The Recognitive Value of Three Hundred Nonsense Syllables

1948 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen E. Peixotto
Keyword(s):  
Nonsense Syllables

Distinctive Phonetic Features as Relevant and Irrelevant Stimulus Dimensions in Speech-Sound Discrimination Learning

1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-425
Author(s):  
Stuart I. Ritterman ◽  
Nancy C. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
Irrelevant Dimension ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Irrelevant Stimulus ◽  
Relevant Dimension ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
Sound Discrimination ◽  
Nonsense Syllables

Thirty-two college students were required to learn the relevant dimension in each of two randomized lists of auditorily presented stimuli. The stimuli consisted of seven pairs of CV nonsense syllables differing by two relevant dimension units and from zero to seven irrelevant dimension units. Stimulus dimensions were determined according to Saporta’s units of difference. No significant differences in performance as a function of number of the irrelevant dimensions nor characteristics of the relevant dimension were observed.

Speech Synthesis Using Damped Sinusoids

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Hillenbrand ◽  
Robert A. Houde
Keyword(s):  
Spectrum Analysis ◽  
Speech Signal ◽  
Speech Synthesis ◽  
Fourier Spectrum ◽  
Fundamental Period ◽  
Speech Synthesizer ◽  
Perceptual Evaluation ◽  
Random Intervals ◽  
Sentence Intelligibility ◽  
Nonsense Syllables

A speech synthesizer was developed that operates by summing exponentially damped sinusoids at frequencies and amplitudes corresponding to peaks derived from the spectrum envelope of the speech signal. The spectrum analysis begins with the calculation of a smoothed Fourier spectrum. A masking threshold is then computed for each frame as the running average of spectral amplitudes over an 800-Hz window. In a rough simulation of lateral suppression, the running average is then subtracted from the smoothed spectrum (with negative spectral values set to zero), producing a masked spectrum. The signal is resynthesized by summing exponentially damped sinusoids at frequencies corresponding to peaks in the masked spectra. If a periodicity measure indicates that a given analysis frame is voiced, the damped sinusoids are pulsed at a rate corresponding to the measured fundamental period. For unvoiced speech, the damped sinusoids are pulsed on and off at random intervals. A perceptual evaluation of speech produced by the damped sinewave synthesizer showed excellent sentence intelligibility, excellent intelligibility for vowels in /hVd/ syllables, and fair intelligibility for consonants in CV nonsense syllables.

Vividness as a Factor in Learning Lists of Nonsense Syllables

1942 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Nowell Jones ◽  
Margaret H. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Nonsense Syllables

AUTOMATIC WRITING AND GRAMMELOT IN CLAUDE VIVIER'S LANGUE INVENTÉE

Tempo ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 68 (270) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Christian
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Commedia Dell'arte ◽  
French Canadian ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Dario Fo ◽  
Automatic Writing ◽  
Final Work ◽  
Nonsense Syllables

AbstractFrench-Canadian composer Claude Vivier (1948–1983) is one of the few composers, perhaps the only one, to use an invented language throughout his entire compositional career. Vivier's use of what he called his langue inventée (‘invented language’) spanned the first vocal work in his catalogue – Ojikawa (1968) – to his final work, Glaubst du an die Unsterblichkeit der Seele (1983), completed only shortly before his murder in March 1983. Despite the pervasiveness of this technique – in fact, it is the only technique that remains a constant across all of Vivier's stylistic periods – relatively little attention has been given to the langue inventée in scholarship. This article presents a description of Vivier's langue inventée in three parts, beginning with a general introduction. The second part presents the langue inventée as a product of automatic writing and engages directly with Vivier's sketches to propose a method that Vivier likely used to write much of his langue inventée text. The final section of the article presents Vivier's langue inventée as a form of grammelot – a term revived by playwright, actor and director Dario Fo (1926–), which is associated with the dialect theatre of the Commedia dell'arte tradition. This article aims to demonstrate that Vivier's langue inventée is not a just a string of unintelligible nonsense syllables, but rather a very purposeful grammelot, freely composed in a two-stage approach to automatic writing, that reaches beyond linguistic semantics.

Activation and Behavior. I: Relationship between Physiological “Indicants” of Activation and Performance during Memorization of Nonsense Syllables Using Differing Induced Tension Conditions

1964 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Eason ◽  
M. Russell Harter ◽  
William F. Storm
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Experimental Session ◽  
Nervous Systems ◽  
Physiological Variables ◽  
Tension Level ◽  
Activation Level ◽  
Increasing Functions ◽  
Forearm Flexor ◽  
Nonsense Syllables

This is the first of a series of studies oriented toward determining what physiological variables constitute the most reliable and valid indices of activation level; what is the minimal number of variables required to estimate accurately general activation level as well as patterns of activation, taking into account the activity of both the autonomic and somatic nervous systems; and how each variable relates to performance under specified conditions. The primary purpose of this study was to ascertain how four different “indicants” of activation level relate to one another and to verbal performance under different induced tension conditions. Sixteen Ss memorized 16 5-syllable lists of 3-letter nonsense syllables under 16 conditions in a single experimental session, using a balanced Latin square to control for order effects. The conditions were generated by various combinations of three independent variables: (1) mode of syllable presentation (visual vs auditory); (2) method of inducing tension (lifting weights vs squeezing hand dynamometer); and (3) amount of induced tension (5, 10, 15, and 20 lbs.). Each trial was 2 min. long, being followed by 2 min. of rest. Orderly within- and between-trial changes were noted in skin conductance, heart rate, and neck and forearm flexor tension level, but the changes varied, respectively, among the four variables from decreasing to increasing functions. This gradual transition was explained in terms of the relative degree of control the autonomic and somatic nervous systems exerted on each of the variables. The decreasing functions probably reflect a gradual reduction in the degree of anxiety or apprehensiveness experienced by Ss; the increasing functions probably reflect an increase in the amount of muscular effort exerted by Ss in order to maintain a specified amount of force on a hand grip device. Increasing amounts of induced tension caused performance to deteriorate and caused heart rate and forearm flexor tension level to increase. The manner in which the syllables were presented and method of inducing tension significantly affected performance but not the physiological variables.

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