Collaborative Research: Constituents and heads in prosody perception: A comparative study

这个项目研究韵律如何在口语中被使用，以表明单词如何被组合成短语，以及每个单词和短语如何为话语提供信息。在文本中，这些功能通过标点符号和文本增强来表示。（黑体字），但在口语中，音高、时间、响度、语音质量和其他语言属性传达了这些信息。语言学家提出，所有语言的韵律背后都有一个普遍的结构，即首成分（HC），它将音节和单词组合在一起，每个组成部分都有一个突出的元素，称为首成分。这些成分决定了语音如何协调（在物理层面上），以及语音如何映射到决定话语意义的句法和语义结构上。我们对英语、西班牙语和法语的韵律成分进行了研究，这三种语言不仅在韵律方面存在差异（例如：英语和法语）。（语调和节奏模式），还包括韵律与句法和语义的联系。在伊利诺斯州、巴塞罗那和里昂进行的实验将显示，当呈现在语音特性（音高和时间）、句法和语义特征上不同的语音样本时，听众是如何感知语音的韵律措辞和突出模式的。一种新的实时，听觉转录与非专业听众和会话语音样本的新方法旨在最好地近似正常语言使用的条件。对英语、西班牙语和法语的平行实验将为首成分作为韵律形式的基础结构的普遍性提供重要证据，也将揭示韵律在语言意义交流中的作用在语言之间的差异。项目研究结果将为韵律如何在会话语言中发挥作用提供宝贵的基准数据，未来将在临床环境中用于识别涉及韵律的语言障碍、第二语言教学和人机界面语音技术的开发。

This project investigates how prosody is used in spoken language to signal how words are grouped into phrases and how each word and phrase contributes information to the discourse. In text these functions are signaled through punctuation and text enhancement (eg., boldface), but in spoken language pitch, timing, loudness, voice quality, and other properties of speech convey such information. Linguists propose that underlying the prosody of all languages is a universal structure, the Headed Constituent (HC), which groups syllables and words together, with one prominent element per constituent designated the Head element. These constituents determine how speech sounds are coordinated (at a physical level), and how speech is mapped onto syntactic and semantic structures that determine utterance meaning. Prosodic constituents are examined in English, Spanish, and French, three languages that are known to differ not only in their prosody (eg., intonation and rhythmic patterns), but also in the associations linking prosody to syntax and semantics. Experiments conducted in Illinois, Barcelona and Lyon will show how how listeners perceive the prosodic phrasing and prominence patterns of an utterance when presented with speech samples that differ in their phonetic properties (pitch and timing), and in syntactic and semantic features. A novel method of real-time, auditory transcription with non-expert listeners and conversational speech samples is intended to best approximate conditions of normal language use. Parallel experiments on English, Spanish, and French will provide critical evidence regarding the universality of the Headed Constituent as the structure that underlies prosodic form, and will also shed light on differences among languages in the role of prosody in communicating linguistic meaning. Project findings will contribute valuable benchmark data on how prosody functions in conversational speech, with future applications in clinical settings to identify speech disorders involving prosody, in second language teaching, and in development of speech technologies for human-computer interfaces.