Tutorial How to Handle Speech - Summer 2003
Definitions of technical terms
Tutorial April 23rd:
Linguistics is the science concerned with language. It can be subdivided into four
fields: 1.phonetics and phonology are concerned with speech – with the ways in
which humans produce and hear speech 2. semantics is interested in meanings 3.
syntax deals with the organization of sounds and their meaning (sentence structure,
combination of words into sentences) 4. pragmatics investigates speech of people in
special areas and situations
Phonology is concerned with the way in which speech sounds are organized within
specific languages. It examines patterns and systems in particular languages.
Phonetics deals with the way in which speech sounds are physically produced,
transmitted and perceived. Phonetics can be subdivided into articulatory phonetics,
acoustic phonetics and auditory phonetics.
Your definitions from the tutorial of May 7th:
phoneme: any one of the set of smallest units of speech in a language that
distinguishes one word from another. (or “smallest sound” in a language)
allophone: an allophone is a phonetic variant of a phoneme in a particular language.
examples:
, as in initial position in “pick”, and , following  as in “spare”, are allophones
of the phoneme /p/.
, as encountered in a Scottish pronunciation of “rubber”, and , as in Standard
British English Pronunciation, are allophones of the phoneme /r/.
Phonemic transcription is the representation of segments with a minimum amount
of phonetic information consistent with distinguishing (contrasting) words by
substituting these segments. It approaches the minimum phonemic type of
transcription and is therefore also referred to as broad phonetic transcription.
(Narrow) phonetic transcription may employ additional diacritics to mark subtle
differences in pronunciation. It does not only distinguish between the distinct
contrastive sounds (as phonemic/broad transcription does), but also considers
different realizations of a phoneme (allophones). Phonetic transcription uses the
symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet, as with phonemic transcription.
Phonemic transcription is indicated with /../, while phonetic transcription employs ...
Frequency of vibration is the number of cycles per second (measured in Hertz). The
vibration of for instance a pendulum can be displayed as a sine wave in a graph that
plots vibration (displacement) against time. When the wave meets the axis for the
second time, it has completed one cycle respectively the pendulum has swung left
and right and is back in its neutral position. A sound consists of many different
frequencies being a result of complex vibration. Briefly said frequency refers to the
vibration involved in the production of a sound in a specific period of time.
Tutorial How to Handle Speech - Summer 2003
Intensity:
The instrumentally measurable factor corresponding to the loudness of a
sound. Derivable from the amplitude or amount of increase in air pressure
during a sound. Average rate of sound energy falling on a unit area.
Intensity is a physical property of sounds, and is dependent on the amount
of energy present. Perceptually, there is a fairly close relationship between
physical intensity and perceived loudness.
Additional definition:
The intensity of a sound depends both on the amplitude of the sound wave and on its
frequency.
In context: Sound waves can be simple (e.g. the sound originating from a tunig fork)
or complex. However, sound waves involved in human speech are complex due
to the simultaneous use of different sound sources in the vocal tract. Simple
sound waves are regular in motion, they are referred to as periodic. Among
the measurable properties of simple sound waves are the frequency, i.e.
the number of cycles of a sound wave per second measured in Hertz (Hz),
and the amplitude, which denotes the maximum of a sound wave in a cycle
of movement. Loudness is a combination of frequency and amplitude. The term
intensity, measured in decibels (dB) is used to refer to the overall loudness
of a sound. Complex sound waves are a conglomeration of a number of simple
sound waves.
Oscillogram:
Common term for a graphic representation of sound pressure (intensity) variations
over time. An oscillograph is used to record the wave form. It transforms the change
in energy into electric current changes(Volt).