Speaking style

tutorial 8

“Sentence function is denoted primarily through intonation using nuclear tones” Changing the nuclear tone through fundamental frequency alone is largely successful! However, there are some missing aspects which make for a somewhat less-than-natural sounding result: creaky voice with falling intonation increased duration for narrow focus increased amplitude for narrow focus increased modal voicing for narrow focus

terminology

linguistics what is spoken segments syllables words prosody sentences meaning paralinguistics how it’s spoken speaking style emotion extralinguistics who is speaking physiology speaker identity

Linguistic activity is communicative behaviour using the coding system of human language. Paralinguistic activity is communicative behaviour that is non-linguistic but nevertheless coded. Paralinguistic communication informs the receiver about the speakers feelings, attitude, or emotional state. Extralinguistic activity is what remains in the speech signal after the communicative elements are removed. Extralinguistic aspects contain information about the identity of the speaker, habitual aspects of the speaker’s voice quality, pitch range, and loudness.

Clear speech strategies

Speaking more slowly Articulating segments more carefully Raising vocal intensity by increased lung pressure by using modal phonation Raising pitch often by-product of increased lung pressure Increasing pitch variation

Speaking styles summary

We can often identify the communicative situation from which speech is collected Some phonetic characteristics of speech must vary systematically with context Most research has looked at “clear speech” since this has may applications in the “real world”: telephony, public address systems, second language learning, text-to-speech systems, aids for hearing impaired, etc.

Problems with studying emotional speech

It is difficult to get recordings of genuine emotions since they occur in natural settings which are unlikely to be recorded (and even then we can’t be sure of the actual emotion felt by the speaker) It is considered unethical to actually make speakers, e.g. “afraid” or “angry”, just so we can investigate their speech for science Acted speech may be caricature rather than an expression of genuine emotions (and actors vary in how well they express emotions) Speakers vary in how they express the same emotion Speakers expressing an emotional “type” will also differ in the degree of emotional “arousal”

Collecting and analyzing emotional speech

Collection of recordings Acted emotions Elicited emotions Found emotions Acoustic parameters Prosody features: pitch height and range, energy level and range, speaking rate Source features: irregularity & breathiness of voice quality Filter features: size and structure of spectral “space” used in speech, rate of change of spectrum.

Valence-Activation space

Valence positive or negative Activation the speaker’s “disposition to take some action”

Emotion summary

As humans, we are generally quite good at identifying the emotional state of the speaker from their speech Some phonetic characteristics of speech must vary systematically with emotion Since these characteristics are systematic, we can study them However different emotions can have similar phonetic effects There are a number of theoretical, practical, and ethical difficulties in studying emotion in speech Emotional speech varies at least in terms of valence and activation

Physiology summary

Our psychological and physiological state may influence the way we speak Some phonetic characteristics of speech may vary systematically with physiological state Since these characteristics are systematic, we can study them Issue: a lot of variation across individuals An interesting area for studies in monitoring well-being from changes to characteristics of the voice, e.g., automated diagnosis

Age, intoxication, fatigue, cognitive load, stress

Summary

Paralinguistics is the study of how speech is spoken (largely under the speaker’s control) Extralinguistics is the study of who is speaking (largely not under the speaker’s control) Speaking style research: studies speech variation related to demands of intelligibility, familiarity, and formality Emotional speech varies at least in terms of valence and activation Research on emotional speech is particularly difficult since it is hard to manipulate genuine emotions in a controlled manner Physiological changes can also affect speech in predictable ways