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Harmonicity as a possible indicator of segment boundaries in Czech
Heranová, Jana ; Skarnitzl, Radek (advisor) ; Volín, Jan (referee)
The aim of this diploma thesis is to examine harmonicity as an indicator of segment boundaries in Czech. ln our analysis we have focused on sequences of voiced and unvoiced segments, more precisely the combination of voiceless obstruents and vowels. First we examined the behaviour of harmonicity in the area of segment transitions. Based on the results we established a classification of harmonicity behaviours, which was further used as a basis for examining the relationship between the placement of segment boundaries and the behaviour of harmonicity. The results, Le. established time intervals, in which most boundaries were situated, imply harmonicity to be a promising indicator of segment boundaries in Czech. The further course of research, which attempts to use harmonicity for purposes of automatic segmentation, is to examine the accuracy of segmentation while using different settings for HNR estimation.
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Segmental structure of Mandarin syllable
Třísková, Hana ; Heřmanová, Zdenka (advisor) ; Volín, Jan (referee) ; Uher, David (referee)
This dissertation concerns itself with the segmental syllable of Mandarin, i.e., of standard Chinese as codified in P.R.C. and known as putonghua. While it leaves aside the aspect of tone it explores all major topics related to the phonological and phonetic description of the isolated Mandarin segmental syllable and the ways in which they are treated in broad literature, both Chinese and Western. We approach the subject from the perspective of teaching Chinese as a second language (TCSL), where mastering the syllabary (cca 400 segmental syllables, 1300 tonic syllables) represents a crucial basic step. Poor command of the pronunciation of isolated syllables will inevitably have a detrimental effect on the spoken language competence of a student. Because the pinyin romanization system (developed in P.R.C., officially approved in 1958) assumedly is the only feasible phonological system for the paedagogical purposes, the present dissertation does not aspire to establish any new phonological interpretation of the Mandarin syllable (although some attempts will be made). After making a broad comparison of existing analyses and their pros and cons, we strive to explore the solutions most convenient for the purposes of teaching pronunciation.Along with accepting pinyin as a phonological background, we advocate for a...
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Acoustic properties of monosyllabic words in semi-spontaneous dialogues and read speech
Ondrušková, Lucie ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Machač, Pavel (referee)
This thesis investigates temporal characteristics of monosyllabic words (je, se, že) in semi-spontaneous dialogues and read speech. Our material consisted of two sets of recordings from six speakers (three men and three women). The speakers read a text first, and this reading was followed by a recording of a spontaneous dialogue. We investigated differences of temporal characteristics of monosyllabic words between the two types of speech. In addition, we also examined how these characteristics are affected by different variables, which included: position in a stress group, presence of stress, presence of pause and speaker's personality. It was found that the type of speech had a significant influence on duration ratio of sounds in examined words je, že. Word se remained unaffected by the type of speech and generally appeared as a very stable element. The type of speech also influenced variability in duration - this variability proved to be higher in spontaneous speech. The type of speech did not affect average duration of words je, se, že. Position in the stress group also proved to have a significant effect on duration of words. This effect was mainly caused by words which created isolated stress groups - words in such position had longer duration than words in other positions. For words je, se...
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Phone durations in multi-syllable words with Czech analogues in Czech English
Růžek, Jan ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Skarnitzl, Radek (referee)
This diploma thesis examines the foreign accent of Czech speakers in English. We focus on the factor of phone duration, which relates to both segmental and prosodic levels of phonetic description and is one of the correlates of prosodic prominence and speech rhythm. 84 words were selected from the texts avaible in the Prague Phonetic Corpus that have analogues in the loanword lexicon of Czech. Pronunciations of these words by native speakers (professional radio reporters) were compared with productions by Czech university students. The students were recorded prior to atteding a course in English phonetics. Based on our observations of durational patterns, we infer some plausible tendencies to be expected in Czech production of English. As durational interference from Czech into English has up to this date been a relatively unresearch domain, the present study adopts a qualitative research methodology. Keywords: Duration, Foreign Accent, Czech English, Interference 6
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Utilization of general rhythm metrics for differentiation of Slovak English from Slovak and English
Kaprál, Jakub ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
The purpose of the present thesis is to analyze Slovak English from the perspective of speech rhythm in relation to its native (Slovak) and target (English) language. The first part contains theoretical background for the study of language rhythm, history of its research, and describes rhythmically relevant features of English and Slovak phonetic systems. It is concluded by summary of rhythmical differences between the two languages and hypotheses are proposed. The experimental part uses rhythm metrics for determination of phonetic properties of rhythm in Slovak English. It is based on recordings of one English and two Slovak representative radio reporters along with six recordings of Slovak students of English studies. The rhythm metrcis results for Slovak English closely approximate the results for native English but due to inconsistency of the results the question of aplicability of rhythm metrics to L1, let alone L2, remains open. Keywords: Slovak English, speech rhythm, rhythm metrics, prosody, second language acquisition
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Acoustic properties of word stress in read Czech English
Liska, Jan ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Skarnitzl, Radek (referee)
key words: Czech English, foreign accent, word stress, word accent, stressed syllable, duration, f0, acoustic cues. This study investigates the acoustic properties of word stress in Czech English. The notion of foreign accent is introduced and its drawbacks are presented. Further on the various influences on the perceived degree, or strength, of foreign accent are discussed. Faulty realization of word stress is identified as one of the factors that contribute to unintelligibility of non-native speech (Benrabah, 1997; Hahn, 2004; Cutler, 1984). In Chapter 2 we compare the results of studies that used speakers of a variety of languages and form a basic theory on the acquisition of acoustic cues to word stress. We are mostly interested in f0 and duration. This theory, based on the feature hypothesis (McAllister et al., 2002 in Lee, Guion & Harada, 2006), states that languages that have a similar stress system to that of English (Dutch, Arabic) use their native cues to signal word stress, while non-contrastive languages (Vietnamese, Czech) prefer cue/s that are phonologically active on segmental level in their native language. Speakers of Vietnamese, a tone language, were found to prefer f0 over duration (Nguyen, 2003), so for Czech, a language that uses phonological vowel duration, it is expected that...
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Phonetic features in loud reading of words and non-words, and their perceptual impact
Fischerová, Jana ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Černá, Martina (referee)
The recipient in communication is influenced by many complex phenomena through which he or she subconsciously evaluates some personality traits of the speaker. In the current study we are dealing with the question of whether phonetic features also enter into this personal evaluation and how much they can influence perception. As research material we used recordings of 20 speakers 11-15 years old, from which 80 audio items were selected. The items varied by their length (two-syllables vs. four-syllables), existence in the lexicon of the Czech language (real words vs. non-words) and also in the number of speech problems that occurred in them (reduction, assimilation, non-continuous speech etc.). These problematic moments were identified before the creation of the perceptual test and scored by the author of the study and by another student of phonetics. These score points served as the basis for an objective phonetic evaluation, which was later related to the assessment from the respondents. The perceptual test (with versions A and B) was made up of 40 items and was divided into 5 parts according to questions which were concerned with different angles such as the personality traits of diligence and acceptability. These features are part of the Five-Factor Model of Personality and can be included under...
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Sequential and Prosodic Aspects of Conversation
Havlík, Martin ; Nekvapil, Jiří (advisor) ; Volín, Jan (referee) ; Zeman, Jiří (referee)
This study deals with two phenomena which are closely related to the turn-taking mechanism in conversation. These are: overlapping talk and the use of prosody in turn-taking. Prosody is linked to the formation of the transition relevance place. I point out the aspects of conversation, including prosody, which shape the transition relevance place, and also how prosody is used in the projection of turn-yielding, or turn-holding. I devote attention to three basic aspects of prosody: pitch movement, intensity movement and articulation rate. Furthermore, I analyze how overlapping turns are produced, how they proceed and how they are resolved. The characteristics of overlapping talk are influenced by the types of conversation in which they occur: while in mundane, informal conversation they can last only briefly, usually produced as a means of mutual understanding, in political debates they are often prolonged, as they are associated with the efforts of speakers to take and hold the floor.
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Therapeutical procedures based on acoustic and communicative material
Bečvářová, Jana ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Skarnitzl, Radek (referee)
The aim of this thesis was to explain therapeutic possibilities of sound in all its connections. Sound is described in relation to several disciplines. Initially, sound is presented as an acoustic and psychoacoustic phenomenon, followed by characterization of physiology of auditory system and findings from psychology of music. The focus of the thesis is anchored in the chapter dedicated to healing and corrective effects of sound - the music therapy. After short history context is presented, the characteristics and analysis of contemporary situation are discussed. Several types of sound - noise, music and sound of speech - are studied in their positive as well as negative influence on psychic and physical health of human. Current research is represented by selection of relevant papers (n=9) which are assessed by the criterion of credibility and rigidness of methodology. This aspect is also perceived as an essential one for the future research in the area of sound effect on human psychic and physical health.
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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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