This study presents a new methodology adapted to the analysis of word rhythmic cues in drummed forms of languages. The semi-automatic beat detection procedure applied to the Manguaré drummed form of the Bora language enabled us to measure inter-beat durations. These were found to correspond to Vowel-to-Vowel intervals (V-to-V) of the associated speech utterances and to differ as a function of t...

We describe an automatic word classiication system which uses a locally optimal annealing algorithm and average class mutual information. A new word-class representation, the structural tag is introduced and its advantages for use in statistical language modelling are presented. A summary of some results with the one million word lob corpus is given; the algorithm is also shown to discover the ...

This paper describes an automatic word classiication system which uses a locally optimal annealing algorithm and average class mutual information. A new word-class representation, the structural tag is introduced and its advantages for use in statistical language modelling are presented. A summary of some results with the one million word lob corpus is given; the algorithm is also shown to disc...

This acoustic study investigates the phoneme /s/ in Afrikaans and its backed realization in the consonant cluster /rs/ in coda position. The study focuses on spectral differences between the two contexts, with and without a preceding /r/, employing two spectral measurements: the center of gravity and skewness. The analysis revealed a lower center of gravity and a lesser degree of skewness for /...

Three experiments asked whether phonotactic regularities not present in English could be acquired by adult English speakers from brief listening experience. Subjects listened to consonant–vowel–consonant (CVC) syllables displaying restrictions on consonant position. Responses in a later speeded repetition task revealed rapid learning of (a) first-order regularities in which consonants were rest...

The classic [MN55] confusion matrix experiment (16 consonants, white noise masker) was repeated by using computerized procedures, similar to those of Phatak and Allen (2007). ["Consonant and vowel confusions in speech-weighted noise," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 121, 2312-2316]. The consonant scores in white noise can be categorized in three sets: low-error set [/m/, /n/], average-error set [/p/, /t/, ...

In Russian, the same consonant sequences are permitted in various phonotactic environments. The presence of a word boundary or reduced vowel can be phonologically contrastive, and both learners and experienced listeners may rely on fine acoustic cues to discriminate between phonotactic possibilities. In this study, durational characteristics of consonant sequences are examined to establish whet...

This article examines the status of consonant cluster resulting after concatenation discontinuous plural morpheme ma…….∫. In disconformity with Benhallam’s Syllable structure Assignment Algorithm (henceforth SSAA) which predicts that every succession consonants is resolved in MA by inserting schwa to break hiatus, abovementioned morphological operation does not permit epenthesis. As such, it im...

This paper discusses issues including tongue position, tongue movement space, constraint etc. of Mongolian word-initial consonants. The experimental result shows that word-initial consonant tongue horizontal movement space is constrained by constriction position and is in conformity with the rule that front consonant leads to smaller tongue movement space; higher consonant leads to smaller tong...