Janet Fletcher

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Representational issues in annotation: Using the Australian map task corpus to relate prosody and discourse structure

Speech Communication, 2001

This paper reports part of an ongoing investigation of the interaction of prosody and discourse s... more This paper reports part of an ongoing investigation of the interaction of prosody and discourse structure. A digital speech corpus (4 dialogues from the ANDOSL Australian map task corpus) was coded for prosodic structure (ToBI). Independently, two different coding systems for dialogue micro-structure were applied to the same corpus: the HCRC map task coding scheme (Carletta et al., 1996, 1997b)

Hyperarticulation in short intonational phrases in three Australian languages

Speech Prosody 2016, 2016

In Lindblom's Hyper-and Hypo-articulation (H & H) theory, speech varies between clear and less cl... more In Lindblom's Hyper-and Hypo-articulation (H & H) theory, speech varies between clear and less clear depending on the communicative context. Hyperarticulation is known to reflect prosodic boundary information and prosodic prominence or focus. The realisation of hyperarticulation appears to differ between languages. In this study of three Australian languages, it is asked whether, in pre-boundary position in short prosodic phrases, vowel lengthening tends to co-occur with acoustic evidence of hyperarticulation. Further, it is asked whether hyperarticulation is stronger in the pre-boundary syllable than in the post-boundary one. It is demonstrated that pre-boundary lengthening in short intonational phrases in Australian languages tends to co-occur with an increase in vowel peripherality.

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An Acoustic Study of Vowel Contrasts in North Indian English

The preliminary findings of an acoustic phonetic analysis of the vowels produced by speakers of E... more The preliminary findings of an acoustic phonetic analysis of the vowels produced by speakers of English as a second language from North India are presented in this paper. Citation-form monophthong productions of a group of male NIE speakers were recorded and acoustically analysed. Results confirm a number of earlier impressionistic observations from earlier studies including the lack of a quality distinction between most tense/lax vowel pairs. North Indian English also appears to illustrate some vowel patterns that suggest it may be a separate sub-variety of IE.

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Pausing strategies and prosodic boundaries in Dalabon

Earlier impressionistic analyses of Dalabon indicate that the grammatical word is often realized ... more Earlier impressionistic analyses of Dalabon indicate that the grammatical word is often realized as either an accentual phrase, or an intonational phrase, followed by a pause. Unusually, it can also be interrupted by a silent pause, with each section being realized as separate intonational phrases. Our results support these earlier impressions, although this use of the silent pause appears to be restricted to certain affix boundaries, and other phonological constraints relating to the following linguistic material.

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(Mis)perceiving /el/ ~ /ael/ in Melbourne English: a micro-analysis of sound perception and change

A sound change is underway in Australian English in which /el/ is realised as [ael] by some speak... more A sound change is underway in Australian English in which /el/ is realised as [ael] by some speakers. We present a microlevel analysis of responses to a perception experiment, in which 345 listeners from Melbourne took part in a forcedchoice experiment containing /el/-/ael/ stimuli (word-pairs). Results show patterns of misperception, with listeners tending to confuse

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Some effects of tempo change on timing in French

Interspeech, 1987

Lip and jaw coarticulation

Lip and jaw or mandibular movements in speech production have been extensively studied (see eg Li... more

Place or manner as perceptually salient in Yolngu Matha: A closed set 4-AFC listening task in quiet and in noise

An Acoustic Study of Bininj Gun-Wok Medial Stop Consonants

It has previously shown that there is a clear duration difference between the long and short stop... more It has previously shown that there is a clear duration difference between the long and short stop series in Bininj Gun-Wok, a language spoken in Northern Australia. Previously these have been phonologically labeled lenis and fortis. This investigation looks at some non-durational phonetic correlates of the contrast between lenis and fortis consonants. H1-H2, H1-A2 and H1-A3 measurements were made using acoustic recordings and the closed quotient (CQ) was measured using an electroglottograph. Voice quality was not found to be a consistent cue to a contrast.

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Coarticulation: Lip and jaw coarticulation

Left-edge tonal events in Kayardild (Australian) � a typological perspective

To date, most intonational typologies have been formulated on the basis of an analysis of a handf... more To date, most intonational typologies have been formulated on the basis of an analysis of a handful of the world s languages. In this study, intonational patterns were examined in an indigenous Australian language, Kayardild. This language appears to differ from other languages of the region in that intonation is not solely delimitative, and a wider variety of phrasal melodies are also observed, particularly at the left edge of intonational units. Moreover, the placement of certain intonational events gives rise to certain pragmatic or semantic nuances, suggesting that the intonational typology of the language is quite different from its geographical near-neighbours.

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Articulatory variability of intervocalic stop articulation in Bininj Gun-Wok

The phonetic correlates of intervocalic stop articulations were investigated in a northern Austra... more The phonetic correlates of intervocalic stop articulations were investigated in a northern Australian Language, Bininj Gun-Wok. Closure duration, VOT, and intraoral pressure were measured. Results indicate that although the contrast is chiefly cued by duration differences, there are clear differences in intra-oral pressure, suggesting a more complex contrast than one based on duration alone.

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The Alignment of Prosody and Clausal Structure in Dalabon

Australian Journal of Linguistics, 2016

Comparisons of prosodically defined units and grammatical structure in typologically diverse lang... more Comparisons of prosodically defined units and grammatical structure in typologically diverse languages may reveal insights into how language is processed. This paper presents examples of intonation units comprising two or more verbs in Dalabon, a polysynthetic head-marking language from Australia. The prosody, semantics and grammar of these multi-verb intonational units is examined and it is shown that intonation is used as a delimitative device to signal the higher-level groupings of grammatical constituents in the discourse. What is interesting in these findings is that, despite the multiple grammatical constructions available to signal subordination in Dalabon, grammatical subordination is infrequently used. Instead, Dalabon speakers make use of intonation to group two or more verbs, in order to represent the close temporal relationship of events. The close examination of multi-verb intonational units presented in this paper may reveal more about the interaction between intonation and syntactic organization in a polysynthetic, head-marking language such as Dalabon.

Manner and place conflicts in the articulation of accent in Australian English

... stressed. Notes This research was supported by two Australian Research Council small grants (... more

Segment and syllable duration in Australian English

Speech Communication, Dec 1, 1993

... The output of each trained network was then correlated with 2000 other syl-lables to see how ... more

An acoustic analysis of release burst amplitude in the Kelantan Malay singleton/geminate stop contrast

This study investigates whether the amplitude of release bursts is a potential cue to the word-in... more This study investigates whether the amplitude of release bursts is a potential cue to the word-initial singleton/geminate contrast in Kelantan Malay (KM). The voiceless stop series (/p-pp/, /t-tt/, /k-kk/) were examined in two different utterance conditions. Results show that release bursts for geminate stops were produced with significantly greater energy than those for singleton stops, suggesting greater articulatory efforts to mark gemination. Although the effects of prosodic context and stop place of articulation were noticeable, significant amplitude differences were preserved across utterance contexts. The findings support the role of spectral parameters, in particular release burst amplitude, in enhancing the short/long consonant contrast in this Malay variety.

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The Prosody of Wh-Questions in Bengali and Kannada English

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Examining the quality of phonological representations in Anindilyakwa children in Australia

International journal of language & communication disorders / Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists, 2015

In attempting to evaluate an intervention programme designed to improve English literacy outcomes... more In attempting to evaluate an intervention programme designed to improve English literacy outcomes in children in a remote indigenous community in Australia, the need for valid and culturally appropriate measures of the factors likely to impact on literacy development became apparent. One factor considered likely to be of importance was the precision of the children's phonological representations. To develop a measure of phonological representations that was culturally relevant for Anindilyakwa children and to evaluate its reliability and concurrent validity against English measures that are known to be predictive of literacy outcomes. Starting from the Quality of Phonological Representations test (QPR), the authors developed an Anindilyakwa Quality of Phonological Representations test (AQPR) and examined its reliability and concurrent validity. The AQPR was found to have acceptable reliability and to correlate significantly with three well-established measures of phonological aw...

What Makes an Effective Psychoeducational Report? Perceptions of Teachers and Psychologists

Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 2015

The psychoeducational report has many purposes and many readers. Given this, it is imperative tha... more The psychoeducational report has many purposes and many readers. Given this, it is imperative that psychoeducational reports are well written, as well as acceptable to and understood by the readers. This study aimed to determine from the perspective of both teacher (report reader) and psychologist (report writer) the factors that make an effective psychoeducational report. The current study examined the effects of report style and language on satisfaction with and understanding and perceived utility of psychoeducational reports as rated by teachers and psychologists with varying degrees of experience. We expected that reports which contained a theme-based organisation and a lower grade reading level would receive significantly higher ratings of satisfaction and utility, and be understood by teachers and psychologists at significantly higher levels than reports with neither or only one of these two characteristics. Results indicated that while teachers in the present study were not m...

Prosodic effects on vowel spectra in three Australian languages

In this paper, the spectral properties of vowels in three Australian languages are examined with ... more In this paper, the spectral properties of vowels in three Australian languages are examined with the aim of determining whether prosodic prominence and domain-edge effects on formant frequencies, formant variability and vowel space dispersion can be identified. It is shown that these vowel systems are sufficiently dispersed, with an anchoring of the system by the open central vowel. It is also shown that for Burarra but not for Gupapuyngu or Warlpiri there is some evidence of prosodically-driven hyper-articulation. Finally, the data indicate pre-boundary lengthening in all three languages, which in some cases appears to be associated with changes in vowel quality.

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