Argues that a knowledge of the physiological and neurophysiological processes underlying speech- sound production and intonation can be useful to the teacher in (1) explaining mistakes in pronunciation and giving advice for overcoming them, and (2) in using technical devices for teaching correct pronunciation. (FWB)

Argues that applying the rhythm of speech to print will lead to improved oral and silent reading. (FL)

Using evidence from first-hand experimental work and existing studies, Colantoni and Gurlekian take a tentative but encouraging step towards exploring the role of contact in explaining intonational change. Their central question is whether Buenos Aires Spanish intonation is distinctive relative to other varieties of Spanish; and if so, whether…

Do young infants treat speech as a special signal, compared with structurally similar non-speech sounds? We presented 2- to 7-month-old infants with nonsense speech sounds and complex non-speech analogues. The non-speech analogues retain many of the spectral and temporal properties of the speech signal, including the pitch contour information…

Male and female, black and white political interviewees (M. Albright, B. Clinton, H. Clinton, B. Obama, C. Powell, and C. Rice) of Larry King on CNN TV are used to ascertain whether ethnicity and gender affect the way politicians actually speak. Qualitative comparisons are made of Obama's hesitations and rate with and without a threatening…

This study aimed to develop a set of evaluation criteria for English learning websites. These criteria can assist English teachers/web designers in designing effective websites for their English courses and can also guide English learners in screening for appropriate and reliable websites to use in increasing their English ability. To fulfill our…

Adult English language learners in the United States approach the learning of English pronunciation from a wide variety of native language backgrounds. They may speak languages with sound systems that vary a great deal from that of English. The pronunciation goals and needs of adult English language learners are diverse. These goals and needs…

THE FOOCHOW DIALECT IS SPOKEN BY ABOUT SEVEN TO TEN MILLION CHINESE IN THE AREA IN AND AROUND THE CITY OF FOOCHOW, MAINLAND CHINA. THIS LANGUAGE MANUAL REPRESENTS THE SPEECH OF A LITERATE PERSON FROM THAT AREA. LESSONS 1-15 CONSIST OF--(1) SEVERAL SHORT FOOCHOW PASSAGES WRITTEN IN ROMANIZATION, (2) ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS, (3) A FOOCHOW TO ENGLISH…

Pitch-synchronous, time-domain operation on digitized waveforms of human speech produces artificial changes in prosodic parameters, especially fundamental frequency and rhythm. Pitch of voiced segments is raised or lowered by an algorithm which truncates or "pads," respectively, each pitch period in the stored vector by an appropriate…

Presents several minor revisions of Halle's and Keyser's theory of meter and stress. (DD)

The propensity to raise and vary the pitch of one's voice when addressing an infant or small child was investigated in a sample of 16 male and 16 female adults, half of whom were married with children and half of whom had never married and never had children. (Author/RH)

Monosyllables were recorded from a group of 24 hearing-impaired and six normal-hearing children between three and six years of age. (Author)

Challenges the belief that the intonation of yes/no questions in American English is different from that of standard British English. Reports on a study that shows that American speakers of English do not distinguish between the high-rising and low-rising intonation, and argues that the supposed difference in intonation between the two varieties…

Presents details of research on intonation in New Zealand English that demonstrate the existence of measurable and reliable speaker-sex differences in pitch measures. Two main factors are considered: the use of a perceptual scale for pitch and the nature of the tasks used to collect the speech data. (Author/VWL)

Two partly overlapping frequency glides can be perceived as consisting of a long pitch trajectory accompanied by a short tone in the temporal middle. It was found that the appearance of this middle tone could not be related to peripheral processes concerned with spectral splatter or combination tones that could have emerged during the overlap of…