SuprasegmentalsSuprasegmentals

SegmentalSegmental refers to phonemes and allophones and their refers to phonemes and allophones and their

attributesattributesSupra- or extra-segmentalSupra- or extra-segmental

Elements that transcend or extends across Elements that transcend or extends across segmental boundariessegmental boundaries

SuprasegmentalsSuprasegmentals

Speech has…Speech has…MelodyMelody

IntonationIntonationRhythmRhythm

StressStressTempoTempo

Rate and/or durationRate and/or durationQuantityQuantity

Prosody

IntonationIntonation

Intonation contourIntonation contourFF00 changes over time changes over time

Intonation contour marksIntonation contour marksGrammatical informationGrammatical information

Phrase boundariesPhrase boundariesSentence typeSentence type

Affective informationAffective informationEmotionEmotion

Grammatical InformationGrammatical Information

Marking phrase boundariesMarking phrase boundariesFF00 declination declination

Marking sentence typeMarking sentence typeStatement vs. questionStatement vs. question ““overide” Foveride” F00 declination declination

Marking Phrase BoundariesMarking Phrase BoundariesF

0

Time

Sou

nd

Pre

ssur

e

Why does FWhy does F00 decline toward the end of decline toward the end of

a phrase?a phrase?

Some possible explanationsSome possible explanationsLinguistic explanationLinguistic explanationPhysiologic explanationPhysiologic explanation

Time

Fre

quen

cyF

0S

ound

P

ress

ure

Marking Sentence TypesMarking Sentence Types

Marking EmotionMarking Emotion

Clinical ExampleClinical Example

Healthy Male Control Hypokinetic dysarthria

StressStress

Syllabic stressSyllabic stressPrimary, secondary and tertiary stressPrimary, secondary and tertiary stress

Lexical stressLexical stresse.g. noun-verb distinction for “import” e.g. noun-verb distinction for “import”

Emphatic stressEmphatic stressHighlight a word in a phraseHighlight a word in a phrase

StressStress

Related to “effort”Related to “effort”Acoustic correlatesAcoustic correlates

Complex perceptComplex perceptFundamental frequencyFundamental frequencyIntensityIntensityDurationDuration

Syllabic stressSyllabic stressF

requ

ency

F0

Sou

nd

Pre

ssur

e

OBject obJECT

TempoTempo

Rate/durational aspects of speechRate/durational aspects of speechRelative rate/durational measuresRelative rate/durational measures

Relative duration within a phrase/utteranceRelative duration within a phrase/utterance

Absolute rate/durational measuresAbsolute rate/durational measuresSpeech rateSpeech rateArticulation timeArticulation timePause timePause timeArticulation rateArticulation rate

Relative DurationRelative Duration

Selected Contextual considerationsSelected Contextual considerations

Marking grammatical eventsMarking grammatical eventsPhrase final lengtheningPhrase final lengthening

Phonetic influencesPhonetic influencesLocal phonetic environmentLocal phonetic environment

Vowel duration preceding voiced consonantsVowel duration preceding voiced consonants Consonant clustersConsonant clusters

Marking RhythmMarking RhythmStressStress

“pod”

Vowel=303 msec

“pot”

Vowel=221 msec

Vowel duration preceding Vowel duration preceding consonantsconsonants

Speech TempoSpeech Tempo

Typically expressed as # of speech Typically expressed as # of speech elements/timeelements/time

Typically expressed as syllables/sec or Typically expressed as syllables/sec or words/syllables per minutewords/syllables per minute

Can be quite variable depending on Can be quite variable depending on communication pressurescommunication pressures

Quite variable from person to personQuite variable from person to person Habitual speech rate is somewhat stable Habitual speech rate is somewhat stable

within a speakerwithin a speaker

Tempo MeasuresTempo Measures

Speaking rateSpeaking rate Number of syllables/words/total speaking timeNumber of syllables/words/total speaking time Can be informative about overall rate of information Can be informative about overall rate of information

transfertransfer

Tempo MeasuresTempo Measures Articulation timeArticulation time

Duration occupied by speech-related acoustic energyDuration occupied by speech-related acoustic energy Pause timePause time

Duration between “runs” of speech-related acoustic Duration between “runs” of speech-related acoustic energyenergy

Associated with inspiration and/or syntactic Associated with inspiration and/or syntactic boundariesboundaries

Operational definitions often require pause time to be Operational definitions often require pause time to be at least 200-250 msecat least 200-250 msec

Articulation rateArticulation rate Number of syllables or words/articulation timeNumber of syllables or words/articulation time

Different forms of rate deviationDifferent forms of rate deviation

Fast speech rate: hypokinetic dysarthria

Slow speech rate 1: ALS

Slow speech rate 2: ALS

Slow speech rate 3: ALS

Acoustic ComparisonAcoustic Comparison

IntelligibilityIntelligibility

Estimate of how well the speaker is Estimate of how well the speaker is understoodunderstood

Ways to estimate intelligibilityWays to estimate intelligibilityScaling methodsScaling methodsTranscription/forced choice tasksTranscription/forced choice tasks

Word levelWord levelSentence levelSentence level

Words vs. SentencesWords vs. Sentences

WordsWords If constructed properly, can provide If constructed properly, can provide

information about “goodness” of phonetic information about “goodness” of phonetic contrasts contrasts

e.g. target: “coat” foils: “goat”, “code”, “tote” e.g. target: “coat” foils: “goat”, “code”, “tote” SentencesSentences

perhaps an increased face validityperhaps an increased face validityAllows contextual cuesAllows contextual cues Incorporates some suprasegmental factorsIncorporates some suprasegmental factors

Communication EfficiencyCommunication Efficiency

some have attempted to estimate the some have attempted to estimate the efficiency of communicationefficiency of communication

CombiningCombiningSpeech rateSpeech rate IntelligibilityIntelligibility i.e. intelligible syllables per second (or i.e. intelligible syllables per second (or

syllables/words per minute)syllables/words per minute)