US-Sweden Cooperative Science: Intonation and Voice Source Characteristics

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This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Janet Pierrehumbert of AT&T Bell Laboratories and Professor Gunnar Fant, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, in the area of linguistics. The aim of the project is to establish rules for the influence of intonation patterns in speech on the perceived characteristics of the voice source. As a first step, intonation patterns will be related to detailed characteristics of the air flow in the throat. Experiments will be carried out in which the important factors affecting intonation, such as stress pattern, choice of melody, and pitch range, are varied independently. The air flow will be analyzed non-invasively by using already-known functions to transform between the sound actually produced and air flow details. Studies will be made using both English and Swedish speakers, taking advantage of the very different intonation characteristics of these languages. The Swedish collaborator has pursued studies on the effects of speech patterns on air flow and therefore has direct experience with the measurement and use of these flows for speech characterization. The description of air flows developed by the Swedish investigator will be combined with the linguistic model of intonation developed by the U.S. investigator. This research may lead to important applications in the fields of linguistics and speech synthesis.