scholarly journals The effects of lexical content, acoustic and linguistic variability, and vocoding on voice cue perception

2021 ◽  
Vol 150 (3) ◽  
pp. 1620-1634
Author(s):  
Thomas Koelewijn ◽  
Etienne Gaudrain ◽  
Terrin Tamati ◽  
Deniz Başkent
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Content

scholarly journals Lexical correlates of comprehensibility versus accentedness in second language speech

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 597-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAZUYA SAITO ◽  
STUART WEBB ◽  
PAVEL TROFIMOVICH ◽  
TALIA ISAACS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Surface Level ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Lexical Content ◽  
Lexical Factors

The current project investigated the extent to which several lexical aspects of second language (L2) speech – appropriateness, fluency, variation, sophistication, abstractness, sense relations – interact to influence native speakers’ judgements of comprehensibility (ease of understanding) and accentedness (linguistic nativelikeness). Extemporaneous speech elicited from 40 French speakers of English with varied L2 proficiency levels was first evaluated by 10 native-speaking raters for comprehensibility and accentedness. Subsequently, the dataset was transcribed and analyzed for 12 lexical factors. Various lexical properties of L2 speech were found to be associated with L2 comprehensibility, and especially lexical accuracy (lemma appropriateness) and complexity (polysemy), indicating that these lexical variables are associated with successful L2 communication. In contrast, native speakers’ accent judgements seemed to be linked to surface-level details of lexical content (abstractness) and form (variation, morphological accuracy) rather than to its conceptual and contextual details (e.g., lemma appropriateness, polysemy).

scholarly journals Children’s Early Understanding of Mass–Count Syntax: Individuation, Lexical Content, and the Number Asymmetry Hypothesis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barner ◽  
Jesses Snedeker
Keyword(s):  
Word Meaning ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Mass Nouns ◽  
Count Nouns ◽  
Lexical Content

How does mass–count syntax affect word meaning? Many theorists haveproposed that count nouns denote individuals, whereas mass nouns do not(Bloom, 1999; Gordon, 1985; Link, 1983), a proposal that is supported byprototypical examples of each (table, water). However, studies of quantityjudgments in 4-year-olds and adults demonstrate that some mass nouns(furniture) do denote individuals (Barner & Snedeker, 2005). This isproblematic for bootstrapping theories that posit one-to-onesyntax-semantics mappings (individual ↔ count; nonindividual ↔ mass; Bloom,1999), unless mass nouns that denote individuals are late-learnedexceptions to mappings. This article investigates this possibility in3-year-olds and adults using 2 methods: word extension and quantityjudgment. Both methods indicate that novel mass nouns can denoteindividuals in both age groups, and thus fail to support simplifiedsyntax-semantics mappings. Also, differences between word extension andquantity judgment raise the possibility that the tasks measure differentunderlying knowledge.

scholarly journals Mɔfɔ-sentatek ne sohyiɔ-pragmatek mpɛnsɛmpɛnsɛnmu fa radio ne TV so mmɛ bi ho: “akɔmfo bɔne sɛ kuro mmɔ a,..”

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-87
Author(s):  
Kwasi Adomako
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
The Media ◽  
Lexical Content ◽  
Greater Accra Region

Nhwehwɛmu da no adi sɛ, ɛnnɛ yi nso, wɔde mmɛ di dwuma pa ara wɔ Akan radio ne TV so dwumadie ahodoɔ no mu, titire ne anɔpa dawubɔ nkrataa mpɛnsɛmpɛnsɛnmu ne kaseɛbɔ. Ɛso akasafoɔ dodoɔ no taa yɛ amanyɔfoɔ ne amanyɔkuo akyitaafoɔ. Dwumadie yi mu nsɛm nso taa fa asetena-amanyɔ ho. Nsɛm no bi ka yɛ den; ɛtumi dane abufuo anaa ɛde ɔtan ba. Ɛno na ama yɛahwɛ sɛdeɛ wɔde mmɛ di dwuma wɔ dwumadie no mu. Yɛhwɛɛ mmɛ pɔtee a wɔtaa fa no mu nsɛm ne botaeɛ nti a wɔfa saa mmɛ no. Yɛahwɛ mmɛ no nhyehyɛeɛ ne ne sohyiɔ-pragmatek dwumadie. Yɛgyee mmɛ no ne ɛho nsɛm kakra firii Peace F.M.; Kookrokoo ne Adom F.M.; Edwaso Nsɛm, UTV ne Adom TV. Yɛhwɛɛ berɛ ne nnipa pɔtee a nsɛm no fa wɔn ho. Anɔpa dawubɔ nkrataa mpɛnsɛmpɛnsɛnmu taa wɔ anɔpa firi nnɔnsia kɔpem nnɔndu. Wei nso boa maa yɛhunuu botaeɛ pɔtee a ɛma akasafoɔ no de saa mmɛ pɔtee no di dwuma. Yɛgyinaa Fairclough (1995 ne 2012) ne Fairclough ne Wodak (1997) adwenemusɛm CDA so na ɛyɛɛ mpɛnsɛmpɛnsɛnmu no. Ɛdaa adi sɛ, mmɛ a amanyɔfoɔ taa de di dwuma no gu mmusuakuo mmeɛnsa; mmɛ dada, nsesamu anaa mframu ne abɛɛfo mmɛ. Nsesamu no nso nhyehyɛeɛ gu; nsɛmfua nsiananmu ne nyifirimu. Yɛhunuu sɛ, sɛdeɛ kaseɛbɔfoɔ nwene wɔn ankasa mmɛ no, amanyɔfoɔ ntaa nnwene mmɛ foforɔ. Sohyiɔ-pragmateks dwumadiemu nso, ɛbɛdaa adi sɛ, wɔmfa mmɛ no nni dwuma sɛ kwatikwan turodoo nko, wɔde bi yɛ sabuakwan (anidaho). The morpho-syntactic and socio-pragmatic analysis of proverbs use on radio and T.V.: “Traditional priests of doom, if you wish for the destruction of a town, …” Agyekum (2000) and Wiafe-Akenten (2015) have observed an extensive use of proverbs in the media since the establishment of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) in 1954. This paper therefore examines how these proverbs are used in radio and television programmes, especially in the Morning Shows and News broadcast in Akan. These programmes are socio-political, in which some of the issues discussed are very sensitive, delicate and inflammatory. The paper focuses on investigating how participants of these programmes employ proverbs in handling such difficult issues in their interactions, especially within this highly formal setting. Data for this study was sourced from Peace F.M., Adom F.M, GTV, UTV, (all in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana) Kessben F.M. (in the Ashanti Region of Ghana) and Ɔboɔba F.M. (in the Eastern Region of Ghana). Recordings of 6:00a.m, 12 noon and 6:00p.m. News from the radio stations and Television stations, and those of the Morning Shows from 6am-10am constituted the data for the study. Also, follow-up interviews were conducted after the recordings were transcribed for further analysis. The text and their context were discussed using Fairclough’s (1995 and 2012) and Fairclough & Wodak’s (1997) approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The study specifically looked at the structural and lexical content of the proverbs, the motivation behind choice of certain proverbs and socio-pragmatic functions of the selected proverbs. Findings from the study showed that, some presenters and hosts of the programmes utilized proverbs as facesaving, mitigating and softening strategies. It was also concluded that majority of the politicians also employed the proverbs as indirectional strategies, escape routes, and evasive tools. They either removed or added their own words to strategically manipulate the proverbs to carry out and/or suit their intended message.

scholarly journals ESTONIAN ITEMS IN THE INTERNET DISCOURSE OF THE RUSSIAN SPEAKING POPULATION OF ESTONIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-342
Author(s):  
Alessandra Dezi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Figurative Speech ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Estonian Language ◽  
Lexical Content

The Estonian influence on the discourse of the Russian speaking population of Estonia has drawn the attention of many researchers. The insertion of elements of Estonian in the discourse of Russian speakers is analysed and systematised from different points of view. Research has been conducted on formal aspects of code switching and on more pragmatic language aspects on the basics of different material (e.g. spoken language, jargons and dialects, advertisements, journalistic texts). However, the influence of the Estonian language in the discourse of Russian speaking groups of Estonia has not been fully studied, especially with internet sources, which can give an idea of the currently relevant processes of spoken language. This paper is part of a larger research project in which we plan to compare the functions of foreign language items in the internet discourse of the Russian speaking population of Italy and Estonia. In this paper, however, the main focus is on the lexical content of Estonian insertions in the internet discourse of the Russian speaking population of Estonia and on two of its main functions. Namely, the identifying reference function and the figurative speech function. Data was collected from different forums and Facebook groups. The analysis of the collected material shows that the insertion of Estonian items occurs very frequently when the communicants discuss bureaucratic-administrative spheres, space, and time. Those Estonian insertions are very often used in order to clearly identify the object of their conversation. Longer insertions are often used within the figurative speech function, which conveys the characteristics of the speech, of the speaker and the evaluative characteristics. The study of the influence of the Estonian language on the internet discourse of the Russian speaking population of Estonia in the future will allow a deeper understanding of formal and functional aspects of the Estonian language, such as the morphological and syntactic features of the language and the semantic and pragmatic meaning of certain Estonian words and particles. Furthermore, this research will contribute to the study of the problems connected with language contacts.

scholarly journals On derivatives

enadakultura ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamar Makharoblidze
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Category ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Short Article ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
General Linguistics ◽  
Lexical Content ◽  
Inflectional Affixes

The question of derivates has been repeatedly raised in the teaching processes of language grammar and general linguistics. This circumstance became the basis for creating this short article. It is well known that a word-form can be changeable or unchangeable, and this fact is determined by the parts of speech. Form-changing words can undergo two types of change: inflectional and derivative. During the inflectional change, the form of the word changes, but the lexical and semantic aspects of the word do not change, i.e. its semantic and content data do not change. A classic example of this type of change is flexion of nouns.Derivation is the formation of a word from another word by the addition of non-inflectional affixes. Derivation can be of two types. The first is lexical derivation, in which the derivative affix produces a word with a different lexical content. A word-form can be another part of speech or the same part of speech but with a different lexical content. The second type of derivation is, first of all, grammatical derivation, when grammatical categories are produced. The grammatical category in general (and a word-form in general as well) includes the unity of morphological and semantical aspects. There is no separate semantics without morphology. Any semantic category and/or content must be conveyed in a specific form, so only a specific form has a specific morphosemantics, which can be produced by the grammatical derivatives. The main difference between the two types of derivation mentioned above (and therefore between the two types of derivatives) is the levels of the language hierarchy. The first type of affixes works at the lexical level of the language, while the second type derivatives produce forms at the morphological and semantic levels. The second type derivatives are inter-level affixes, because they act on two hierarchical levels. Any grammatical category includes specific morphosemantic oppositional forms. Thus, unlike inflectional affixes, the rest of the morphological affixes are all other types of inter-level derivatives. It should be noted that the preverb in Kartvelian languages ​​is the only linguistic unit with all possible functions of affix. DOWNLOADS

scholarly journals Observations regarding the lexical content at the beginnings of structural semantics

Diacronia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinu Moscal
Keyword(s):  
Second Stage ◽  
Diachronic Analysis ◽  
Lexical Field ◽  
Structural Semantics ◽  
Lexical Content ◽  
Lexical Fields

This study focuses on the difficulties noted by a series of German lexicologists at the beginnings of structural semantics as part of their attempt to identify a possible method of organizing the lexis of a language. Their studies, beginning with Jost Trier, focused on the analysis of certain lexical groups called Wortfelder (“lexical fields”), regarded as parts of a completely organized lexis. Their idealistic perception—according to which the whole lexis of a language has an inner organization that needs to be discovered—was confronted with some major issues. Our first observation, based on some examples from the lexis, reveals the fact that certain words cannot be classified as belonging to a specific lexical field. Another observation is related to the semantic continuum of the lexical field, which is compared in some works with the image of a mosaic. These issues are detailed by the argumentations of the German lexicologists, whose research was based on a diachronic analysis of the lexis. Their views were exploited in the second stage of the theorization of lexical fields.

Stuttering Frequency in Relation to Lexical Diversity, Syntactic Complexity, and Utterance Length

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacy A. Wagovich ◽  
Nancy E. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Growth Time ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Utterance Length ◽  
Language Growth ◽  
Lexical Content

Children’s frequency of stuttering can be affected by utterance length, syntactic complexity, and lexical content of language. Using a unique small-scale within-subjects design, this study explored whether language samples that contain more stuttering have (a) longer, (b) syntactically more complex, and (c) lexically more diverse utterances than samples that contain less stuttering. Children who stutter, ages 2 years 1 month to 4 years 11 months, produced 10 monthly language samples. For each child, samples were divided into the first five (early) and the last five (later). Utterance length, syntactic complexity, and lexical diversity analyses were performed on samples that contained the most and least stuttering for early and later samples. For the later samples but not the early ones, samples with the most stuttering contained longer mean lengths of utterance, more diverse vocabulary overall, and greater syntactic complexity than samples with the least stuttering. Contributions of language growth, time, and specific linguistic factors are discussed.

Incidental verbatim memory for language

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Gurevich ◽  
Matthew A. Johnson ◽  
Adele E. Goldberg
Keyword(s):  
Memory Test ◽  
Striking Finding ◽  
Lexical Content ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Verbatim Memory

AbstractIt is widely believed that explicit verbatim memory for language is virtually nonexistent except in certain circumstances, for example if participants are warned they are to receive a memory test, if the language is ‘interactive’ (emotion-laden), or if the texts are exceedingly short and memory is tested immediately. The present experiments revisit the question of verbatim memory for language and demonstrate that participants do reliably recognize and recall full sentences that they are exposed to only once at above chance rates (Experiments 1 and 3). The texts are 300 words long, non-interactive, and no advanced warning of a memory test is given. Verbatim memory is demonstrated even when lexical content and memory for gist are controlled for (Experiments 2 and 4). The most striking finding is one of incidental recall: even after a six-day delay, participants reliably reproduce sentences they have heard before when asked to describe scenes, even though they are not asked to recall what they had heard (Experiment 5).

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