ERIC Number: ED088286
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1973-Oct-31
Pages: 17
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
An Algorithm for Locating Stressed Syllables in Continuous Speech.
Lea, Wayne A.
Local increases in fundamental frequency (Fo) and large integrals of energy in the syllabic nucleus are known to be among the best acoustical correlates of stress. Major syntactic constituents have been shown to have archetype rapid-rise-then-gradual-fall Fo contours, with the rise into the maximum Fo often associated with the first stressed syllable in the constituent. An automatic precedure for detecting constituent boundaries and maximum Fo positions in constituents, and sonorant energy and Fo functions, provided input data for an algorithm for locating stressed syllables. The first stressed syllable of a constituent was associated with a high-energy-integral portion near the rising Fo into maximum Fo position. Other stressed syllables were associated with high-energy-integral portions near local increases in Fo above a steadily-falling "archetype line" from the maximum Fo position to the end of the constituent. For over 400 seconds of speech, including written texts, questions, commands, and declarations for man-machine interaction, over 85% of all syllables perceived as stressed by a panel of listeners were correctly located. (Author/DD)
Descriptors: Acoustic Phonetics, Algorithms, Auditory Discrimination, Componential Analysis, Computers, Connected Discourse, Consonants, Data Analysis, Distinctive Features (Language), Graphs, Input Output, Language Patterns, Language Research, Man Machine Systems, Phonemes, Phonology, Phrase Structure, Syllables, Tables (Data)
Publication Type: N/A
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (86th, Los Angeles, California, October 3, 1973)