The aim of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Taiwan Mandarin bisyllabic word lists to be used for word recognition testing. Frequently used bisyllabic words were selected and digitally recorded by male and female talkers of Taiwan Mandarin. Twenty normally hearing subjects were presented each word to find the percentage of words which they could correctly recognize. Each word was measured at 10 intensity levels (-5 to 40 dB HL) in increments of 5 dB. Logistic regression was used to include 200 words with the steepest logistic regression slopes in four psychometrically equivalent word lists of 50 words each with eight half-lists of 25 words each. Digital recordings of the psychometrically equivalent bisyllabic word recognition lists are available on compact disc.

The purpose of this study was to create psychometrically equivalent word lists in the language of Cantonese for word recognition testing. Frequently used bisyllabic Cantonese words were recorded by a native female and male talker. The word lists were evaluated by administering the word recognition lists to 20 native speakers of Cantonese with normal hearing. Each list was presented at 10 different intensity levels ranging from -5 to 40 dB HL in 5 dB increments. Logistic regression was used to determine the words with the steepest logistic regression slopes. The 200 words with the steepest slopes were then formulated into four lists of 50 words and eight half-lists of 25 words. The mean psychometric slope value at the 50% location for the male talker was 7.5%/dB while the mean slope for the female talker was slightly steeper at 7.6%/dB. The word lists were digitally recorded on compact discs for worldwide use.

The speech recognition threshold (SRT) is an important measure, as it validates the pure-tone average (PTA), assists in the diagnosis and prognosis of hearing impairments, and aids in the identification of non-organic hearing impairments. Research has shown that in order for SRT testing to yield valid and reliable measures, testing needs to be performed in the patient's native language. There are currently no published materials for SRT testing in the Samoan language. As a result, audiologists are testing patients with English materials or other materials not of the patient's native language. Results produced from this manner of testing are confounded by the patient's vocabulary knowledge and may reflect a language deficit rather than a hearing loss. The present study is aimed at developing SRT materials for native speakers of Samoan to enable valid and reliable measures of SRT for the Samoan speaking population. This study selected 28 trisyllabic Samoan words that were found to be relatively homogeneous in regard to audibility and psychometric function slope. Data were gathered on 20 normal hearing native speakers of Samoan and the intensity of each selected word was adjusted to make the 50% performance threshold of each word equal to the mean PTA of the 20 research participants (5.33 dB HL). The final edited words were digitally recorded onto compact disc to allow for distribution and use for SRT testing in Samoan.

In addition to the use of pure-tones for testing hearing, speech signals are highly valuable diagnostic tools for identifying and evaluating hearing impairment. Speech audiometry involves the implementation of such signals in the measurement of hearing acuity. One aspect of speech audiometry involves assessment of the speech recognition threshold (SRT) which evaluates an individual's ability to hear and understand speech. While live speech has been used in the past to assess SRT, recorded materials are preferred and have been shown to be advantageous over live speech. High-quality digitally recorded speech audiometry materials have been available in English for some time, but assessment of individuals using speech materials from a language that they do not speak natively has been shown to be both inadequate and inaccurate. Speech audiometry materials have recently become available in many languages. Currently, however, there are no known published recordings for assessment of SRT in the Tagalog language. The goal of this study was to develop psychometrically equivalent speech audiometry materials for measuring speech recognition threshold in Tagalog. During this study Tagalog words were initially recorded by a native speaker selected for accent and vocal quality. The words were reduced down to 90 words to be evaluated in the study. Each of the 90 trisyllabic words were evaluated at 2 dB increments from -10 to 16 dB HL by 20 native Tagalog speakers, all having normal hearing. Based on the results, 34 trisyllabic Tagalog words were selected based on their familiarity to native listeners, relative homogeneity with regards to audibility and psychometric function slope. Each word was then adjusted to make the 50% performance threshold equal to the mean PTA of the 20 research participants (4.3 dB HL). The final edited words were then digitally recorded onto compact disc for distribution and for use in assessing SRT in native Tagalog speakers worldwide.

The introduction contains separate studies of the manuscripts, their orthographies, the rhymes, metre and treatment of source material. Both the orthographic studies and the rhyme—grammar reveal Athis to be a CG poem with no real evidence of Rhenish provenance. The metrical studies, dealing with vowel collision and units of one and three syllables, show how the <u>Athis</u> poet pursued various legitimate rhythmic options in his attempt to introduce variation to the tedium of regular alternation. The most positive results emerge from the comparison of <u>Athis</u> with its OF source, the <u>Roman d'Athis</u>. The dependence of the German text on the OF poem can be proved through misunderstandings of lines and part—lines of the <u>Rd'A</u> enshrined in proper names in the German text. By far the most important aspect of the German poet's adaptation is his sense of history. Ancient Rome and Athens are presented in an entirely different way in the German text. In particular, the large scale descriptions of ceremonies and major events are scenically developed under the influence of medieval historiographic ideas. Further supplementary source material is provided by a Pseudo—Ovidian treatment of <u>Pyramus and Thisbe</u> and a number of medieval military and judicial customs associated with Roman models. In general <u>Athis</u> is shown to be indebted to a medieval German self—awareness of <u>Romanitas</u>.

Orientador: Matilde Virginia Ricardi Scaramucci / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T17:45:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_Vanderleidos_M.pdf: 343677 bytes, checksum: d406b17a6352a2350cf5929ba2ee4280 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Listas de palavras baseadas em corpora têm sido importantes no ensino e aprendizagem de vocabulário em língua estrangeira. Este trabalho visa compilar uma lista de palavras do português do Brasil, freqüentes e de grande alcance no contexto acadêmico brasileiro, e discutir sua utilidade no ensino de vocabulário, na preparação de textos modificados e de testes de vocabulário para aprendizes de Português como língua estrangeira. Discutimos também a questão do ensino direto e indireto de vocabulário. Para a compilação da lista, foi criado um corpus composto de teses e dissertações de 3 universidades públicas brasileiras, perfazendo um total de pouco mais de 7 milhões de palavras (aproximadamente 15 mil páginas de texto). Foram usados os critérios de freqüência e alcance para a seleção das palavras a serem incluídas na lista. As palavras são apresentadas com a freqüência e, nos casos de polissemia, com os diferentes significados com que ocorrem no corpus / Abstract: Corpora based word lists have been important for the teaching of vocabulary in foreign language. This paper aims to put together a list of high frequency and range Brazilian Portuguese academic words, and discuss direct and indirect vocabulary acquisition, the usefulness of modified texts for language learners and the use of word lists for the elaboration of vocabulary tests. A corpus was assembled from thesis and dissertations from 3 Brazilian public universities, totaling a little over 7 million words (approximately 15.000 pages of text). Frequency and range were the criteria used to select the words to be included in the list. Information about the number of times the words occur in the corpus and the different meanings they have, in the case of polysemy, is provided. / Mestrado / Lingua Estrangeira / Mestre em Linguística Aplicada