Presentation 2002/10/23
Prosodic and segmental variations of focused words in Mandarin Chinese : Analysis, synthesis and perception
Zhenglai GU, Hiroki MORI, Hideki KASUYA,
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Abstract(in English) The focus effects on acoustic correlates include both prosodic and segmental modifications. Analysis of 35 focused words in a carrier sentences uttered by 2 male and 3 female speakers has shown that: (1) there is a significant asymmetry of vowel duration as well as F0 range between the pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables, implying that different strategies are employed in the task of focusing disyllabic words, i.e., emphasizing the first syllable as well as weakening the second syllable for the former, but emphasizing the second syllable only for the latter; (2) the tonal combinations significantly affect the variations of both the vowel duration and F0 range; (3) the formant frequencies (F1, F2) are changed systematically in a way that that the formants of the vowels plotted in the (F1, F2) plane were stretched outwards. Perceptual validation of the relative importance of these acoustic cues for signaling a focal word has been accomplished using a robust formant synthesizer, ARX2002, for more natural voice. The formant synthesizer, ARX2002, is briefly documented here. Results of the perception experiment indicate that F0 is the dominant cue closely related to the judgment of focused word and the other two cues, duration and formant frequencies do not contribute much to the judgment.
Keyword(in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Keyword(in English) ARX analysis-synthesis / focus / formant / F0 range / duration
Paper # SP2002-94
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Committee SP
Conference Date 2002/10/23(1days)
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Language ENG
Title (in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Sub Title (in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Title (in English) Prosodic and segmental variations of focused words in Mandarin Chinese : Analysis, synthesis and perception
Sub Title (in English)
Keyword(1) ARX analysis-synthesis
Keyword(2) focus
Keyword(3) formant
Keyword(4) F0 range
Keyword(5) duration
1st Author's Name Zhenglai GU
1st Author's Affiliation Faculty of Engineering, Utsunomiya University()
2nd Author's Name Hiroki MORI
2nd Author's Affiliation Faculty of Engineering, Utsunomiya University
3rd Author's Name Hideki KASUYA
3rd Author's Affiliation Faculty of Engineering, Utsunomiya University
Date 2002/10/23
Paper # SP2002-94
Volume (vol) vol.102
Number (no) 417
Page pp.pp.-
#Pages 6
Date of Issue