Automatic prosodic analysis for computer aided pronunciation teaching
Correct pronunciation of spoken language requires the appropriate modulation of acoustic characteristics of speech to convey linguistic information at a suprasegmental level. Such prosodic modulation is a key aspect of spoken language and is an important component of foreign language learning, for purposes of both comprehension and intelligibility. Computer aided pronunciation teaching involves automatic analysis of the speech of a non-native talker in order to provide a diagnosis of the learner's performance in comparison with the speech of a native talker. This thesis describes research undertaken to automatically analyse the prosodic aspects of speech for computer aided pronunciation teaching. It is necessary to describe the suprasegmental composition of a learner's speech in order to characterise significant deviations from a native-like prosody, and to offer some kind of corrective diagnosis. Phonological theories of prosody aim to describe the suprasegmental composition of speech for a specific language. It is argued here that the suprasegmental composition of the speech of a non-native talker can be highly influenced by mother-tongue interference thereby rendering a language-specific phonological representation
Bagshaw, Paul Christopher
Automatic prosodic analysis for computer aided pronunciation teaching. Correct pronunciation of spoken language requires the appropriate modulation of acoustic characteristics of speech to convey linguistic information at a suprasegmental level. Such prosodic modulation is a key aspect of spoken language and is an important component of foreign language learning, for purposes of both comprehension and intelligibility. Computer aided pronunciation teaching involves automatic analysis of the speech of a non-native talker in order to provide a diagnosis of the learner's performance in comparison with the speech of a native talker. This thesis describes research undertaken to automatically analyse the prosodic aspects of speech for computer aided pronunciation teaching. It is necessary to describe the suprasegmental composition of a learner's speech in order to characterise significant deviations from a native-like prosody, and to offer some kind of corrective diagnosis. Phonological theories of prosody aim to describe the suprasegmental composition of speech for a specific language. It is argued here that the suprasegmental composition of the speech of a non-native talker can be highly influenced by mother-tongue interference thereby rendering a language-specific phonological representation
automatic prosodic_analysis computer aid pronunciation teaching correct pronunciation speak_language require appropriate modulation acoustic characteristic speech convey linguistic information suprasegmental level prosodic modulation key_aspect speak_language important_component foreign_language_learning purpose comprehension intelligibility computer aid pronunciation teach involves automatic analysis speech non_native order_provide diagnosis learner performance comparison speech native describes undertake automatically analyse prosodic aspect speech computer aid pronunciation teaching necessary describe suprasegmental composition learner speech order characterise significant deviation native like prosody offer kind corrective diagnosis phonological theory prosody aim_describe suprasegmental composition speech specific language argue suprasegmental composition speech non_native highly influence mother_tongue interference thereby render language_specific phonological_representation