Browsing by Subject "prosodia"
Now showing items 1-20 of 23
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(2021)Autism spectrum disorder is a neurobiological developmental disorder, characterized e.g. by problems of social interaction, over-sensitity to sensory stimuli as well as restricted interests (APA, 2013). People afflicted with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have deviant prosodic features in their speech. This article focuses on the utterance-final rising pitch and its use in questions and narrative turns in the spontaneous interaction of boys with ASD. The topic is important because even if autistic persons’ prosodic features have already been studied rather extensively, spontaneous interaction, which allows observing the use of intonation by persons with ASD, has been studied very little before. The data originate from authentic group therapy sessions where 11–13-year-old boys afflicted with ASD talk with their therapists. Methods of phonetics and conversation analysis are used in the study. The results of the study suggest that boys with ASD are able to use utterance-final rising pitch as an interactional resource as well as to produce and interpret correctly prosodic features that indicate finality in spontaneous interaction. They are also able to emphasize words with the help of prosodic features, call for other participants’ reactions and indicate that they take other participants into account with the help of utterance-final pitch rises. Thus, boys with ASD seem to be able to use intonation as an interactional resource, even though reciprocal interaction is generally speaking difficult for people afflicted with autism (APA, 2013).
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(LPL - Laboratoire Parole et Langage, 2013)Wavelet based time frequency representations of various signals are shown to reliably represent perceptually relevant patterns at various spatial and temporal scales in a noise robust way. Here we present a wavelet based visualization and analysis tool for prosodic patterns, in particular intonation. The suitability of the method is assessed by comparing its predictions for word prominences against manual labels in a corpus of 900 sentences. In addition, the method’s potential for visualization is demonstrated by a few example sentences which are compared to more traditional visualization methods. Finally, some further applications are suggested and the limitations of the method are discussed.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2020)Tämä tutkielma käsittelee italian kielen intonaation variaatiota. Valitun puhutun kielen tyyppi on teatterikieli. Tutkielmassa analysoitiin Luigi Pirandellon teatteriteosta Così è, se vi pare, jonka erikoisuutena on samankaltaisuus spontaanin puheen kanssa. Tutkielman tavoitteena on tarkastella, onko puhutun kielen intonaation variaatiolla suhdetta musiikkiteorian intervalliin. Teoreettisesta näkökulmasta analysoitiin puhutun kielen intonaatioita tutkivia kielellisiä teorioita, eli niiden geneesi, kehitys ja niihin liittyvät esitysjärjestelmät graafisella tasolla. Lisäksi intervallin käsitettä analysoitiin musiikkiteorian näkökulmasta: miten se syntyy ja miten se vaihtelee. Erityisesti korostettiin intervallin ja teoreettisten käsitteiden välistä suhdetta. Teoreettiset käsitteet yhdistävät musiikkiteorian akustiseen ilmiöön, jonka nimi on huiluääni. Opinnäytetyön pääkonsepti perustuu siihen, että kaikkien värisevien kappaleiden tuottama ääni, mukaan lukien myös ihmisen ääni, koostuu huiluäänistä, eli monista pienistä taajuuksista. Tästä syystä näiden äänien harmoninen järjestelmä saattaa vaikuttaa intonaation vaihteluun. Joshua Steelen tutkielma, Prosodia Rationalis, on ensimmäinen tutkielma prosodian alalta. Se on tämän työn pohjana, koska se yhdistää kolme tutkielmassa käsiteltyä aihetta, prosodiaa, musiikkia ja teatteria. Se on myös tärkeä teoreettinen ennakkotapaus tätä tutkielmaa ajatellen. Tässä tutkielmassa Shakespearen Hamletista otettujen osien graafinen transkriptio tehtiin pentagrammin avulla. Tässä kokeessa käytetty menetelmä ei kuitenkaan sisällä pentagrammin käyttöä; tässä kokeessa mitattiin konkreettisesti vain todellisen teatteriesityksen intonaation variaatio. Tutkimuksen tulokset ovat tuoneet esille puhutun kielen melodisten variaatioiden ja musiikillisten intervallin suhteen. Todennäköisesti puhutun kielen melodisen variaation suhde ei kuitenkaan syntynyt tonaalisuuteen perustuvan musiikkiteorian harmonisten suhteiden kanssa. Lausuntojen epäsäännöllinen kehitys, joka useimmissa tapauksissa on nouseva tai laskeva tai kumpaakin, vaikeuttaa huomattavasti näiden suhteiden tarkastelemista. Tämän projektin kehityksessä on otettava huomioon toisaalta "kontrolloitu" puhetyyppi ja toisaalta menetelmä, joka tekee lauseiden melodian mahdollisimman vähän artikuloiduksi.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2021)It is common for speech to occur in closed spaces. Hence, room acoustics have a significant role in speech communication. In previous studies, effects of reverberation on speech production have been found. However, research on the concerned field is yet scarce. Adverse room acoustics have been observed to expose occupational speakers, such as teachers, to voice disorders. Thus, it is crucial to study what are the room acoustic requirements for economic speaking. The purpose of this study is to examine which speech-acoustic traits change when the speaker is exposed to reverberation, and how. In the present study, two different approaches are taken: variation of reverberation time and removal of the reverberation. The changes in speech are reflected to the Lombard sign (the raise of speech level in a noisy environment). Additionally, differences related to gender and prosody are examined concerning the present topic. In this study, a speech production experiment was conducted with acoustic and statistical analyses. 11 Finnish-speaking volunteers (six females and five males) participated the experiment, where 150 short sentences were recorded from each participant. The sentences were produced in five different room-acoustic conditions. In four out of five, digitally simulated reverberation was played back on headphones worn by the participant with varying reverberation times. The fifth condition was (nearly) anechoic. Out of the recorded sentences, speech rate, creak ratio and harmonics-to-noise ratio were measured along with mean, maximum and movement of intensity and pitch. The measurements were then assessed with various statistical methods. The results of the study show a significant decrease in speech rate caused by an increasing reverberation time. Additionally, speech rate was the highest in the anechoic condition. Moreover, creak ratio decreased greatly when reverberation time increased to more than one second especially on male speakers and end-weighted sentences. Additionally, monotonousness was higher in reverberated conditions than the anechoic condition. However, substantial speaker-dependent differences in the effects of reverberation on speech were found. Moreover, sentence weight was found to influence speech more fundamentally than reverberation. The results suggest that rooms with average reverberation times, rather than particularly long or short, seem the most beneficial for speaking. This observation corresponds to previous studies. Further research on the field is required to extract valuable knowledge needed in acoustical design of spaces, including classrooms. Designing speaker-friendly spaces helps to preserve occupational speakers’ voices throughout their careers.
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(2021)Given the extensive body of research in audio description – the verbal-vocal description of visual or audiovisual content for visually impaired audiences – it is striking how little attention has been paid thus far to the spoken dimension of audio description and its para-linguistic, prosodic aspects. This article complements the previous research into how audio description speech is received by the partially sighted audiences by analyzing how it is performed vocally. We study the audio description of pictorial art, and one aspect of prosody is examined in detail: pitch, and the segmentation of information in relation to it. We analyze this relation in a corpus of audio described pictorial art in Finnish by combining phonetic measurements of the pitch with discourse analysis of the information segmentation. Previous studies have already shown that a sentence-initial high pitch acts as a discourse-structuring device in interpreting. Our study shows that the same applies to audio description. In addition, our study suggests that there is a relationship between the scale in the rise of pitch and the scale of the topical transition. That is, when the topical transition is clear, the rise of pitch level between the beginnings of two consecutive spoken sentences is large. Analogically, when the topical transition is small, the change of the sentence-initial pitch level is also rather small.
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(2016)This paper focusses on repair sequences occurring in institutional interaction with autistic preadolescents. More precisely, the paper discusses the role of prosodic and non-verbal features in situations where the participants of interaction have difficulties understanding each other. The discussion will include analysis of the prosodic and non-verbal features of trouble-source turns that launch other-initiated repairs. Methodologically, the study falls within the framework of conversation analysis (CA). The data consist of audio-visual material recorded from group therapy sessions during which 11- to 13-year-old Finnish-speaking boys afflicted with autism talk about their lives with one another and with their therapists. The study findings suggest that certain prosodic and non-verbal features are often associated with trouble-source turns. For example, in 84% of the cases here, there is no eye contact between the speaker producing a trouble-source turn and the one who initiates the repair sequence. Sometimes the lack of eye contact is associated with overlapping speech (38%). Concerning the prosody, the most frequent feature is a creaky voice, which occurs in 35% of the trouble-source turns. A quiet voice (31%), large pitch excursions (24%), stretched syllables (18%) and jerky speech rhythms (16%) are examples of other prosodic features that could be found in the trouble-source turns of the data. The results of this study demonstrate that ASD persons’ tendency to avoid direct eye contact as well as the occurrences of certain deviant prosodic features in their speech are factors that affect the fluidity of interaction and are related to the creation of understanding problems. However, only in a very few cases do non-verbal and prosodic features seem to be the main cause of the problem of understanding. The two most common causes of understanding problems in these data are overly literal interpretation of speech and topical discontinuities. The study also gives new evidence about autistic persons’ pragmatic and interactional skills. Indeed, the data include passages in which the informants seem to have the ability to make certain inferences about the mental states of others. This is remarkable, because it is known that the ability in question is impaired in autism.
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(Helsingfors universitet, 2015)Goals: The aim of this study was to examine the speech production of Finnish compound words. Finnish prosody and the effect of contrastive focus has been studied widely, but there is no research about the prosody of compound production. This study compared the differences in prosodic features of compound words and phrases and examined the effect of sentence stress to the production of compound words. Methods and materials: This quantitative research consisted of a speech production test and statistical analysis. In the speech production test, sentences with the compound words and phrases made of the same words (e.g. kissankello 'harebell' and kissan kello 'cat's bell') were repeated in three focus conditions. These were broad focus, narrow focus on the first word and narrow focus on the second word. 20 subjects (14 female, 6 male) read 1200 sentences in total, which were segmented and annotated. Fundamental frequency, intensity and syllable lengths were measured and compared between compound words and phrases. The relationships between the word types and acoustic features were studied using repeated measures analysis of variance. Results and conclusions: This research revealed new information about the production of compound words in different focus conditions. Results showed that in the broad focus condition compound words and phrases were produced differently from each other. Word type had a statistically significant effect (p < 0,001) on the acoustical measurements: speakers treated compound words as one word with one primary stress in the first syllable while phrases were treated as two words with individual primary stresses. Contrastive focus strongly affected to the acoustic parameters, and those changes masked the word type differences that were found in the broad focus condition. Context has a significant effect on how a listener interprets the message, but there are also acoustical ways to distinguish compound words from phrases in speech. These findings give a strong foundation to future research, however there are limitations. It is important to increase the amount of male speakers in this study and the research could be expanded to different dialects of Finnish and the speech of non-native speakers. The results can also be used in the development of speech synthesis, e.g. text-to-speech synthesis.
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(2021)Code-switching occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages or language varieties in the same conversation or text. Code-switching as a phenomenon has been investigated fairly extensively, but prosodic features that characterise many of the switches have not gained much attention in previous studies. This article examines the prosody of code-switching instances in more detail. By analysing naturally-occurring conversational data, we will shed light on the role that prosody plays in the interpretation of code-switching instances. The data consist of a 30-minute-long telephone conversation. In the conversation, a lady who was born in Finland but who has lived in Canada for a long time talks with her nephew who lives in Finland. The data include 73 occurrences of code-switching in which the language of the conversation changes momentarily from Finnish to English. The method of our study is Conversation Analysis. The results of the study show that most often the instances of code-switching are produced with raised levels of pitch and intensity. The speakers use higher pitch and intensity typically when uttering loanwords or reported speech. As for loanwords, the prosodic marking invites the recipient to pay attention to the word that carries the rise in order to seek for the recipient’s recognition or reaction to words whose recognition might possibly be problematic. In the case of reported speech, in turn, prosodic features help to create “another voice”. In addition to the changes of pitch and intensity, the quality of voice can be marked in reported speech. In both these cases the prosodic marking carried by the code-switching invites the recipient to pay attention to the words or expressions in question. In addition to raised pitch and intensity, the data included also some occurrences where code-switchings were marked with lowered levels of pitch and intensity. In these cases code-switchings typically consist of expressions that structure the interaction rather than constitute important content words from the point of view of the ongoing narration. They are also more directed towards the speaker herself than towards the recipient. Thus, prosodic changes can be used to regulate the degree of recipiency and to indicate the relationship between the languages that are being used.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2020)Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastelen japanin kielen sanakoron osaamista ja omaksumista suomalaisten japanin opiskelijoiden keskuudessa sekä kehitän harjoittelumenetelmän sen opettamiseksi. Validoin kehittämäni menetelmän toimivuuden empiirisellä opetuskokeella. Sanakorko on japanin kielen prosodiaan liittyvä ilmiö. Kullakin japanin sanalla on sille ominainen äänenkorkeuden vaihtelun kaava ja tällä vaihtelulla on sanojen merkityksiä erottava distinktiivinen funktio. Japanin sanakorko on osoittautunut aiemman tutkimuksen nojalla hyvin vaikeaksi omaksuttavaksi jopa pitkälle edistyneille japanin oppijoille, ja se on myös ollut suurelta osin resistantti aiemmin tutkittuja harjoitusmenetelmiä kohtaan. Esitän ja vastaan kolmeen tutkimuskysymykseen joilla pyrin kartoittamaan sanakoron osaamista, omaksumista ja harjoitusmenetelmien kenttää: Kysymys 1: Millainen voisi olla harjoitusmenetelmä, jossa yhdistyvät olemassa olevat tutkimustulokset ja teoria, niin että sen voisi perustellusti olettaa olevan toimiva ja tehokas? Vastaan kysymykseen teoreettisella tarkastelulla: identifioimalla aiemman tutkimuksen ja teoriataustan nojalla syitä, miksi sanakorko teettää oppijoille vaikeuksia ja kehittelemällä uutta harjoitusmenetelmää siten, että se tarjoaisi uskottavan vastalääkkeen näihin vaikeuksiin. Tuloksena kehitän menetelmän, jonka erityispiirteinä ovat 1) semanttisen prosessoinnin aktivonti foneettisen prosessoinnin lisäksi 2) korkea foneettinen vaihtelevuus 3) proseduraalisen muistin aktivointi 4) aikavälikertauksen hyödyntäminen. Erityispiirteiltään tällainen harjoitusmenetelmä on ensimmäinen laatuaan. Kysymys 2: Kuinka hyvin suomalaiset japanin oppijat osaavat sanakorkoja? Mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat osaamisen tasoon? Vastaan kysymykseen mittamalla sanakorkoa testaavalla kokeella suomalaisten japanin opiskelijoiden (n = 48) osaamista. Vertailukohdan saamiseksi testaan samalla kokeella myös koehenkilöitä (n = 43) joilla ei ole kosketuspintaa japaniin. Merkittävä tulos on, että japania osaamaton ryhmä pystyy prosessoimaan sanakoron arvaamista paremmin, mutta suurin osa japanin oppijoista ei ole merkittävästi tätä "perustasoa" parempia prosessoimaan sanakorkoa. Vasta hyvin pitkälle japania opiskelleet oppijat (JLPT N2 tai korkeampi taso) erottuvat testituloksiltaan perustasoa harjaantuneempina. Kysymys 3: Onko kysymyksen 1 kontekstissa kehitetty harjoitusmenetelmä toimiva? Oppivatko suomalaiset oppijat sen avulla japanin sanakorkoa? Vastaan kysymykseen opettamalla sanakorkoa japania opiskeleville koehenkilöille (n = 37) 14 vuorokauden ajan käyttämällä kehittämääni harjoitusmenetelmää ja mittaamalla heidän osaamisensa esi- ja jälkitestillä. Merkittävä tulos on, että koehenkilöiden tulokset yksinkertaisissa minimiparivalinta- ja ääntämistehtävissä paranevat harjoittelujakson aikana, mutta tulokset automatisoitua osaamista mittaavassa uudelleenkerrontatehtävässä, jossa koehenkilöt eivät voi keskittää tarkkaavaisuuttaan kielen muodollisiin ominaisuuksiin, eivät parane lainkaan. Tutkimustulosteni pohjalta osoitan, että vaikka japanin sanakorko teettää vaikeuksia oppijoille, sen prosessoiminen onnistuu vähäisissä määrin myös japania tuntemattomille suomalaisille. Toisaalta tätä korkeamman tason saavuttaminen on harvinaista kieltä opiskelevillekin. Osoitan myös, että kehittämäni harjoitusmenetelmä harjaannuttaa oppijoita jo 14 vuorokaudessa. Toisaalta, oppimistulokset eivät siirry osaksi automatisoitua kielitaitoa, eikä voida olettaa että kokeessa käytetyllä asetelmalla saavutettaisiin tuloksia, joissa oppijat voisivat heti käyttää sanakorkoa luonnollisissa kommunikaatiotilanteissa. Arvioin, että vaaditaan ajallisesti paljon pidempi harjoittelujakso tällaisen automaation saavuttamiseksi. Tulokset antavat myös vihjeitä siitä, että oppijoilla on kahdentyyppisiä prosessointiongelmia: foneettisia ja leksikaalisia, ja että harjoitusmenetelmän kehittäminen lisäämällä keskitettyä foneettista harjoittelua ja semanttista vaihtelevuutta saattaisi parantaa tuloksia.
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(Uusfilologinen yhdistys, 2013)Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki
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(2022)Cette étude porte sur l’intonation des énoncés interrogatifs dans la parole des apprenants finnophones du français. Le corpus consiste en des enregistrements où 15 apprenants finnophones du français et un groupe de contrôle de 5 locuteurs natifs du français lisent un extrait d’un dialogue tiré de la pièce de théâtre En attendant Godot (Beckett, 1952). Les résultats montrent qu’aussi bien les apprenants finnophones que les locuteurs natifs du français produisent une montée intonative à la fin des questions totales d’information. En ce qui concerne les questions partielles, les résultats sont plus divergents : le plus souvent, les apprenants finnophones produisent aussi une montée intonative à la fin d’une question partielle, tandis que dans la parole des locuteurs natifs, l’intonation descendante et plate sont nettement plus fréquentes. Comme l’intonation montante n’a pas de fonction interrogative établie en finnois, cette étude apporte des preuves supplémentaires du fait que tous les traits prosodiques de la parole des locuteurs L2 ne peuvent pas être expliqués par la transmission directe de la L1. La fréquence des contours montants dans la parole des apprenants finnophones est probablement liée au fait que l’importance de monter l’intonation à la fin des énoncés interrogatifs est soulignée dans l’enseignement du FLE.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2019)Goals. This thesis explores what are the convincing prosodic features of Finnish speech, concen-trating on two main features, fundamental frequency and speech rate. Earlier studies into the pro-sodic features of speech have shown listeners perceive speakers with lower fundamental frequen-cy (f0) and higher speech rate to be more convincing. I am also trying to establish whether there can be found an interaction between speaker’s gender and credibility. However, at the point of publication and to the best of the author’s knowledge, there has not been any published research regarding what are the convincing parameters in Finnish speech prosody. In light of the above, the hypothesis of this research is: The prosodic features of a convincing speech in the Finnish language do not differ from the prosodic features to be convincing (proven by published re-search) in other western and European languages. The purpose of this study is to provide addi-tional information to the field of speech research in Finnish language. Methods. This was a quantitative study and involved the use of both listening experiments and statistical tests. The listening experiment was used to examine the prosodic features of convincing speech, with 16 statements being collected from European Parliament's plenary website, two statements each from four Finnish male MEPs and 4 Finnish female MEPs. Each statement was first delexicalized, and out of each delexicalized statement, eight new manipulations were creat-ed, for a total of 64 manipulated statements. These manipulations involved raising and lowering the fundamental frequency by ±4 semitones and both speeding up and speeding down the speech rate by ±1.5 seconds. This resulted in the eight manipulated statements for each lexicalized state-ment being classified as: high, low, fast, slow, high-fast, high-slow, low-fast and low-slow. During the listening experiment, each manipulated statement was compared to a non-modified statement. Twelve native Finnish-speaking subjects participated in the experiment; during which they lis-tened to sounds in pairs of two (manipulated vs. non-manipulated), after which the subjects an-swered the question “Which of the statements is more convincing: the first or second one?” Results and conclusions. In conclusion, it was observed that a lower fundamental frequency and higher speech rate were perceived as more convincing than a higher fundamental frequency and lower speech rate. This matches previous research findings on other European languages and due to the statistically significant results we saw between lower f0, faster speech rate and convincing speech, this allows us to prove this thesis’ hypothesis, that convincing prosodic features in the Finnish language are the same as those identified in English language.
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(Helsingfors universitet, 2017)Goals: The aim of this study was to examine how small rooms and short distances affect speech prosody and voice quality. Room acoustics and distance between speakers have been explored widely, but there is no clear understanding of how relatively small rooms and short distances affect speech and its prosodic features. This study examines how prosodic features (fundamental frequency, intensity, duration) and voice quality (creaky voice) vary when distance and room changes. Methods: This study was quantitative and consisted of a speech production test. In the test, three-word sentences were focused to an object in two different rooms at four short distances. There were ten (10) participants in the test. Fundamental frequency, intensity and duration were measured from vowels in stressed and non-stressed syllables. The amount of creaky voice was also calculated. The measurements were examined using statistical methods: variance analysis of repeated measures and logistic regression analysis. Results and conclusions: The results revealed new information about the effects of small rooms and short distances on speech. Results showed that fundamental frequency and intensity increases as a function of distance. The differences between distances were statistically significant, but there were no statistically significant differences between two small room. Creaky voice was also strongly affected by distance. Logistic regression analysis predicted creaky voice for very short distances. According to this study and these findings, it seems that the speaker monitors his or her speech even when the distances are quite short. This research gives new information about speaking in small rooms and everyday speaking distances. These findings could be used in room design and voice training.
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(Helsingfors universitet, 2016)Goals The aim of this study was to examine how prosodic features affect the perception of prominence with Finnish participants. In more detail, the focus of the study was on the strength and hierarchy of four different acoustic features, length, intensity, fundamental frequency and its dynamic movement. These are examined for the first time in the same experiment. Addition to the acoustic features, the order of the stimuli is also considered to have an effect on perceived prominence. Generally, the phenomena of speech perception have been explained with both universal theories and language specific features, which could affect the perception differently for speakers from different language backgrounds. Method This experiment had two parts. First part of the test included 200 stimuli which all consisted of three sounds. The stimuli were synthetic, word-like stimuli, approximately 300 milliseconds long and varied randomly with regard to the acoustic features of length, intensity, fundamental frequency and its dynamicity. The second part of the test included 200 stimuli with three sound sequences, that were manipulated from the 300 ms long sound into syllable-like, approximately 100 millisecond long sounds. Altogether 24 informants took part in the experiment (14 for the first part, 15 for the second) and they judged which one of the three sound stood out from the others. The answers were analysed with a linear mixed-effect model. Results and conclusions Based on this experiment, fundamental frequency and length of the stimuli were the most important features of perceived prominence for Finnish speakers. Dynamicity of the pitch and intensity of the stimuli were not statistically significant features. It's possible that the influence of pitch height is so great that it overrides the other features possible impacts on perceived prominence
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2020)Tavoitteet: Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan virolaisten puhuman suomen prosodisia piirteitä suomalaisiin verrattuna. Kummatkin ovat kvantiteettikieliä ja sukukieliä, mutta virolaisten puhuman suomen tunnistaa silti kuulonvaraisesti vierasperäiseksi. Viron kolme kvantiteettia voisi olettaa ilmenevän jollain tavalla heidän lukemassaan suomen kielessä. Tarkoituksena on kehittää tutkijaa helpottava visuaalinen tarkastelutapa kielierojen löytämiseksi puheenanalyysiohjelma Praatin avulla. Päätutkimuskysymyksenä oli voidaanko virolaisten puhumista suomen sanoista löytää sellaisia perustaajuus- ja intensiteetti- sekä kestoeroavaisuuksia, että ne näkyvät akustisissa mittauksissa eivätkä jää vain kuulijan mielipiteen varaan. Menetelmät ja aineisto: Tutkimuksessa on käytetty Usix-hankkeen (nro 3204/31/01) Puhujantunnistus-alihankkeessa äänitettyä materiaalia (Helsingin yliopiston hanke nro 460325). (TEKESin rahoituspäätökset 40285/00, 40406/01 ja 40238/02, Helsingin yliopiston hanketunnus 460325.) Näkökulmaksi on valittu instrumentaalis-foneettinen tarkastelutapa. Puhujiksi valittiin kuusi suomalaista ja kuusi virolaista puhujaa. Koehenkilöt lukivat saman tekstin ja se äänitettiin laadukkaalla mikrofonilla studio-olosuhteissa. Koeaineistoksi valittiin erityisesti vierasperäisiltä kuulostavat sanat virolaisilta puhujilta ja sen jälkeen vastaavat suomalaisilta. Tutkittavia sanoja oli lopulta 32 puhujaa kohden. Näistä sanoista piirrettiin Praat-ohjelmalla visuaalinen esitys. Kuvantamistavassa on spektraaliset ominaisuudet nähtävissä yhtä aikaa perustaajuus- ja intensiteettitiedon kanssa. Perustaajuus ja intensiteettimittauksia tehtiin sanoista, tavuista ja ensitavun ytimestä. Praat-ohjelman tuottama tieto saatiin puoliautomaattisesti tilasto-ohjelmiin. Prosodisia muutoksia pyrittiin kuvaamaan absoluuttisten arvojen lisäksi tasainen, laskeva ja nouseva -malleilla, joiden arviointi perustui puolisäveliin. Lisäksi tehtiin joitakin kestomittauksia ensitavun vokaaleista tavutyypeittäin. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset: Praat-ohjelman tuottama kuvantamistapa on informatiivinen ja toimii tutkijan apuvälineenä. Virolaisten puhujien lukema suomi on kaikilta osiltaan perustaajuudeltaan vaihtelevampaa suomalaisiin verrattuna. Tavutasolla muutoksen suunta on joko nouseva tai laskeva, kun se suomalaisella on ennemmin tasainen. Ero voi tapahtua tavun ytimen tasolla, mutta on selvimmin havaittavissa hieman pidemmästä jaksosta. Yksittäisissä sanoissa on kestoeroa hitaamman lukemisen vuoksi, mutta sitä ei pystytty tässä tutkimuksessa yhdistämään taustakielten erilaiseen kvantiteettiin. Jatkossa olisi kiinnostavaa tehdä laajemmat tilastolliset analyysit ja pohtia myös muita kieliä puhujan lähtökieleksi. Kielenopetusnäkökulmasta voisi tarkastella puhujia, jotka jo osaavat kieltä jonkin verran ja haluavat oppia parempaa ääntämystä.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2020)Aikaisemmassa tutkimuksessa on huomattu, että osa autismin kirjon diagnoosin saaneista puhujista tuottavat prosodialtaan epätyypillistä puhetta. Tällaisia puhetyylejä on subjektiivisten havaintojen perusteella ainakin kolme. Tässä tutkielmassa oli tavoitteena selvittää, löytyykö näitä puhujatyyppejä datasta, ja onko sen selvittämiseen kehitetty metodi toimiva. Lisäksi autistista puhetta verrattiin kontrolliaineistoon. Puheen prosodia pitää sisällään puheen suprasegmentaaliset, eli tavua pidempikestoiset elementit. Prosodian avulla puhetta jäsennellään järkeviksi informaatiokokonaisuuksiksi, ja sen keinoin puhuja voi ilmaista tunnetilojaan ja asenteitaan. Toisin sanoen puheen prosodisten piirteiden oikeaoppinen tuottaminen sekä havaitseminen on tärkeää keskustelijoiden välisen yhteisymmärryksen kannalta. Autismin kirjo kattaa monta neurokehityksellistä häiriötä, joille kaikille on ominaista kommunikoinnin haasteet. Autististen henkilöiden on todettu käyttävän puheessaan poikkeavia prosodisia piirteitä. Heidän puhettaan on kuvailtu perinteisesti joko monotoniseksi tai laulumaiseksi. Aineistona käytettiin autististen poikien (n = 7) autenttisista ryhmäterapiatilanteista nauhoitettuja äänitallenteita, sekä tutkimusta varten konstruoitua äänitallennetta neurotyypillisesti kehittyneiden suomenkielisten varhaisnuorten poikien (n = 6) keskustelutilaisuudesta. Tutkimus oli kvantitatiivinen, ja se koostui akustisesta analyysistä sekä tilastollisesta tarkasteluosuudesta. Äänitallenteista eroteltiin puhunnokset puhujan mukaan, ja puhunnoksista mitattiin perustaajuuden muutoksen määrä ajassa, perustaajuusvaihtelu, puhunnoksen pituus, fonaation kesto, puhenopeus sekä narinan suhteellinen osuus. Ensin autismikirjon poikien puhetta verrattiin keskenään perustaajuuden muutoksen (per sekunti) ja perustaajuusvaihtelun suhteen. Näiden tulosten perusteella heidät jaettiin kolmeen ryhmään, joiden eroja lähdettiin tarkemmin selvittämään sekä pääkomponenttianalyysin keinoin että tarkastelemalla eroja tilastollisin keinoin. Tämän lisäksi autismikirjon ryhmän tuloksia verrattiin kontrolliryhmän tuloksiin. Tutkimuksessa saatiin selville, että autistikirjon puheaineistosta löytyi kolme prosodisesti erilaista puhujatyyppiä, ja uusi metodi, jossa verrataan puheen perustaajuuden muutosta ajassa perustaajuuden vaihteluun, vaikuttaa tulosten perusteella lupaavalta. Lisäksi autismikirjon ja kontrolliryhmän välillä löytyi tilastollisesti merkitseviä eroja kaikkien muiden muuttujien paitsi puhenopeuden suhteen. Jatkossa tutkimusta voisi kehittää suuremmalla otoskoolla, ja lisäämällä akustisia muuttujia aineistoon. Olisi myös mielenkiintoista tutkia, erottaako naiivi kuulija prosodiatyypit toisistaan, ja mikä hänen havaintoonsa vaikuttaa. Lisäksi on epäselvää, onko ilmiö universaali vai kielikohtainen.
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(Helsingfors universitet, 2015)The aim of the study was to determine, which of the prosodic parameters (duration, pitch, intensity) influence whether a pair of words is perceived as a compound or a phrase. I also investigated how three different focus conditions (sentence stress) interact with the perception. The conditions were broad focus, narrow focus on the first noun and narrow focus of the second noun. Three speakers were recorded. They read sentences in which three different focus conditions were produced. The method used was two-alternative forced choise (2AFC), in which the participants answered, whether they had heard a compound or a phrase. A generalized linear mixed-effects model was used in which participants' answers were compared to correct answers. The acoustical measurements were also taken into account. The study revealed that the intensity changes between two words affected the decision. Also the changes in the pitch between two words had an effect on the decision. These findings were statistically significant. The narrow focus on the first noun was partly produced by changing the duration difference between the vowels. The statistical model also revealed that the pair of the words one of the speakers produced was perceived differently compared to the sentences of two other speakers; revealing that the individuals may have different strategies for producing prosodic phenomena.
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(Peter Lang, 2009)
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(2013)This paper examines one aspect of turn-taking organization in institutional interactions: the use of first names and their prosodic marking for next-speaker selection. Institutional interaction is characterized by asymmetrical rights to talk and pre-allocation of action. This involves the restriction of one party to asking questions and the other to responding to them. The analysis focuses on two of these multiparty formal situations: co-present classroom participants and live interactive television broadcast with remote participants. In each context, turn allocation is determined by one party: the teacher or TV host. After asking a question as a sequence-initiating action, the teacher or host designates the next speaker by name. The use of first names is situatedly examined in terms of turn-taking organization and prosodic characteristics. The study examines how the prosodic marking is context-sensitive: do the participants have visual access to each other’s actions and how is a name used to attract attention? This paper analyses the formation and maintaining of a mutual orientation towards a single conversational action: selecting and giving the floor to a co-participant of the conversation in an institutional framework. These detailed descriptions of the sequential order are based on ethnomethodologically-informed conversation analysis. The objective is to compare four “single cases”, preserving the specificities and “whatness” of each excerpt.
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(2014)Speakers use intonation in order to group spoken sentences together into larger units. One such grouping is often referred to as “paragraph intonation.” One of its principal characteristics is that the beginning of a new speech paragraph is marked with a high pitch level at the beginning of the first spoken sentence. This phenomenon is called “pitch reset.” The present article discusses the role of the pitch reset in Finnish data coming from two situations where conference-like monologous presentations are being interpreted by professional print interpreters. “Print interpreting” is a mode of communication where the speech is being simultaneously transferred into written form so that deaf and hard-of-hearing people can have access to it. The study shows, on the one hand, that the pitch reset phenomenon can be found also in Finnish data. On the other hand, the results show that the pitch reset constitutes a prosodic sign that almost always leads to a paragraph division in the written target text. This implies that the print interpreters treat speech paragraphs as topical units, and that the pitch reset plays an important role in the structuring of discourse. The study is mainly based on Wichmann’s (2000) approach, which constitutes an interface between discourse analysis and intonation studies.
