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Pitch Tracking + Prosody. January 19, 2012. Homework!. For Tuesday: introductory course project report Background information on your consultant and the language they speak. For Thursday: Digital Signal Processing exercises!. A Typology.
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Pitch Tracking + Prosody January 19, 2012
Homework! • For Tuesday: introductory course project report • Background information on your consultant and the language they speak. • For Thursday: Digital Signal Processing exercises!
A Typology • F0 is generally used in three different ways in language: 1. Tone languages (Chinese, Navajo, Igbo) • Lexically determined tone on every syllable • “Syllable-based” tone languages 2. Accentual languages (Japanese, Swedish) • The location of an accent in a particular word is lexically marked. • “Word-based” tone languages 3. Stress languages (English, Russian) • It’s complicated.
Mandarin Tone • Mandarin (Chinese) is a classic example of a tone language. ma1: mother ma2: hemp ma3: horse ma4: to scold
How to Transcribe Tone • Tones are defined by the pattern they make through a speaker’s frequency range. • The frequency range is usually assumed to encompass five levels (1-5). • (although this can vary, depending on the language) Highest F0 5 4 3 2 Lowest F0 1
Tone 1 2 3 4 • In Mandarin, tones span a frequency range of 1-5 • Each tone is denoted by its (numerical) path through the frequency range • Each syllable can also be labeled with a tone number (e.g., ma1, ma2, ma3, ma4)
How to Transcribe Tone • Tone is relative • i.e., not absolute • Each speaker has a unique frequency range. For example: Male Female 200 Hz Highest F0 5 350 Hz 4 3 2 100 Hz Lowest F0 150 Hz 1
General Relativity • In ordinary conversation, for European languages (Fant, 1956) : • Men have an average F0 of 120 Hz • A range of 50-250 Hz • Women have an average F0 of 220 Hz • A range of 120-480 Hz • Children have an average F0 of 330 Hz • In a normal utterance, the F0 range is usually one octave. • i.e., highest F0 = 2 * lowest F0
Relativity, in Reality • The same tones may be denoted by completely different frequencies, depending on the speaker. • Tone is an abstract linguistic unit. female speaker ma, tone 1 (55) male speaker
Accent Languages • In accent languages, there is only one pitch accent associated with each word. • The pitch accent is realized on only one syllable in the word. • The other syllables in the word can have no accent. • Accent is lexically determined, so there can be minimal pairs. • Japanese is a pitch accent language… • for some, but not all, words • for some, but not all, dialects
Japanese • Japanese words have one High accent • it attaches to one “mora” in the word • A mora = a vowel, or a consonant following a vowel, within a syllable. • For example: • [ni] ‘two’ has one mora. • [san] ‘three’ has two morae. • The first mora, if not accented, has a Low F0. • Morae following the accent have Low F0. It’s actually slightly more complicated than this; for more info, see: http://sp.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/sp/lesson/j/doc/accent.html
Japanese Examples • asa ‘morning’ H-L • asa ‘hemp’ L-H
“chopsticks” H-L-L • “bridge” L-H-L • “edge” L-H-H
Stress Languages • Stress is a suprasegmental property that applies to whole syllables. • It is defined by more than just differences in F0. • Stressed syllables are higher in pitch (usually) • Stressed syllables are longer (usually) • Stressed syllables are louder (usually) • Stressed syllables reflect more phonetic effort. • More aspiration, less coarticulation in stressed syllables. • Vowels often reduce to schwa in unstressed syllables. • The combination of these factors give stressed syllables more prominence than unstressed syllables.
Stress: Pitch • (N) • (V) Complicating factor: pitch tends to drift downwards at the end of utterances
Intonation • Languages superimpose pitch contours on top of word-based stress or tone distinctions. • This is called intonation. • It turns out that English: • has word-based stress • and phrase-based pitch accents (intonation) • The pitch accents are pragmatically specified, rather than lexically specified. • = they change according to discourse context.
English Intonation • We’ll analyze English intonation with a framework called TOBI • Tones and Break Indices • Note: intonational patterns vary across dialects • The patterns and examples presented today might not match up with your own intonational system • Also: this framework has only been applied to a few (primarily western) languages • Check out the following: • http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~tobi/ • Course in Phonetics, pp. 99-107 • Mary Beckman’s notes
Levels of Prominence • In English, pitch accents align with stressed syllables. • Example: “exploitation” • vowel X X X X • full vowel X X X • stress X X • pitch accent X • Normally, the accent falls on the last stressed syllable.
Pitch Accent Types • In English, pitch accents can be either high or low • H* or L* • Examples: High (H*) Low (L*) • Yes. Yes? • H* L* • Magnification. Magnification? • As with tones in tone languages, “high” and “low” pitch accents are defined relative to a speaker’s pitch range. • My pitch range: H* = 155 Hz L* = 100 Hz • Mary Beckman: H* = 260 Hz L* = 130 Hz
Whole Utterances • The same pitch pattern can apply to an entire sentence: • H* • H*: Manny came with Anna. • L* • L*: Manny came with Anna? • H* • H*: Marianna made the marmalade. • L* • L*: Marianna made the marmalade?
Information • Note that there’s a tendency to accent new information in the discourse. • 4 different patterns for 4 different contexts: • H* • H*: Manny came with Anna. • H* • H*: Manny came with Anna. • L* • L*: Manny came with Anna? • L* • L*: Manny came with Anna?
Pitch Tracking • H* is usually associated with a peak in F0; • L* is usually associated with a valley (trough) in F0 • Pitch tracking can help with the identification of pitch peaks and valleys. • Note: it’s easier to analyze utterances with lots of sonorants. • Check out both productions of “Manny came with Anna” in Praat. • Note that there is more to the intonation contour than just pitch peaks and valleys • The H* is followed by a falling pitch pattern • The L* is followed by a rising pitch pattern
Tone Types • There are two types of tones at play: • Pitch Accents • associated with a stressed syllable • may be either High (H) or Low (L) • marked with a * • Boundary Tones • appear at the end of a phrase • not associated with a particular syllable • may be either High (H) or Low (L) • marked with a %
Tone Transcription L* H%
Phrases • Intonation organizes utterances into phrases • “chunks” • Boundary tones mark the end of intonational phrases • Intonational phrases are the largest phrases • In the transcription of intonation, phrase boundaries are marked with Break Indices • Hence, TOBI: Tones and Break Indices • Break Indices are denoted by numbers • 1 = break between words • 4 = break between intonational phrases
Break Index Transcription Tones: L* H% Breaks: 1 1 1 4