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Acoustic properties of Czech diphthongs
Studenovský, David ; Palková, Zdenka (advisor) ; Zimmermann, Július (referee) ; Hes Svobodová, Marie (referee)
This thesis aims to contribute to the basic acoustic description of Czech diphthongs [ou, au, eu]. The diphthong is a unit characterized by the change of quality within its duration, thus dividing it into two parts. The analysis of this change and the phonologic interpretation of these two-part segments in the system of a given language is however difficult. This is why the description of diphthongs was frequently neglected. At the present time, the need for investigating such units is increasing - neurophonetic and psychological research on the one hand and speech technology on the other are more and more interested in examining speech segments with short temporal changes. To obtain a detailed acoustic description of diphthongs is a topical problem of current language description. In this thesis we studied the aspects of duration, spectrum and intensity changes at the local level and compared them with results acquired for simple vowels. In the temporal domain we observed the duration values divided by the initial, transient and final part of the diphthongs on the basis of auditory perception and also their total duration. The material used was partly taken from the database of the Institute of Phonetics, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, partly from specifically created texts. The...
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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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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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Differences in the basic pitch relevant to the perceptual distinction of melodemes in English
Veroňková, Jitka ; Palková, Zdenka (advisor) ; Krčmová, Marie (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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Temporal configurations of Czech stress-group in connection with its phonotactic structure
Churaňová, Eliška ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Palková, Zdenka (referee) ; Hes Svobodová, Marie (referee)
The main objective of this thesis is to explore the relationships between the phonotactic structure of the Czech stress-group and the rhythm of speech. Three most frequent consonantal-vocalic structures of Czech two-syllable stress-groups were selected for the purposes of this thesis: CVCV, CVCCV and CVCCV. In an auditory experiment, which contained the comparison of two stress-groups or the comparison of a stress-group and a low-frequency shadow of a stress-group, the respondents established how similar the rhythm of each couple of stress-groups sounded. The results indicate that the position of a consonantal cluster within the stress-group is the strongest phonotactic factor in perception of the rhythmic similarity. The number of consonants within a consonantal cluster and the presence of a long vowel in both stress- groups were considered weaker factors for perceiving the rhythmic similarity by the respondents. Possibilities for a follow-up research were proposed for the factors that did not reach statistical significance, i.e., the difference in sonority or voicing of consonants. Keywords: speech rhythm, stress-group, phonotactics, consonantal-vocalic structure, Czech
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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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Acoustic properties of Czech diphthongs
Studenovský, David ; Palková, Zdenka (advisor) ; Zimmermann, Július (referee) ; Hes Svobodová, Marie (referee)
This thesis aims to contribute to the basic acoustic description of Czech diphthongs [ou, au, eu]. The diphthong is a unit characterized by the change of quality within its duration, thus dividing it into two parts. The analysis of this change and the phonologic interpretation of these two-part segments in the system of a given language is however difficult. This is why the description of diphthongs was frequently neglected. At the present time, the need for investigating such units is increasing - neurophonetic and psychological research on the one hand and speech technology on the other are more and more interested in examining speech segments with short temporal changes. To obtain a detailed acoustic description of diphthongs is a topical problem of current language description. In this thesis we studied the aspects of duration, spectrum and intensity changes at the local level and compared them with results acquired for simple vowels. In the temporal domain we observed the duration values divided by the initial, transient and final part of the diphthongs on the basis of auditory perception and also their total duration. The material used was partly taken from the database of the Institute of Phonetics, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, partly from specifically created texts. The...
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The problem of phonology of Hittite stops in terms of modern linguistics
Rychtařík, Marek ; Vavroušek, Petr (advisor) ; Palková, Zdenka (referee) ; Krčmová, Marie (referee)
The thesis deals with laryngeal phonology, especially laryngeal realism, an new approach to feature representation which distinguishes structurally tho-way contrasts of "voice" languages (Czech, Spenish) from those of "aspiration" languages (German). Laryngeal realism is the better 4 way of accounting for the laryngeal contrasts in languages with two series of obstruents than traditional approach. The next part of dissertation deals with the the terms fortis and lenis. These terms are controversial, as linguists disagree about their definition and their validity. It is argued that it is a phonetic phenomenon which could emerges when the primary correlates of speech sounds are suppressed and the second correlates are enhanced. The last part of this work is an attempt to contribute to the explanation of the longstanding issue of the Hittite phonology a phonemic opposition between two series of stops.
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