DOCSLIB.ORG

THE DEVELOPMENT of ACCENTED ENGLISH SYNTHETIC VOICES By

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE DEVELOPMENT of ACCENTED ENGLISH SYNTHETIC VOICES By THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACCENTED ENGLISH SYNTHETIC VOICES by PROMISE TSHEPISO MALATJI DISSERTATION Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in COMPUTER SCIENCE in the FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE (School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences) at the UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO SUPERVISOR: Mr MJD Manamela CO-SUPERVISOR: Dr TI Modipa 2019 DEDICATION In memory of my grandparents, Cecilia Khumalo and Alfred Mashele, who always believed in me! ii DECLARATION I declare that THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACCENTED ENGLISH SYNTHETIC VOICES is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references and that this work has not been submitted before for any other degree at any other institution. ______________________ ___________ Signature Date iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to recognise the following people for their individual contributions to this dissertation: • My brother, Mr B.I. Khumalo and the whole family for the unconditional love, support and understanding. • A distinct thank you to both my supervisors, Mr M.J.D. Manamela and Dr T.I. Modipa, for their guidance, motivation, and support. • The Telkom Centre of Excellence for Speech Technology for providing the resources and support to make this study a success. • My colleagues in Department of Computer Science, Messrs V.R. Baloyi and L.M. Kola, for always motivating me. • A special thank you to Mr T.J. Sefara for taking his time to participate in the study. • The six Computer Science undergraduate students who sacrificed their precious time to participate in data collection. • All the volunteers who evaluated the work done in the study. • Above all, I thank the Almighty God for gracing me with the ability to start and finish this study. And also for blessing me with the supportive people around me. iv ABSTRACT A Text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis system is a software system that receives text as input and produces speech as output. A TTS synthesis system can be used for, amongst others, language learning, and reading out text for people living with different disabilities, i.e., physically challenged, visually impaired, etc., by native and non-native speakers of the target language. Most people relate easily to a second language spoken by a non-native speaker they share a native language with. Most online English TTS synthesis systems are usually developed using native speakers of English. This research study focuses on developing accented English synthetic voices as spoken by non-native speakers in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The Modular Architecture for Research on speech sYnthesis (MARY) TTS engine is used in developing the synthetic voices. The Hidden Markov Model (HMM) method was used to train the synthetic voices. Secondary training text corpus is used to develop the training speech corpus by recording six speakers reading the text corpus. The quality of developed synthetic voices is measured in terms of their intelligibility, similarity and naturalness using a listening test. The results in the research study are classified based on evaluators’ occupation and gender and the overall results. The subjective listening test indicates that the developed synthetic voices have a high level of acceptance in terms of similarity and intelligibility. A speech analysis software is used to compare the recorded synthesised speech and the human recordings. There is no significant difference in the voice pitch of the speakers and the synthetic voices except for one synthetic voice. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ..................................................................................................... II DECLARATION ................................................................................................ III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. IV ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ V TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... VI LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................. X LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................... XIII ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ........................................................... XIV CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 1.1. Background of the Problem ............................................................... 1 1.2. Problem Statement .............................................................................. 2 1.3. Aim and Objectives ............................................................................. 2 1.3.1 Data collection ................................................................................ 3 1.3.2 Voice development ......................................................................... 3 1.3.3 Voice testing ................................................................................... 3 1.3.4 Avail voices ..................................................................................... 3 1.4. Theoretical Framework ....................................................................... 3 1.4.1. Training Stage ................................................................................ 4 1.4.2. Synthesis Stage .............................................................................. 5 1.5. Significance of the Study ................................................................... 6 1.6. Structure of the Dissertation .............................................................. 7 CHAPTER 2 ....................................................................................................... 8 vi 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 8 2.1. Introduction ......................................................................................... 8 2.2. Native Speakers versus Non-native Speakers .................................. 8 2.3. Text-to-speech (TTS) Synthesis System ......................................... 10 2.3.1. Modern TTS Synthesis Systems ................................................... 10 2.3.2. Development of TTS Synthesis System ....................................... 11 2.3.3. TTS Synthesis Platforms .............................................................. 15 2.3.4. Usage of TTS Synthesis System .................................................. 18 2.3.5. TTS Synthesis System Evaluation ................................................ 19 2.3.6. TTS Synthesis System for Non-native Speakers .......................... 19 2.4. Summary ............................................................................................ 20 CHAPTER 3 ..................................................................................................... 21 3. THE MARY TTS SYNTHESIS SYSTEM AND VOICE DEVELOPMENT EXPERIMENTS. ............................................................................................... 21 3.1. Introduction ....................................................................................... 21 3.2. MARY TTS Synthesis System and Software Packages ................. 21 3.3. Synthetic Voices Experiments ......................................................... 23 3.3.1. voice_slt ........................................................................................ 23 3.3.2. voice_lwazi ................................................................................... 24 3.3.3. voice_rms ..................................................................................... 26 3.3.4. voice_sltmodified .......................................................................... 26 3.4. South African English ....................................................................... 26 3.5. Data Collection .................................................................................. 30 3.5.1. Xitsonga Female ........................................................................... 33 3.5.2. Tshivenda Female ........................................................................ 34 3.5.3. Sepedi Female.............................................................................. 34 3.5.4. Xitsonga Male ............................................................................... 35 3.5.5. Tshivenda Male ............................................................................ 35 3.5.6. Sepedi Male .................................................................................. 35 vii 3.6. Development of Accented Voices .................................................... 38 3.6.1. Voice xitsonga_female .................................................................. 38 3.6.2. Voice tshivenda_female ................................................................ 41 3.6.3. Voice sepedi_female .................................................................... 42 3.6.4. Voice xitsonga_male ..................................................................... 42 3.6.5. Voice tshivenda_male ................................................................... 43 3.6.6. Voice sepedi_male ....................................................................... 44 3.7. MARY Graphic User
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gender, Ethnicity, and Identity in Virtual
    Virtual Pop: Gender, Ethnicity, and Identity in Virtual Bands and Vocaloid Alicia Stark Cardiff University School of Music 2018 Presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv INTRODUCTION 7 EXISTING STUDIES OF VIRTUAL BANDS 9 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 13 METHODOLOGY 19 THESIS STRUCTURE 30 CHAPTER 1: ‘YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY:’ THE HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGIES OF VIRTUAL BANDS 36 CATEGORIES OF VIRTUAL BANDS 37 AN ANIMATED ANTHOLOGY – THE RISE IN POPULARITY OF ANIMATION 42 ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS… 44 …AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 49 VIRTUAL BANDS FOR ALL AGES, AVAILABLE ON YOUR TV 54 VIRTUAL BANDS IN OTHER TYPES OF MEDIA 61 CREATING THE VOICE 69 REPRODUCING THE BODY 79 CONCLUSION 86 CHAPTER 2: ‘ALMOST UNREAL:’ TOWARDS A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR VIRTUAL BANDS 88 DEFINING REALITY AND VIRTUAL REALITY 89 APPLYING THEORIES OF ‘REALNESS’ TO VIRTUAL BANDS 98 UNDERSTANDING MULTIMEDIA 102 APPLYING THEORIES OF MULTIMEDIA TO VIRTUAL BANDS 110 THE VOICE IN VIRTUAL BANDS 114 AGENCY: TRANSFORMATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY 120 CONCLUSION 133 CHAPTER 3: ‘INSIDE, OUTSIDE, UPSIDE DOWN:’ GENDER AND ETHNICITY IN VIRTUAL BANDS 135 GENDER 136 ETHNICITY 152 CASE STUDIES: DETHKLOK, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS, STUDIO KILLERS 159 CONCLUSION 179 CHAPTER 4: ‘SPITTING OUT THE DEMONS:’ GORILLAZ’ CREATION STORY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHENTICITY 181 ACADEMIC DISCOURSE ON GORILLAZ 187 MASCULINITY IN GORILLAZ 191 ETHNICITY IN GORILLAZ 200 GORILLAZ FANDOM 215 CONCLUSION 225
    [Show full text]
  • Cape Flats English'i
    The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University , II , Focusing and Diffusion inI 'Cape Flats English'I A sociophonetic study of three vowels Justin Brown (BRWJUS002) A minor dissertation submitted in partial fullfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics Faculty of the Humanities UniversityUniversity of of Cape Cape Town Town January 20122 COMPULSORY DECLARATION This work has not been previously submittedIII"\I"II'HIT.c.1'II in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature:, ________________Date: _____ Abstract This research contributes to the wider fields of sociophonetics and the social dialectology of English in South Africa. The study looks at three vowel sets; GOOSE, BATH and KIT taken from Wells (1982). The study was designed to identify and attempt to explain potential differences in pronunciation amongst speakers in an English-speaking community living in Cape Town and classified as 'Coloured' during apartheid. The community in question has used English as their first language for several generations and has enjoyed some of the economic advantages attached to this while at the same time being the victims (historically) of discrimination and marginalization.
    [Show full text]
  • English in South Africa: Effective Communication and the Policy Debate
    ENGLISH IN SOUTH AFRICA: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND THE POLICY DEBATE INAUGURAL LECTURE DELIVERED AT RHODES UNIVERSITY on 19 May 1993 by L.S. WRIGHT BA (Hons) (Rhodes), MA (Warwick), DPhil (Oxon) Director Institute for the Study of English in Africa GRAHAMSTOWN RHODES UNIVERSITY 1993 ENGLISH IN SOUTH AFRICA: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND THE POLICY DEBATE INAUGURAL LECTURE DELIVERED AT RHODES UNIVERSITY on 19 May 1993 by L.S. WRIGHT BA (Hons) (Rhodes), MA (Warwick), DPhil (Oxon) Director Institute for the Study of English in Africa GRAHAMSTOWN RHODES UNIVERSITY 1993 First published in 1993 by Rhodes University Grahamstown South Africa ©PROF LS WRIGHT -1993 Laurence Wright English in South Africa: Effective Communication and the Policy Debate ISBN: 0-620-03155-7 No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Mr Vice Chancellor, my former teachers, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen: It is a special privilege to be asked to give an inaugural lecture before the University in which my undergraduate days were spent and which holds, as a result, a special place in my affections. At his own "Inaugural Address at Edinburgh" in 1866, Thomas Carlyle observed that "the true University of our days is a Collection of Books".1 This definition - beloved of university library committees worldwide - retains a certain validity even in these days of microfiche and e-mail, but it has never been remotely adequate. John Henry Newman supplied the counterpoise: . no book can convey the special spirit and delicate peculiarities of its subject with that rapidity and certainty which attend on the sympathy of mind with mind, through the eyes, the look, the accent and the manner.
    [Show full text]
  • Estudios De I+D+I
    ESTUDIOS DE I+D+I Número 51 Proyecto SIRAU. Servicio de gestión de información remota para las actividades de la vida diaria adaptable a usuario Autor/es: Catalá Mallofré, Andreu Filiación: Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña Contacto: Fecha: 2006 Para citar este documento: CATALÁ MALLOFRÉ, Andreu (Convocatoria 2006). “Proyecto SIRAU. Servicio de gestión de información remota para las actividades de la vida diaria adaptable a usuario”. Madrid. Estudios de I+D+I, nº 51. [Fecha de publicación: 03/05/2010]. <http://www.imsersomayores.csic.es/documentos/documentos/imserso-estudiosidi-51.pdf> Una iniciativa del IMSERSO y del CSIC © 2003 Portal Mayores http://www.imsersomayores.csic.es Resumen Este proyecto se enmarca dentro de una de las líneas de investigación del Centro de Estudios Tecnológicos para Personas con Dependencia (CETDP – UPC) de la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña que se dedica a desarrollar soluciones tecnológicas para mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas con discapacidad. Se pretende aprovechar el gran avance que representan las nuevas tecnologías de identificación con radiofrecuencia (RFID), para su aplicación como sistema de apoyo a personas con déficit de distinta índole. En principio estaba pensado para personas con discapacidad visual, pero su uso es fácilmente extensible a personas con problemas de comprensión y memoria, o cualquier tipo de déficit cognitivo. La idea consiste en ofrecer la posibilidad de reconocer electrónicamente los objetos de la vida diaria, y que un sistema pueda presentar la información asociada mediante un canal verbal. Consta de un terminal portátil equipado con un trasmisor de corto alcance. Cuando el usuario acerca este terminal a un objeto o viceversa, lo identifica y ofrece información complementaria mediante un mensaje oral.
    [Show full text]
  • Masterarbeit
    Masterarbeit Erstellung einer Sprachdatenbank sowie eines Programms zu deren Analyse im Kontext einer Sprachsynthese mit spektralen Modellen zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Master of Science vorgelegt dem Fachbereich Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften und Informatik der Technischen Hochschule Mittelhessen Tobias Platen im August 2014 Referent: Prof. Dr. Erdmuthe Meyer zu Bexten Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Keywan Sohrabi Eidesstattliche Erklärung Hiermit versichere ich, die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und unter ausschließlicher Verwendung der angegebenen Literatur und Hilfsmittel erstellt zu haben. Die Arbeit wurde bisher in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form keiner anderen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegt und auch nicht veröffentlicht. 2 Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Einführung7 1.1 Motivation...................................7 1.2 Ziele......................................8 1.3 Historische Sprachsynthesen.........................9 1.3.1 Die Sprechmaschine.......................... 10 1.3.2 Der Vocoder und der Voder..................... 10 1.3.3 Linear Predictive Coding....................... 10 1.4 Moderne Algorithmen zur Sprachsynthese................. 11 1.4.1 Formantsynthese........................... 11 1.4.2 Konkatenative Synthese....................... 12 2 Spektrale Modelle zur Sprachsynthese 13 2.1 Faltung, Fouriertransformation und Vocoder................ 13 2.2 Phase Vocoder................................ 14 2.3 Spectral Model Synthesis........................... 19 2.3.1 Harmonic Trajectories........................ 19 2.3.2 Shape Invariance..........................
    [Show full text]
  • The Pronunciation of English in South Africa by L.W
    The Pronunciation of English in South Africa by L.W. Lanham, Professor Emeritus, Rhodes University, 1996 Introduction There is no one, typical South African English accent as there is one overall Australian English accent. The variety of accents within the society is in part a consequence of the varied regional origins of groups of native English speakers who came to Africa at different times, and in part a consequence of the variety of mother tongues of the different ethnic groups who today use English so extensively that they must be included in the English-using community. The first truly African, native English accent in South Africa evolved in the speech of the children of the 1820 Settlers who came to the Eastern Cape with parents who spoke many English dialects. The pronunciation features which survive are mainly those from south-east England with distinct Cockney associations. The variables (distinctive features of pronunciation) listed under A below may be attributed to this origin. Under B are listed variables of probable Dutch origin reflecting close association and intermarriage with Dutch inhabitants of the Cape. There was much contact with Xhosa people in that area, but the effect of this was almost entirely confined to the vocabulary. (The English which evolved in the Eastern and Central Cape we refer to as Cape English.) The next large settlement from Britain took place in Natal between 1848 and 1862 giving rise to pronunciation variables pointing more to the Midlands and north of England (List C). The Natal settlers had a strong desire to remain English in every aspect of identity, social life, and behaviour.
    [Show full text]
  • Wormed Voice Workshop Presentation
    Wormed Voice Workshop Presentation micro_research December 27, 2017 1 some worm poetry and songs: The WORM was for a long time desirous to speake, but the rule and order of the Court enjoyned him silence, but now strutting and swelling, and impatient, of further delay, he broke out thus... [Michael Maier] He worshipped the worm and prayed to the wormy grave. Serpent Lucifer, how do you do? Of your worms and your snakes I'd be one or two; For in this dear planet of wool and of leather `Tis pleasant to need neither shirt, sleeve, nor shoe, 2 And have arm, leg, and belly together. Then aches your head, or are you lazy? Sing, `Round your neck your belly wrap, Tail-a-top, and make your cap Any bee and daisy. Two pigs' feet, two mens' feet, and two of a hen; Devil-winged; dragon-bellied; grave- jawed, because grass Is a beard that's soon shaved, and grows seldom again worm writing the the the the,eeeronencoug,en sthistit, d.).dupi w m,tinsprsool itav f bometaisp- pav wheaigelic..)a?? orerdi mise we ich'roo bish ftroo htothuloul mespowouklain- duteavshi wn,jis, sownol hof." m,tisorora angsthyedust,es, fofald,junss ownoug brad,)fr m fr,aA?a????ck;A?stelav aly, al is.'rady'lfrdil owoncorara wns t.) sh'r, oof ofr,a? ar,a???????a? fu mo towess,eethen hrtolly-l,."tigolav ict,a???!ol, w..'m,elyelil,tstreamas..n gotaillas.tansstheatsea f mb ispot inici t.) owar.**1 wnshigigholoothtith orsir.tsotic.'m, sotamimoledug imootrdeavet..t,) sh s,tranciror."wn sieee h asinied.tiear wspilotor,) bla av.nicord,ier.dy'et.*tite m.)..*d, hrouceto hie, ig il m, bsomoug,.t.'l,t, olitel bs,.nt,.dotr tat,)aa? htotitedont,j alesil, starar,ja taie ass.nishiceroouldseal fotitoonckysil, m oitispl o anteeeaicowousomirot.
    [Show full text]
  • Voice Synthesizer Application Android
    Voice synthesizer application android Continue The Download Now link sends you to the Windows Store, where you can continue the download process. You need to have an active Microsoft account to download the app. This download may not be available in some countries. Results 1 - 10 of 603 Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next See also: Speech Synthesis Receming Device is an artificial production of human speech. The computer system used for this purpose is called a speech computer or speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware. The text-to-speech system (TTS) converts the usual text of language into speech; other systems display symbolic linguistic representations, such as phonetic transcriptions in speech. Synthesized speech can be created by concatenating fragments of recorded speech that are stored in the database. Systems vary in size of stored speech blocks; The system that stores phones or diphones provides the greatest range of outputs, but may not have clarity. For specific domain use, storing whole words or suggestions allows for high-quality output. In addition, the synthesizer may include a vocal tract model and other characteristics of the human voice to create a fully synthetic voice output. The quality of the speech synthesizer is judged by its similarity to the human voice and its ability to be understood clearly. The clear text to speech program allows people with visual impairments or reading disabilities to listen to written words on their home computer. Many computer operating systems have included speech synthesizers since the early 1990s. A review of the typical TTS Automatic Announcement System synthetic voice announces the arriving train to Sweden.
    [Show full text]
  • Corpus-Based Study on African English Varieties
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Academy Publication Online ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 615-623, May 2017 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0803.22 Corpus-based Study on African English Varieties Xiaohui Xu Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China Abstract—Corpus-based research is more and more used in linguistics. English varieties are used a lot in daily communications throughout the world. African English varieties are discussed in this paper, including West African English, East African English and South African English. Kenya and Tanzania corpus is the main target corpus while Jamaica corpus is used as a comparative one. The tool used is AntConc 3.2.4. Index Terms—corpus, English varieties, African English, pidgins, creoles I. INTRODUCTION A. Standard English There is an agreeable division among scholars that the whole world is divided into three circles: the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle. In the Inner Circle, English is spoken as mother tongue; in the Outer Circle, English is usually spoken as a second language; in the Expanding Circle, English is usually spoken as a foreign language. Standard English is used in books, newspapers, magazines and nearly everything else that appears in print in the English-speaking world. This type of English is called “standard” because it has undergone standardization, which means that it has been subjected to a process through which it has been selected and stabilized, in a way that other varieties have not.
    [Show full text]
  • The Indigenization of English Vowels by Zimbabwean Native Shona Speakers
    African Englishes: The Indigenization of English Vowels by Zimbabwean Native Shona Speakers by Maxwell Kadenge, D.Phil. [email protected] Department of Linguistics, University of the Witwatersrand Maxwell Kadenge (B.A. Hons, D.Phil.) is a Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Zimbabwe. He is currently engaged as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Literature and Language Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand where he is carrying out research on various aspects of the phonological and morphosyntactic structures of Southern Bantu languages and Zimbabwean English. Abstract This research is largely inspired by the increasing literature chronicling the worldwide emergence of “new Englishes” (Deyuan and David, 2009:70), particularly their subtype known as “African Englishes” (Mutonya, 2008:434). Although the variety of English that is spoken in Zimbabwe is clearly a distinct variation of African English, however it has not received significant attention from both theoretical and applied linguists. In this context, this study seeks to critically examine the vocalic characteristics of the variety of English that is predominantly spoken as a second language (L2) in Zimbabwe. In this regard, this exploratory research adopts a highly observational data collection method and qualitative data analysis approach in order to insightfully investigate the influence of native Shona phonology on the pronunciation of English vowels by Shona-English bilinguals. The main focus of this research is to analyze how native English simple monophthongs and complex vowels such as long monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs are pronounced by Shona-English bilinguals. This study shows that first language (L1) Shona speakers employ simplifying strategies such as monophthongization of diphthongs and glide epenthesis in order to reduce English diphthongs and triphthongs to five simple monophthongs corresponding to [i, e, a, o, u].
    [Show full text]
  • Towards Expressive Speech Synthesis in English on a Robotic Platform
    PAGE 130 Towards Expressive Speech Synthesis in English on a Robotic Platform Sigrid Roehling, Bruce MacDonald, Catherine Watson Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Auckland, New Zealand s.roehling, b.macdonald, [email protected] Abstract Affect influences speech, not only in the words we choose, but in the way we say them. This pa- per reviews the research on vocal correlates in the expression of affect and examines the ability of currently available major text-to-speech (TTS) systems to synthesize expressive speech for an emotional robot guide. Speech features discussed include pitch, duration, loudness, spectral structure, and voice quality. TTS systems are examined as to their ability to control the fea- tures needed for synthesizing expressive speech: pitch, duration, loudness, and voice quality. The OpenMARY system is recommended since it provides the highest amount of control over speech production as well as the ability to work with a sophisticated intonation model. Open- MARY is being actively developed, is supported on our current Linux platform, and provides timing information for talking heads such as our current robot face. 1. Introduction explicitly stated otherwise the research is concerned with the English language. Affect influences speech, not only in the words we choose, but in the way we say them. These vocal nonverbal cues are important in human speech as they communicate 2.1. Pitch information about the speaker’s state or attitude more effi- ciently than the verbal content (Eide, Aaron, Bakis, Hamza, Pitch contour seems to be one of the clearest indica- Picheny, and Pitrelli 2004).
    [Show full text]
  • Nativization of English Among Bantu Language Speakers in South Africa
    UCLA Issues in Applied Linguistics Title Nativization of English among Bantu Language Speakers in South Africa Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9748v75z Journal Issues in Applied Linguistics, 15(2) ISSN 1050-4273 Author Makalela, Leketi Publication Date 2007 DOI 10.5070/L4152005082 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Nativization of English among Bantu Language Speakers in South Africa Leketi Makalela University of Limpopo 7KLVVWXG\LQYHVWLJDWHVFKDUDFWHULVWLFIHDWXUHVRI%ODFN6RXWK$IULFDQ(QJOLVK %6$( paying attention to the role of the Bantu language substrate system in the nativization proc- HVVRIWKHYDULHW\8VLQJSURWRW\SLFDOIHDWXUHVLGHQWLÀHGLQSUHYLRXVVWXGLHVDQGDGGLWLRQDO GDWDIURPVSHDNHUVRIDQRWKHU%DQWXODQJXDJH6HSHGLWKLVVWXG\H[DPLQHVWKHLQÁXHQFHRI ÀUVWODQJXDJHIHDWXUHVRQPRUSKRV\QWDFWLFSKRQRORJLFDODQGGLVFRXUVHDQGSUDJPDWLF IHDWXUHV7KHUHVXOWVRIWKHVWXG\VKRZWKDW%DQWXODQJXDJHORJLFSOD\VDSLYRWDOUROHLQ IUDPLQJWKHUXOHVDQGV\VWHPDWLFSURGXFWLRQRIWKH%6$(IHDWXUHV,WLVWKHUHIRUHDUJXHGWKDW GHYHORSPHQWVLQ%6$(VKRZWKDWLWKDVHYROYHGLQWRDQHQGRQRUPDWLYHYDULHW\LQLWVRZQ right and that it has future prospects for standardization due to the demographic strength DQGLPSURYHGVRFLDOUDQNRILWVVSHDNHUV5HFRPPHQGDWLRQVIRUODQJXDJHSODQQLQJDUHRI- IHUHGLQWKHHQGIRUDGDSWDWLRQWRRWKHUFRPSDUDEOHVLWXDWLRQV Research on the spread of English as an international language has shown WKDWRILWVVSHDNHUVDUHQRQWUDGLWLRQDOPRWKHUWRQJXHVSHDNHUV %UXWW*ULIÁHU 7KH:RUOG(QJOLVKHV :( SDUDGLJPZKLFKKDVIRUWKHSDVW\HDUVEHFRPH one of the frameworks
    [Show full text]