Collaborative Research: Prosodic structure: An integrated empirical and modeling investigation

合作研究：韵律结构：综合实证和建模研究

• 批准号: 1551513
• 负责人: Jelena Krivokapic
• 金额: $ 5.44万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2022-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1551513&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Prosodic; structure; integrated

This project examines how the prosodic structure of language shapes the articulation of spoken utterances. Speaking is a complex, uniquely human ability that relies on precisely coordinated movements of the speech organs (tongue, lips, jaw, soft palate, and larynx) and respiratory system. These movements produce sounds that listeners perceive and that convey not only the 'dictionary' content of the utterance, but also its prosodic content. Prosody organizes phonological forms into successively larger units or phrases, and renders certain syllables, words and phrases more 'prominent' (perceptually or rhythmically important) to the listener. Understanding the processes that shape prosodic structure and how these processes act to transmit this structure through coordination of the speech organs has profound implications for advancing our understanding of language processing and communication disorders, for improving speech technology, and for providing insights regarding the more general relationship between linguistic and cognitive operations.The central hypothesis examined in this collaborative project is that the control processes governing temporal and tonal structure are intimately linked with one another. This linkage is viewed as emerging from the underlying motor control dynamics that coordinate the motions of the speech organs and guide speech production. In order to investigate this hypothesis, two additional open questions are addressed concerning the nature of the units that exist at different prosodic and prominence levels, and the relationships among syllables, prosodic feet, words and phrases: "What are the structural and articulatory-acoustic properties of prosodic feet?"; and "How can the relationships among the levels be best understood?" These questions are investigated through a series of articulatory studies--using electromagnetic articulography--and acoustic measurements that will examine: 1) how temporal and tonal properties interact at phrasal boundaries, 2) how temporal and tonal properties interact within and across all levels of prominence, and 3) how motor control dynamics shape the details of articulatory-acoustic structure at the foot level. These studies will be complemented by a series of computational simulations, which will serve the dual purpose of testing the project's hypotheses and guiding further developments of the prosodic component of the group's Task-Dynamics model of speech production.

这个项目考察了语言的韵律结构如何塑造口语的清晰度。说话是一种复杂的、独特的人类能力，它依赖于语音器官(舌头、嘴唇、下巴、软腭和喉咙)和呼吸系统的精确协调运动。这些动作产生的声音是听者能感觉到的，不仅传达了话语的词典内容，还传达了它的韵律内容。韵律将语音形式组织成连续较大的单位或短语，并使某些音节、单词和短语对听者来说更加突出(在感知上或在节奏上重要)。理解韵律结构的形成过程，以及这些过程如何通过语音器官的协调作用来传递韵律结构，对于促进我们对语言处理和交际障碍的理解，对于改进言语技术，以及提供关于语言和认知操作之间更一般关系的见解，具有深远的意义。在这个合作项目中检验的中心假设是，控制时间结构和语调结构的过程彼此之间有着密切的联系。这种联系被认为是从协调语音器官运动和引导语音产生的潜在运动控制动力学中出现的。为了研究这一假说，我们提出了另外两个未解决的问题，涉及存在于不同韵律和显著级别的单位的性质，以及音节、韵律音步、单词和短语之间的关系：“韵律音步的结构和发音声学特性是什么？”以及“如何才能更好地理解这些级别之间的关系？”这些问题通过一系列发音研究--使用电磁关节成像--和声学测量来研究，这些研究将检查：1)时间和音调特性如何在短语边界相互作用，2)时间和音调特性如何在所有级别的突起内和之间相互作用，以及3)运动控制动力学如何塑造脚部水平的发音-声学结构的细节。这些研究将得到一系列计算模拟的补充，这些模拟将服务于检验该项目的假设和指导该小组的语音产生的任务-动力学模型的韵律部分的进一步发展的双重目的。