scholarly journals Word segmentation in Persian continuous speech using F0 contour

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-150
Author(s):  
Vahid sadeghi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
F0 Contour

scholarly journals Infants Segment Words from Songs—An EEG Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tineke M. Snijders ◽  
Titia Benders ◽  
Paula Fikkert
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Familiarity Effect ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Phonetic Information ◽  
Children's Songs ◽  
Target Words

Children’s songs are omnipresent and highly attractive stimuli in infants’ input. Previous work suggests that infants process linguistic–phonetic information from simplified sung melodies. The present study investigated whether infants learn words from ecologically valid children’s songs. Testing 40 Dutch-learning 10-month-olds in a familiarization-then-test electroencephalography (EEG) paradigm, this study asked whether infants can segment repeated target words embedded in songs during familiarization and subsequently recognize those words in continuous speech in the test phase. To replicate previous speech work and compare segmentation across modalities, infants participated in both song and speech sessions. Results showed a positive event-related potential (ERP) familiarity effect to the final compared to the first target occurrences during both song and speech familiarization. No evidence was found for word recognition in the test phase following either song or speech. Comparisons across the stimuli of the present and a comparable previous study suggested that acoustic prominence and speech rate may have contributed to the polarity of the ERP familiarity effect and its absence in the test phase. Overall, the present study provides evidence that 10-month-old infants can segment words embedded in songs, and it raises questions about the acoustic and other factors that enable or hinder infant word segmentation from songs and speech.

scholarly journals Natural Infant-Directed Speech Facilitates Neural Tracking of Prosody

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Menn ◽  
Christine Michel ◽  
Lars Meyer ◽  
Stefanie Hoehl ◽  
Claudia Männel
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Frequency Band ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Stress Rate ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Novel Objects ◽  
Speech Envelope ◽  
Natural Interactions ◽  
As If

Infants prefer to be addressed with infant-directed speech (IDS). IDS benefits language acquisition through amplified low-frequency amplitude modulations. It has been reported that this amplification increases electrophysiological tracking of IDS compared to adult-directed speech (ADS). It is still unknown which particular frequency band triggers this effect. Here, we compare tracking at the rates of syllables and prosodic stress, which are both critical to word segmentation and recognition. In mother-infant dyads (n=30), mothers described novel objects to their 9-month-olds while infants' EEG was recorded. For IDS, mothers were instructed to speak to their children as they typically do, while for ADS, mothers described the objects as if speaking with an adult. Phonetic analyses confirmed that pitch features were more prototypically infant-directed in the IDS-condition compared to the ADS-condition. Neural tracking of speech was assessed by speech-brain coherence, which measures the synchronization between speech envelope and EEG. Results revealed significant speech-brain coherence at both syllabic and prosodic stress rates, indicating that infants track speech in IDS and ADS at both rates. We found significantly higher speech-brain coherence for IDS compared to ADS in the prosodic stress rate but not the syllabic rate. This indicates that the IDS benefit arises primarily from enhanced prosodic stress. Thus, neural tracking is sensitive to parents’ speech adaptations during natural interactions, possibly facilitating higher-level inferential processes such as word segmentation from continuous speech.

scholarly journals Newborns are sensitive to multiple cues for word segmentation in continuous speech

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. e12802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Fló ◽  
Perrine Brusini ◽  
Francesco Macagno ◽  
Marina Nespor ◽  
Jacques Mehler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Multiple Cues

Effects of Fundamental Frequency Contours on Sentence Recognition in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 3855-3864
Author(s):  
Wanting Huang ◽  
Lena L. N. Wong ◽  
Fei Chen ◽  
Haihong Liu ◽  
Wei Liang
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Sentence Recognition ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
F0 Contour ◽  
Appropriate Sentences

Purpose Fundamental frequency (F0) is the primary acoustic cue for lexical tone perception in tonal languages but is processed in a limited way in cochlear implant (CI) systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of F0 contours in sentence recognition in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs and find out whether it is similar to/different from that in age-matched normal-hearing (NH) peers. Method Age-appropriate sentences, with F0 contours manipulated to be either natural or flattened, were randomly presented to preschool children with CIs and their age-matched peers with NH under three test conditions: in quiet, in white noise, and with competing sentences at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Results The neutralization of F0 contours resulted in a significant reduction in sentence recognition. While this was seen only in noise conditions among NH children, it was observed throughout all test conditions among children with CIs. Moreover, the F0 contour-induced accuracy reduction ratios (i.e., the reduction in sentence recognition resulting from the neutralization of F0 contours compared to the normal F0 condition) were significantly greater in children with CIs than in NH children in all test conditions. Conclusions F0 contours play a major role in sentence recognition in both quiet and noise among pediatric implantees, and the contribution of the F0 contour is even more salient than that in age-matched NH children. These results also suggest that there may be differences between children with CIs and NH children in how F0 contours are processed.

Word Segmentation in the "Real World" of Conversational Speech

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph D. W. S tephens ◽  
Mark A. Pitt
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
The Real

Does Prior Orthographic Experience Influence L1 and L2 Word Segmentation?

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyotsna Vaid ◽  
Hsin-Chin Chen ◽  
Francisco E. Martinez ◽  
Chaitra Rao
Keyword(s):  
Word Segmentation ◽  
L1 And L2

Saussurelaisen kielikäsityksen kritiikki

Virittäjä ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikko Laasanen
Keyword(s):  
Communication System ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Strong Form ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Language Bias ◽  
Context Free ◽  
Ontological Concept

Artikkeli käsittelee saussurelaista kielikäsitystä kohtaan esitettyä kritiikkiä. Artikkelin tavoitteena on puolustaa saussurelaista kielikäsitystä ja esittää Saussure moni-puolisempana ajattelijana kuin mitä Kurssin vahvasti strukturalisesta luennasta voisi päätellä. Artikkelissa tarkastellaan käsitystä kielestä järjestelmänä (Saussuren langue), kontekstivapaata merkitystä, kirjoitetun kielen vääristymää (written language bias), Roy Harrisin kielimyyttiä sekä kielen dynaamisuutta. Artikkelissa esitetään, että langue on sekä metodologinen että ontologinen käsite, joka viittaa sekä kielen järjestäytymättömiin sääntöihin että kielitieteilijän niistä luomaan järjestelmään. Kontekstivapaan merkityksen osalta korostetaan sitä, että jonkinlainen merkityksen pysyvyys on välttämätön osa kieltä kommunikaatiojärjestelmänä. Artikkelissa argumentoidaan kirjoitetun kielen vääristymän vahvaa muotoa vastaan, jonka mukaan esimerkiksi puheen analysoiminen diskreeteiksi yksiköiksi johtuu kirjoitetun kielen vaikutuksesta. Harrisin kielimyytin osalta esitetään, että kyse ei ole Saussuren näkemyksistä vaan Harrisin tulkinnoista. Artikkelissa esitetään myös, että dynaamisuus ei ole yhteensopimaton käsite saussurelaisen kielikäsityksen kanssa.   On the critique of the Saussurean concept of language: some perspectives and counter-arguments The article deals with the critique of the Saussurean concept of language. The purpose of the article is to defend the Saussurean concept of language and to present Saussure as a more versatile thinker than may be assumed from a purely structuralist reading of Course. The article discusses the concept of language as a system (Saussure’s langue), the notion of context-free meaning, the so-called written-language bias, Roy Harris’ language myth, and the notion of dynamicity in language in relation to the Saussurean concept of language. The article begins by arguing that langue is both a methodological and an ontological concept that refers both to the unorganised rules of language and to the system of language rules as organised by the linguist. Second, the author asserts that some kind of permanence of meaning is essential to the concept of language as a communication system. Third, an argument is presented against the strong form of written-language bias, according to which, for instance, the analysis and reduction of continuous speech into discrete units is based on the model of written language. Fourth, the author posits that the language myth, developed by Harris, is not based on Saussure’s views but on Harris’ interpretation of Saussure’s views. The article ends with the contention that the notion of dynamicity is not incompatible with the Saussurean concept of language.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document