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Differences in the basic pitch relevant to the perceptual distinction of melodemes in English
Veroňková, Jitka ; Palková, Zdenka (advisor) ; Krčmová, Marie (referee) ; Janota, Přemysl (referee)
As in the case of many other languages, the intonation fulfils certain linguistic functions in Czech. It distinguishes conclusive vs. non-conclusive clauses, declarative vs. interrogative clauses and neutral vs. marked usage clauses. In the case of declarative and interrogative clauses, the intonation is the single distinguishing feature. Structures of the basic patterns to express these linguistic functions were standardized and in general accepted, but not enough is known about their particular realizations. In general, these structure types are realized in the final stress unit of the utterance. It has been confirmed that the intonation courses of some functionally diverse contours are similar and there exist overlaps among them. The perceptual differences between contours can be caused only by the size of F0 excursions. Our research focuses on finding minimal distinctions in F0 excursions which are sufficient to distinguish phonologically different types of sentences. Some structure types can be fully realized on the at least three-syllable stress units, that is why these were chosen to be analysed. The research is based both on synthetic speech and natural one. Two sets of synthetic contours, first containg three-syllable stress units and the second the four-syllable ones, that cover the structure...
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Differentiation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae colonies
Čáp, Michal ; Palková, Zdena (advisor) ; Pichová, Iva (referee) ; Demnerová, Kateřina (referee)
Yeast colonies are, alongside to bacterial biofilms, multicellular communities formed by unicellular microorganisms. These specific communities differ in many ways from populations cultivated in planktonic cultivations. Gradients of nutrients, metabolic by- products and other factors are formed and preserved within these structures, which provides a basis for cellular differentiation. Current literature concerning these issues with emphasis on yeast colonies and biofilms is summarised in the Introduction of this work. Section Results then describes my contribution to the knowledge on the differentiation of the colonies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system for studying microbial multicellular structures. Previously described horizontal differentiation, i.e. differentiation between colony centre and margin, is further characterised with respect to ammonia signalling and stress resistance. The importance of genes conferring the cell`s oxidative stress resistance in colony differentiation was studied and it was concluded that not stress resistance but rather metabolic and other changes promoted by ammonia signal are important for colony differentiation and survival. A new type of colony differentiation - the horizontal, i.e. differentiation between upper and lower part of the colony, is...
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The tempo of speech in theatrical Czech during two periods separated by several decades
Bartošová, Petra ; Palková, Zdenka (advisor) ; Skarnitzl, Radek (referee)
The diploma thesis deals with the issue of speech rate. The theoretical part briefly describes the investigation of speech tempo. It defines the types of tempo examined in this study (articulation rate and modified speaking rate) and factors that influence the tempo of speech. The practical part of the thesis aims to ascertain whether speech rate on the stage has increased and whether it is influenced by the type of text (monologue, dialogue, monological dialogue). The material consists of four theatre productions (Lakomec from 1972 and 2004 and Naši furianti from 1979 and 2006). Therefore we do not investigate gradual changes within the given periods, but instead compare two pairs of productions of the same dramatic text, realized with a time interval of approximately 30 years. A linear mixed-effects model was used as the main method for statistical evaluation of results gathered by measuring the speech rate. The results show that neither articulation rate nor modified speaking rate changed significantly in the observed productions. Differences with some statistical significance were obtained for comparison of tempo in texts of differing type, specifically in texts of different line lengths. The results relate especially to articulation rate, lesser to modified speaking rate.
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Inducible promoters and their use in yeast cell manipulation
Přibáňová, Gabriela ; Palková, Zdena (advisor) ; Vopálenský, Václav (referee)
Promoters which can be regulated by different chemical or physical factors are often used in cell manipulations. This thesis focuses predominantly on promoter systems which use light as an inductor. There are two main approaches to controlling a promoter by light. The first one uses so-called "caged molecules", chemical inducers whose inducing activity is "masked" by a photolabile protecting group. The second approach includes optogenetic systems, which can regulate transcription in cells. These systems are encoded in the DNA of the organism, and light is the only external regulatory stimulus. Photoreceptors that need a specific cofactor (chromophore) are the main components of optogenetic systems. There are several groups of photoreceptors classified by the type of chromophore and photoactivation mechanism. This thesis gives an overview of optogenetic systems used for transcription regulation and focuses on different photoreceptors and induction mechanism used. The systems using photocaged molecules are described as well. Furthermore, the thesis deals with light- systems in yeast as a model organism as well as organism used for biotechnological purposes. Finally, some limitations of light inducible promoters are discussed, including the chromophore type, the wavelength of the light, and the...
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Sound variability of Czech interrogative sentences in spontaneous speech
Hýblová, Lucie ; Palková, Zdena (advisor) ; Volín, Jan (referee)
This work undertakes the problems of intonation in Czech. The aim of this research is to analyse and describe phonetic variability of Czech interrogative sentences, particularly in spontaneous speech. The intonation fulfils certain linguistic functions in Czech. Structures of the basic patterns of intonation (melodeme) are described and standardized, but aspects of spontaneous and dialogic utterances have not been described sufficiently yet. Our research deal with variability, occurrence and behaviour of basic types of questions (yes-no and wh-questions) and their modifications in spontaneous speech, which are given by context and situation or given by the difference between semantic and formal aspects. It was found yes-no questions (with all their modifications) to be the most frequented questions in spontaneous dialogues of our type. We also found semantic modifications to have the same distribution as the standard ones whereas formal congruent types behave unlikely. The research is based on spontaneous task-oriented dialogues and read text of dialogical character. We focuse on detail description of concrete tonal progression of melodic contour, we also take into account broader melodic context in the case of basic types of questions. We analyse both types oftext in the same manner, then the comparison is...
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Intonation characteristics of longer utterances in Czech
Čepelák, Ondřej ; Palková, Zdena (advisor) ; Volín, Jan (referee)
Výzkum intonace se těší velkému zájmu již od druhé poloviny 20. století. Jednou příčinou je intenzivní rozvoj počítačové techniky a softwaru, který poskytuje stále přesnější metody měření a umožňuje použití stále větších množství dat. Díky tomu se lze věnovat jak zpřesňování dřívějších výsledků nebo jejich konfrontaci se současným stavem (např. Jašová 2001; Hedbávná 2002), tak výzkumu voblastech, kde dřívější metody selhávaly, kde měření bylo příliš pracné nebo kde nebylo možné provést měření na systematicky uspořádaném a dostatečně velkém materiálu. K posledně jmenované problematice chce přispět tato práce. Druhou příčinou zvýšeného zájmu o výzkum intonace je rozmach komunikačních technologií a široká oblast jejich využití (např. automatická hlášení v telekomunikacích, hlasové ovládání některých funkcí vautomobilech a mluvící navigační systémy, v neposlední řadě pak software pro zrakově postižené). Současná situace tedy zdánlivě poskytuje vhodné nástroje i motivaci právě k zjišťování nových informací (nejen) o suprasegmentální stránce jazyka. Jak uvádí Volín (2004, 5), "málokdo věří v možnost vyvíjet dokonalejší syntetizéry nebo rozpoznávače řeči bez výzkumu intonace." Na druhé straně však stojí omezené možnosti výsledky interpretovat či zobecňovat a úspěšně je implementovat, přestože byly získány...
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Phonotactic framework of the Czech word and stress-group
Churaňová, Eliška ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Palková, Zdena (referee)
This master thesis provides a relatively detailed description of the consonant-vowel structure of standard spoken Czech. The first part covers approaches to and findings on the combinatorial system and distribution of sound units in speech; aspects of continuous speech segmentation into intonation phrases and stress groups, phonotactics of languages in general and Czech in particular, and speech rhythm are also addressed. Recordings of 12 professional speakers of Czech - comprising 6639 words and 5368 stress groups in total - have been used to create data sets that have enabled the author to describe CVCV structures of Czech words and stress groups. The results of this research present frequencies of words and stress groups and their relations to word-class dimension, frequencies of phones in words and stress groups; in this respect, both syllabic liquids and glottal stops have been taken into account. Further, the thesis includes an overview of the most frequent CVCV patterns in words and stress groups and their variability with regard to word classes. The final part focuses on how frequently consonants, vowels and their pairs and trios occur at different places within a unit. The results are continuously compared both between themselves and with the research that used the larger SYN2005 written...
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