai (SIT) Ninety-eight Thai older adults underwent screening tests and three spontaneous speech tests. Then they were classified into three groups, including healthy control (HC), MCI, and AD. Their verbal responses were extracted into the content variables and acoustic features. Then the discriminant ability and accuracy in differentiating HC, MCI, and AD were examined with by Multivariate Discriminant Analysis (MDA) and analysis of the ROC curve and AUC. Two content variables showed significant differences among three groups of participants, i.e., correct information unit (CIU) of the TPD and delayed recall scores of the TSR. For acoustic features, ANOVAs revealed that three variables were significantly different among the three experimental groups, i.e., total utterance time in delayed recall, number of voice breaks in the TPD, and the SIT. The result of a stepwise estimation in MDA presented that the best combination of predictive model was CIU and backward digit span (BDS), in which provides 61.1% of correct classification. This discriminant function showed AUC of .81 in differentiating HC and MCI, AUC of .91 in distinguishing HC and AD, and AUC of .86 in detecting persons with cognitive impairments (MCI and AD) from HC. In conclusion, the combination of CIU of TPD and BDS is suitable for differentiating AD and persons with cognitive impairments from HC. However, there is no appropriate predictor in distinguishing MCI and AD.

No description available.

Do external factors, such as war, affect rhetoric used by presidents during speeches, and do they affect what journalists write about said speeches? These are questions raised and answered in this paper. The research material consists of three speeches by Vladimir Putin, three speeches by Volodymyr Zelenskyj, and seven articles discussing these speeches during Russia's invasion of Ukraine 2022. We also analyze factors within Social identity theory (Dashtipour, 2012), such as how the creation of an identity is portrayed in both speeches and articles. Summatively, we found that both analyses deemed different external factors to be influencing, and both results confirmed that external factors contribute to change.

A procedure is presented that is capable of extracting various speaker features, and is of particular value for analyzing records containing single words and shorter segments of speech. By taking advantage of the fast convergence properties of adaptive filtering, the approach is capable of modeling the nonstationarities due to both the vocal tract and vocal cord dynamics. Specifically, the procedure extracts the vocal tract estimate from within the closed glottis interval and uses it to obtain a time-domain glottal signal. This procedure is quite simple, requires minimal manual intervention (in cases of inadequate pitch detection), and is particularly unique because it derives both the vocal tract and glottal signal estimates directly from the time-varying filter coefficients rather than from the prediction error signal. Using this procedure, several glottal signals are derived from human and synthesized speech and are analyzed to demonstrate the glottal waveform modeling performance and kind of glottal characteristics obtained therewith. Finally, the procedure is evaluated using automatic speaker identity verification. / Ph. D.

Consultórios Gramaticais são textos metalingüísticos formados por perguntas e respostas sobre as regras prescritas pela gramática tradicional. Esse gênero discursivo, veiculado no início do século XX na mídia impressa, atualmente, é propagado também na internet, todavia, os consultórios gramaticais da internet, ao mudarem de suporte, não se modificaram suficientemente para serem considerados um novo gênero. Assim, podem ser classificados como um gênero tradicional com suporte digital. Esta dissertação tem como principal objetivo caracterizar os consultórios gramaticais como gênero discursivo, observar o discurso metalingüístico presente nos enunciados desse gênero e levantar as marcas de intolerância e preconceito lingüísticos nos enunciados dos consultórios gramaticais. Utilizamos como método de pesquisa a Análise do Discurso e como base teórica a Teoria da Enunciação e a Teoria dos Gêneros Textuais. Os principais autores referidos neste trabalho são: Maingueneau (2004); Authier-Revuz (1990) e Bakhtin (1992). O corpus para a pesquisa é composto por consultórios gramaticais impressos no início do século XX e por consultórios digitais, veiculados atualmente na internet. Os consultórios do início do século XX que foram analisados neste trabalho são de autoria de Candido de Figueiredo, Napoleão Mendes de Almeida e Mário Barreto. Já os sites com seções de consultas gramaticais que foram utilizados para a pesquisa são Sua Língua de Cláudio Moreno, Por Trás das Letras, de Hélio Consolaro e Gramática On Line de Dílson Catarino. Com a pesquisa, confirmou-se a hipótese de que as marcas de preconceito e intolerância lingüísticos é uma característica do gênero consultório gramatical. / Consultórios Gramaticais are metalinguistics texts constituted by questions and answers about rules dictated by the traditional grammar. This gender of discourse, popular in the early 20th century among readers of printed media, today, is propagated also in the internet, however, the \'consultórios gramaticais\' in the internet, when changed their media support, don\' t changed themselves sufficiently to be considered another gender. Therefore, they may be classified how a traditional gender with digital media support. The main aim of this dissertation is to charaterize the \'consultórios gramaticais\' how a gender of discourse, to observe the metalinguistic discourse in the enunciations of this gender and to make evident the linguistic intolerance and preconception marks in the enunciations of the \'consultórios gramaticais\'. The research method we used was the Discourse Analysis; the theoretical basements were the Enunciation theory and the Theory of the textual genders. Mainguenau (2004); Authier-Revuz (1990) and Bakthin (1992) are among the main works studied here. The corpus for the resarch is compound by printed \'consultórios gramaticais\' in the early 20th century and by digital \'consultórios gramaticais\' found recently on internet. The \'consultórios gramaticais\' of the early 20th century that were analysed in this work were compound by Cândido de Figueiredo, Napoleão Mendes de Almeida and Mario Barreto.The sites with sections of grammatical questions that were used in this resarch were \'Sua língua\', found by Cláudio Moreno, \'Por trás das letras\", by Hélio Consolaro and \'Gramática on line\' by Dilson Catarino. This research has confirmed the hypothesis that the linguistic preconceptions and intolerance marks are a characteristic of the \'consultórios gramaticais\' gender.

Nesta tese, discutem-se, dentre outros, os conceitos de \"auditório universal\", de Perelman (2000); o de \"contrato de comunicação\", de Charaudeau (1992); os conceitos de duplo vínculo e enquadres, propostos por Bateson (1972), e abre-se também espaço para os principais tipos de paradoxos. Nela apresentase ainda a teoria dos semas e de sua combinatória, segundo Langendoen (1971), e, finalmente, analisa-se o sermão pelo Bom sucesso das armas de Portugal contra as de Holanda. O trabalho tem por objetivo evidenciar que o discurso religioso do Padre Antônio Vieira, no Sermão Pelo bom sucesso das armas de Portugal contra as de Holanda, é um discurso paradoxal porque desconstrói a si próprio. Para atingir tal propósito, confrontam-se os argumentos de que Vieira faz uso para dirigir-se a Deus, no referido sermão, com os textos das Sagradas Escrituras; analisa-se a argumentatividade das formas nominais do verbo, com ênfase particular na estrutura do gerúndio, enquanto ato ilocucional, a partir do Sermão da Sexagésima, e descreve-se um tipo de paradoxo pragmático: a roda argumentativa. / In this thesis, among others, the concepts of \"universal auditorium\", from Perelman (2000); \"communication contract\", from Charaudeau (1992); the concepts of double bind and frames, proposed by Bateson (1972) are discussed, and room is opened for the main types of paradox. In this one, the theory of semantic traits and its combinatory, according to Langedoen (1971) is also presented and, finally, the sermon For the good success of Portugal\'s weapons against Holland\'s is analyzed. The work has as a scope to evidence that the religious speech from Father Antônio Vieira, at the sermon For the good success of Portugal\'s weapons against Holland\'s, is a paradoxal speech for it unbuilds itself. To reach such purpose, the arguments Vieira uses to address God are confronted, at the referred sermon, with the Holy Scriptures\' texts; the argumentativity of the nominal forms of the verbs is analyzed, with particular emphasis on the structure of the gerund, as an illocutionary act, starting from Sermon of the Sixtieth, and a kind of pragmatic paradox is created: the argumentative round.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RAQUEL MENEZES VAZ.pdf: 1653014 bytes, checksum: b5286d7fa144da79b7ab9c4fea2339e0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis aimed at investigating the existence of the voicing covert contrast in the Brazilian Portuguese voiceless stops [p], [t], [k], and their voiced counterparts [b], [d], [g], in the productions of an informant with phonological deviation. After the oral analysis of recordings of spontaneous speech, stops were defined as the target segments for analysis. Auditory analysis allowed the identification of changes and omissions in these segments as regards sonority. Previously, the informant had participated in recording sessions which adopted the instrument proposed by Yavas, Matzenauer-Hernandorena and Lamprecht (2001), which elicits the production of the target segments by means of spontaneous object naming. In order to auditorily understand the sonority behavior of the stops, the principles of the Autosegmental Theory were used. This theory formalizes the segment structures through features geometry. The model proposed by Clements and Hume (1995) presents an arboreal diagram in which the [±voz] feature, the target of the present research, has a binary value, that is, the disconnection of the [+voice] feature implies the connection to the [-voice] feature, which might explain the auditorily perceived phenomenon in the informant s productions. After this stage, the spectral features of the stops produced by the informant in spontaneous speech were acoustically analyzed in the software Praat (BOERSMA; WEENINK, 2010). Some phonetic cues were investigated: VOT voice onset time, the duration of stop closure, and fundamental frequency. These cues might be the ones used by the informant to acquire the phonological contrast of sonority. Duration values in milliseconds were obtained by means of automatic measurements, and variables such as syllable stress where the plosives occurred and the position of this syllable in the word were controlled. The results were statistically analyzed in the software SPSS, version 17, and reveal a percentage of voicing of only 3,9% in the production of the voiced plosives [b], [d], and [g], the equivalent of the production of three voiced stops in a total of 76 instances when the voiced plosives were not produced as expected. It was concluded that the informant does not have the voicing contrast because the cases where there was voicing were rare. Among the three voiced productions, which occurred in intervocalic context and in simple onsets, the presence of the voicing covert contrast was found, since the duration values of the voiced segments produced by the informant were smaller than the standard values produced by adult speakers, according to what findings investigating the production of Brazilian Portuguese stops indicate. Thus, it is possible to consider the existence of the covert contrast only in the three productions, while in the total productions of the voiced stops, which were devoiced, not even the covert contrast is present in the informant s speech / Neste trabalho, investiga-se a existência do contraste encoberto de vozeamento nas plosivas não-vozeadas [p], [t], [k], e vozeadas [b], [d], [g] do Português brasileiro, na fala de um sujeito com desvio fonológico. As plosivas foram os segmentos selecionados como alvo desta investigação após análise de oitiva das produções de fala espontânea da informante, a qual apresentou trocas e omissões percebidas auditivamente nestes segmentos no que diz respeito à sonoridade. Previamente, a informante passou por sessões de gravação de fala a partir do instrumento de Yavas, Matzenauer-Hernandorena e Lamprecht (2001), em que o falante elicita a mostra dos segmentos através da nomeação espontânea. Para compreender o comportamento da sonoridade das plosivas percebido auditivamente, utilizou-se dos princípios da Teoria Autossegmental, a qual formaliza a estrutura dos segmentos através da geometria de traços. Utilizou-se o modelo de Clements e Hume (1995), o qual apresenta um diagrama arbóreo em que o traço [voz], alvo de estudo desta pesquisa, possui valor binário, ou seja, o desligamento do traço [+voz] implica a ligação com o traço [-voz], o que pode explicar o fenômeno percebido auditivamente nas produções da informante. Após essa etapa, analisou-se acusticamente as características espectrais das plosivas na fala espontânea da informante através do software Praat (BOERSMA; WEENINK, 2010). Foram investigadas pistas fonéticas (VOT tempo de início do vozeamento, o tempo de closura das plosivas e a frequência fundamental) que o falante pode seguir para a aquisição do contraste fonológico de sonoridade. Através das medições, obteve-se os valores em ms para cada segmento, considerando-se como variáveis a tonicidade da sílaba em que ocorreram as produções analisadas e a posição desta sílaba na palavra. Os resultados foram analisados estatisticamente pelo programa SPSS, versão 17. Os resultados apontaram um percentual de vozeamento de apenas 3,9% na produção das plosivas [b], [d] e [g], o equivalente a 3 produções vozeadas em 76 em que o vozeamento não foi produzido como esperado. Concluiu-se que a informante não possui o contraste de vozeamento, pois foram raros os casos nos quais se confirmou a produção de vozeamento. Dentre as três produções vozeadas, as quais ocorreram em contexto intervocálico e em onset simples, constatou-se a presença do contraste encoberto de vozeamento, pois os valores de duração dos segmentos vozeados da informante são menores que aqueles padrão para o falante adulto, conforme indicado pelas pesquisas sobre o português brasileiro. Com o tempo de vozeamento menor que o padrão, nas três produções vozeadas encontrou-se a presença de contraste encoberto, enquanto nas produções totais de plosivas sonoras que foram desvozeadas nem mesmo o contraste encoberto se faz presente na fala da informante

Atualmente desenvolvem-se técnicas para a análise, identificação e o reconhecimento da fala. As mais eficientes mostram-se matematicamente complicadas, baseadas em análise estatísticas de dados, o que torna o sistema moroso, necessitando uma grande quantidade de dados para amostras. Este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar a possibilidade do uso de Estruturas Neurais Artificiais Paraconsistentes no aprendizado e reconhecimento de sinais de fala, independentemente de análise estatística, ou número de amostras. A partir de um estudo piloto, identificou-se a necessidade de um aprofundamento no estudo dos Traços Formantes dos Fones. Com os Formantes dos Fones pode-se criar um sistema capaz de reconhecer sons produzidos em qualquer língua, pelas combinações da produção de sons através da emissão simultânea de um conjunto de Formantes. Como possível solução para a identificação dos Formantes dos Fones propõe-se neste trabalho a criação do conceito de Constelação Fônica, que consiste no reconhecimento de combinações de características matemáticas identificadas nos sinais sonoros de fala. Como uma forma de reconhecer estas Constelações, apresentam-se as Redes Neurais Artificiais Paraconsistentes, eficientes no reconhecimento de padrões por proximidade e com capacidade para tratamento de sinais contraditórios e paracompletos. Para a viabilização desta solução, criou-se um Programa de Computador (Sistema de Análise da Produção da Fala - SIAPF) capaz de promover os tratamentos necessários em um sinal falado, gerando assim a sua Constelação Fônica e sua respectiva Rede Neural Artificial Paraconsistente. A partir da Rede Neural Artificial Paraconsistente correspondente ao sinal em questão, pode-se estudá-lo de uma forma interpretativa, com menor acumulo de dados e tratamentos estatísticos do que com as ferramentas tradicionais. O SIAPF passa a ser mais uma ferramenta para análise de produção de fala, viabilizando a criação de novas formas de medidas quantitativas e normatizadas para os Formantes da Fala. / Currently, many diferent techniques are developing for the analysis identification and recognition of speech. The most efficient are shown mathematically complicated, based on analysis statistical of data, that actually makes systems very slow, creating the nessecity for a great amount of data for samples. The aim of this work is to present the possibility of the use of Paraconsistent Artificial Neural Network Structures, in the learnig and recognition of speech signals, independent of statistical analysis, or the number of samples. Starting from a pilot study, the need of a deep study of the Formants of Phones was identified. With the Formants of Phones, a system capable to recognize sounds produced in any language, through conbinations of the production of sounds and simultaneous emission of a group of Formants was created. A possible solution for the identification of Formants of Phones proposed in this work is the creation of Phonic Constellation concept, witch uses the recognition of combinations of identified mathematical characteristcs in the resoant signal of speech. As a form of recognizing these Constellation, this work present the Paraconsistent Artificial Neural Network, efficient in the recognition of patterns for proximity and with capacity to process contractory and paracomplet signals. To develop this solution a Computer Program (System of Analysis of the Production of Speech - SIAPF) capable to process the necessary calculations of a speech signal, generating its Phonic Constelattion and its respective Paraconsistent Artificial Neural Network was created. The subject signal can be studied in an interpretative way using the Paraconsistent Artificial Neural Network with a minimal accumulation of data and statistical calculations compared to traditional tools. The SIAPF is another new tool for analysis of speech production, creating new ways for quantitative and standard measures of Formants of Speech.

Submitted by Marlene Aparecida de Souza Cardozo (mcardozo@pucsp.br) on 2016-12-21T13:21:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Nilthon Fernandes de Oliveira Junior.pdf: 149856312 bytes, checksum: a1473b3a20bd94802734ffa2fe8bdb37 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-21T13:21:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nilthon Fernandes de Oliveira Junior.pdf: 149856312 bytes, checksum: a1473b3a20bd94802734ffa2fe8bdb37 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-01 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The mainly purpose of this research is to investigate how the production of prevention and disaster risk communication booklets, made by the civil defense of São Paulo and Santa Catarina and according to their risk and disaster reduction programs, helps the representation of the relation between the community and its risk environment;; and how the inunciator intents to cons-­ truct and awake the resilience culture in the enunciatee. There by, inhibiting behaviors, that can increase the community vulnerability from methodological, hydrological and geological disasters. In this context, the information and edu-­ cational materials, when they represent consistent behaviors with the resilien-­ ce culture, from the figuration process and theming of the actions and attitudes of the communities, they also become able to contribute in the vulnerability reduction of these groups and, with that, minimize the disaster impacts. Howe-­ ver, oftentimes, the materials are produced and spread without the concern of make them effectives as communication contracts. Therefore, this research begins with the hypothesis that the disaster risk com-­ munication, especially by São Paulo and Santa Catarina, only accomplishes national and International protocols. To achieve the objects of this research, it was adopted, as part of the central methodological procedure;; the discourse analysis with the discursive semio-­ tics of the communication pieces, added to the survey and the critical analysis of the risk and disasters communication field bibliography and its interface with the disaster risk reduction / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo principal investigar como a produção das cartilhas de prevenção e comunicação de riscos de desastres pelas defesas civis de São Paulo e de Santa Catarina, no escopo de seus programas de re-­ dução de riscos de desastres, auxilia na representação da relação da comuni-­ dade com o ambiente de risco e como o enunciador visa construir e despertar no enunciatário a cultura de resiliência, inibindo com isso comportamentos que aumentem a vulnerabilidade das comunidades frente aos desastres meteoro-­ lógicos, hidrológicos e geológicos. Neste contexto, os materiais informativos e educativos, ao representar comportamentos condizentes com a cultura da resiliência, a partir da figurativização e tematização das ações e atitudes das comunidades, podem contribuir na redução da vulnerabilidade dessas popula-­ ções e, com isso, minimizar os impactos dos desastres. Muitas vezes, no en-­ tanto, esses materiais são produzidos e disseminados sem a preocupação de tornar efetivos esses contratos de comunicação. Assim, esta pesquisa parte da hipótese de que a comunicação de riscos de desastres, especificamente nos estados de São Paulo e de Santa Catarina, apenas cumpre protocolos estabelecidos nacional e internacionalmente. Para alcançar os objetivos da pesquisa, foi adotada como parte central do procedimento metodológico a análise do discurso sob a semiótica discursiva das peças de comunicação, somada ao levantamento e à análise crítica da bibliografia no campo da comu-­ nicação de riscos e sua interface com a redução de riscos de desastres