• 말소리와 음성과학
• /
• 제4권2호
• /
• pp.61-70
• /
• 2012

The current study observes the durational interaction of tautosyllabic consonants and vowels in the word-initial position of English and Korean child-directed speech (CDS). The effect of phonological laryngeal contrasts in stops on the following vowel duration, and the effect of the intrinsic vowel duration on the release duration of preceding stops in addition to the acoustic realization of the contrastive segments are explored in different prosodic contexts - phrase-initial/medial, focal accented/non-focused - in a marked speech style of CDS. A trade-off relationship between Voice Onset Time (VOT), as consonant release duration, and voicing phonation time, as vowel duration, reported from adult-to-adult speech, and patterns of durational variability are investigated in CDS of two languages with different linguistic rhythms, under systematically controlled prosodic contexts. Speech data were collected from four native English mothers and four native Korean mothers who were talking to their one-word staged infants. In addition to the acoustic measurements, the transformed delta measure is employed as a variability index of individual tokens. Results confirm the durational correlation between prevocalic consonants and following vowels. The interaction is revealed in a compensatory pattern such as longer VOTs followed by shorter vowel durations in both languages. An asymmetry is found in CV interaction in that the effect of consonant on vowel duration is greater than the VOT differences induced by the vowel. Prosodic effects are found such that the acoustic difference is enhanced between the contrastive segments under focal accent, supporting the paradigmatic strengthening effect. Positional variation, however, does not show any systematic effects on the variations of the measured acoustic quantities. Overall vowel duration and syllable duration are longer in English tokens but involve less variability across the prosodic variations. The constancy of syllable duration, therefore, is not found to be more strongly sustained in Korean CDS. The stylistic variation is discussed in relation to the listener under linguistic development in CDS.

• 말소리와 음성과학
• /
• 제7권4호
• /
• pp.139-145
• /
• 2015

The present study investigates the effects of syllable structure and prosodic prominence on the patterns of tonal alignment and scaling of the phrase-initial rise in Seoul Korean. Two syllable structures (Onset (/#CVC.../ as in minsa) vs. No-onset (/#VC.../ as in insa)) and two prominence conditions (Focus vs. Neutral) were considered. Results showed that the alignment of the L and the H tones in the phrase-initial rise was affected by syllable structure but not by prominence. The time of L was before the vowel onset of the first syllable in the Onset condition (i.e., within the onset consonant) and it was after the vowel onset in the No-onset condition. The difference was attributable to the fact that the initial L was anchored at a fixed distance from the phrase boundary, which was about 30ms after the onset of the syllable in both cases. The time of H was also consistently observed about 20ms after the second vowel onset (i.e., /a/ in minsa/insa). Moreover, the rise time (the duration from the L to the H tones) was longer as the local syllable duration became longer due to different syllable structure and prominence conditions. Taken together, the results provide a support for the segmental anchoring hypothesis, which claims that both the beginning and the end of F0 movement are consistently aligned with segmental 'anchor' points with relatively high stability (Ladd et al., 1999). Results also showed that the scaling of the early rise was slightly influenced by syllable structure but not by prominence. The differences between the results of the current study and a previous study (Cho, 2011) are further discussed.

• 아시아태평양코퍼스연구
• /
• 제2권1호
• /
• pp.13-22
• /
• 2021

The present study employed an analytical framework that is characterised by a synthesis of quantitative and qualitative analyses with a specially designed computer software SpeechActConc to examine speech acts in business communication. The naturally occurring data from the audio recordings and the prosodic transcriptions of the business sub-corpora of the HKCSE (prosodic) are manually annotated with a speech act taxonomy for finding out the frequency of fillers, the co-occurring patterns of fillers with other speech acts, and the linguistic realisations of fillers. The discoursal function of fillers to sustain the discourse or to hold the floor has diverse linguistic realisations, ranging from a sound (e.g. 'uhuh') and a word (e.g. 'well') to sounds (e.g. 'um er') and words, namely phrase ('sort of') and clause (e.g. 'you know'). Some are even combinations of sound(s) and word(s) (e.g. 'and um', 'yes er um', 'sort of erm'). Among the top five frequent linguistic realisations of fillers, 'er' and 'um' are the most common ones found in all the six genres with relatively higher percentages of occurrence. The remaining more frequent realisations consist of clause ('you know'), word ('yeah') and sound ('erm'). These common forms are syntactically simpler than the less frequent realisations found in the genres. The co-occurring patterns of fillers and other speech acts are diverse. The more common co-occurring speech acts with fillers include informing and answering. The findings show that fillers are not only frequently used by speakers in spontaneous conversation but also mostly represented in sounds or non-linguistic realisations.

• 말소리와 음성과학
• /
• 제12권3호
• /
• pp.41-53
• /
• 2020

내포절의 의문사 어구는 모문의 작용역일 경우 의문사 섬 제약을 위배하게 되는 통사 구조를 갖게 된다. 그러나 의문사 억양으로 발화될 경우 이러한 제약을 벗어날 수 있는 것으로 알려져 있다. 동남 방언의 경우 모문의 의문문 종결 어미에 따라 모문의 작용역을 갖는 의문문으로 발화되어 고 평탄조나 저 평탄조의 운율 특징을 갖으며, 내포문의 작용역을 갖는 문장의 억양과 다른 패턴을 보인다. 모문의 작용역 문장 발화에서 고 평탄조의 의문사 억양일 경우, 내포문 보문소의 F0가 내포문 작용역에서의 동일 요소보다 높고, 저 평탄조일 경우 의문사의 F0 정점이 내포문 작용역에서보다 높음과 동시에 모문 동사의 F0 정점은 낮은 것으로 보고되었다. 이 연구에서는 이전 연구에서 주장한 운율 특징이 경북 방언에서도 동일하게 작동하는지 살펴보고, 모문의 작용역일 경우 의문사 억양의 종류에 따라 두 가지 운율 단서를 분리하여 내포문 작용역 문장과 비교하는 이전 연구와 달리, 의문사 억양의 종류와 관계없이 모문의 작용역인 문장들과 내포문 작용역인 문장들을 구분하는 새로운 하나의 단서를 제시하였다. 고 평탄조나 저 평탄조일 경우라 하더라도 내포문 동사의 F0 정점과 내포문 보문소의 F0 값의 차이는 큰 변화가 없는 반면, 내포문 작용역일 경우 이 값은 큰 차이를 보이게 된다. 또한 모문 동사의 F0 정점과 모문 종결 어미의 F0의 차이도 저 평탄조와 고 평탄조에서 사이에 큰 차이가 나타나지 않으나 내포문 작용역의 문장 발화에서는 그 값이 크게 나타난다. 결과적으로 작용역에 따른 운율 특징의 차이는 내포 동사와 모문 동사에서 F0 정점과, 내포 동사와 함께하는 보문소, 그리고 모문 동사와 연결된 종결 어미의 F0 값의 차이로 일관되게 설명할 수 있다.

• 한국음향학회지
• /
• 제26권4호
• /
• pp.159-165
• /
• 2007

본 논문에서는 합성단위 선택 (unit selection) 기반 일본어 합성기에 필요한 후보 합성단위들에 대한 사전선택 (pre-selection)의 새로운 방법을 제안한다. 일반적인 사전선택 방법은 하나의 억양구에서 음소 열에 대한 비용을 계산하여 이용하는 방법이다. 그런데, 일본어는 다른 언어와는 다르게 상대적인 피치의 높낮이로 나타나는 악센트를 가지는 언어이고, 몇 개의 단어가 하나의 악센트구를 형성하는 특징이 있다. 또한 일본어의 운율은 악센트 구를 기본 단위로 하여 변화하는 특징이 있어서, 사전선택에서 이러한 악센트 구 단위의 운율 변화를 반영함으로써 음질을 향상시킬 수 있고, 악센트 구에서 음소 열에 대한 비용을 계산하여 억양구에서 하는 것보다 계산량을 줄일 수 있다. 제안한 방법은 일본어의 악센트 구를 정의하여 음소 열에서 이것을 분석하고, 각 악센트 구에서 합성 할 음소의 각 후보에 대해 CCL (Connected Context Length)을 구하는 악센트 구 매칭을 이용하여 사전선택을 수행하는 방법이다. 제안한 방법은 Voiceware의 합성기인 VoiceText를 baseline 시스템으로 사용하여 구현하였고, 인지적 에러 (억양 에러, 연결 에러)와 합성시간에 대해 평가하였다. 실험 결과, 제안한 방법은 합성 음질을 보다 자연스럽게 향상시켰고, 합성 속도를 개선하였다.

• 말소리와 음성과학
• /
• 제3권1호
• /
• pp.3-14
• /
• 2011

It has been posited that in English, native listeners use the Metrical Segmentation Strategy (MSS) for the segmentation of continuous speech. Strong syllables tend to be perceived as potential word onsets for English native speakers, which is due to the high proportion of strong syllables word-initially in the English vocabulary. This study investigates whether Koreans employ the same strategy when segmenting speech input in English. Word-spotting experiments were conducted using vowel-initial and consonant-initial bisyllabic targets embedded in nonsense trisyllables in Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. The effect of strong syllable was significant in the RT (reaction times) analysis but not in the error analysis. In both experiments, Korean listeners detected words more slowly when the word-initial syllable is strong (stressed) than when it is weak (unstressed). However, the error analysis showed that there was no effect of initial stress in Experiment 1 and in the item (F2) analysis in Experiment 2. Only the subject (F1) analysis in Experiment 2 showed that the participants made more errors when the word starts with a strong syllable. These findings suggest that Koran listeners do not use the Metrical Segmentation Strategy for segmenting English speech. They do not treat strong syllables as word beginnings, but rather have difficulties recognizing words when the word starts with a strong syllable. These results are discussed in terms of intonational properties of Korean prosodic phrases which are found to serve as lexical segmentation cues in the Korean language.

• 대한음성학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 대한음성학회 1996년도 10월 학술대회지
• /
• pp.246-246
• /
• 1996

Purpose: Some of the properties of the prosodic phrasing and some acoustic and phonological effects of contrastive focus on the tonal pattern of Seoul Korean is explored based on a brief experiment of analyzing the fundamental frequency(=FO) contour of the speech of the author. Data Base and Analysis Procedures: The examples were chosen to contain mostly nasal and liquid consonants, since it is difficult to track down the formants in stops and fricatives during their corresponding consonantal intervals and stops may yield an effect of unwanted increase in the FO value due to their burst into the following vowel. All examples were recorded three times and the spectrum of the most stable repetition was generated, from which the FO contour of each sentence was obtained, the peaks with a value higher than 250Hz being interpreted as a high tone (=H). The result is then discussed within the prosodic hierarchy framework of Selkirk (1986) and compared with the tonal pattern of the Northern Kyungsang dialect of Korean reported in Kenstowicz & Sohn (1996). Prosodic Phrasing: In N.K. Korean, H never appears both on the object and on the verb in a neutral sentence, which indicates the object and the verb form a single Phonological Phrase ($={\phi}$), given that there is only one pitch peak for each $={\phi}$. However, Seoul Korean shows that both the object and the verb have H of their own, indicating that they are not contained in one $={\phi}$. This violates the Optimality constraint of Wrap-XP (=Enclose a lexical head and its arguments in one $={\phi}$), while N.K. Korean obeys the constraint by grouping a VP in a single $={\phi}$. This asymmetry can be resolved through a constraint that favors the separate grouping of each lexical category and is ranked higher than Wrap-XP in Seoul Korean but vice versa in N.K. Korean; $Align-x^{lex}$ (=Align the left edge of a lexical category with that of a $={\phi}$). (1) nuna-ka manll-ll mEk-nIn-ta ('sister-NOM garlic-ACC eat-PRES-DECL') a. (LLH) (LLH) (HLL) ----Seoul Korean b. (LLH) (LLL LHL) ----N.K. Korean Focus and Phrasing: Two major effects of contrastive focus on phonological phrasing are found in Seoul Korean: (a) the peak of an Intonatioanl Phrase (=IP) falls on the focused element; and (b) focus has the effect of deleting all the following prosodic structures. A focused element always attracts the peak of IP, showing an increase of approximately 30Hz compared with the peak of a non-focused IP. When a subject is focused, no H appears either on the object or on the verb and a focused object is never followed by a verb with H. The post-focus deletion of prosodic boundaries is forced through the interaction of StressFocus (=If F is a focus and DF is its semantic domain, the highest prominence in DF will be within F) and Rightmost-IP (=The peak of an IP projects from the rightmost $={\phi}$). First Stress-F requires the peak of IP to fall on the focused element. Then to avoid violating Rightmost-IP, all the boundaries after the focused element should delete, minimizing the number of $={\phi}$'s intervening from the right edge of IP. (2) (omitted) Conclusion: In general, there seems to be no direct alignment constraints between the syntactically focused element and the edge of $={\phi}$ determined in phonology; all the alignment effects come from a single requirement that the peak of IP projects from the rightmost $={\phi}$ as proposed in Truckenbrodt (1995).

• 음성과학
• /
• 제11권1호
• /
• pp.131-145
• /
• 2004

The informative or important entities in utterances are focused and the focused items are usually accompanied by changes in phonetic manifestation. Phonetic realizations triggered by focus include changes of tonal contours as well as segmental strengthening. Focus in Korean is characterized by new phrase initiation, dephrasing, and initial tone contour with an enlarged pitch range in addition to segmentally lengthened initial segment. Focusing on the prosodic cues which play an important role in delivering the speakers' intention, this study aims to find out what intonational characteristics of Korean focus are realized by English learners of Korean. The English learners are divided into two groups according to their fluency in Korean, and the differences in focus realization between each group are discussed. Furthermore, the phonological and phonetic realizations of focus by English learners of Korean are compared to those by Korean native speakers. The results of this study yields two suggestions for Korean intonation education of L2 learners. First, the comparison between the two speaker groups can give better understanding in how and why the Korean intonation of English speakers is different from that of Koreans. Second, each phonological and phonetic characteristic of focus realization can weigh differently and its realization provides a criterion for evaluation of L2 Korean proficiency.

• 한국정보처리학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국정보처리학회 2010년도 추계학술발표대회
• /
• pp.744-747
• /
• 2010

운율구 경계 예측은 TTS(Text-To-Speech) 엔진이 정확하고 자연스러운 음성합성을 하기 위해 꼭 필요한 기술이다. 하지만, 소프트웨어나 하드웨어적 자원을 많이 요구하는 기술이기 때문에 실행 환경의 제약을 많이 받는다. 본 논문에서는 소형 전자제품과 같이 제한된 환경에서도 안정적으로 실현되는 경량화 운율구 경계 예측 시스템의 개발 과정과 결과에 대하여 설명한다. 운율구 경계 예측 시스템의 필수 요소인 형태소 분석기의 경량화와 전통적인 규칙 기반 운율구 경계 예측 기술과 달리 품사 분석과 구문 분석이 필요하지 않은 운율구 경계 예측 기술을 소개한다.

• 말소리와 음성과학
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2023

경상 방언 내포문 의문사의 작용역 지각 반응 시간과 범주 지각의 양상을 분석하였다. 지각 실험을 위한 자극은 내포문 의문사가 모문 작용역을 갖는 문맥이 주어진 하나의 문장을 40명의 화자가 발화한 것으로, 지각 실험은 24명이 참가하였다. 피험자는 40개의 자극에 대해 모문 작용역(설명 의문문)인지 또는 내포문 작용역(판정 의문문)인지를 선택하게 하는 강제 선택 실험을 3회 진행하고 그 반응 시간을 기록하였다. 모문 작용역 응답 수를 기준으로 자극을 정렬한 후 작용역 응답에 따른 반응 시간을 정렬 순서에 따라 시각화한 결과 모문과 내포문 작용역 응답이 범주적 지각의 결과임이 분명히 나타났으나, 이에 따른 반응 시간의 차이는 크게 나타나지 않았다. 화자에 따른 범주 지각 양상으로 볼 때, 작용역 해석에 영향을 주는 요인은 형태/통사적 제약과 운율 구조적 완결성으로 보이며, 한 요인의 가중치는 다른 요인의 가중치와 반비례 관계에 있는 것으로 해석할 수 있다.