A Neural Joint Model with BERT for Burmese Syllable Segmentation, Word Segmentation, and POS Tagging

The smallest semantic unit of the Burmese language is called the syllable. In the present study, it is intended to propose the first neural joint learning model for Burmese syllable segmentation, word segmentation, and part-of-speech ( POS ) tagging with the BERT. The proposed model alleviates the error propagation problem of the syllable segmentation. More specifically, it extends the neural joint model for Vietnamese word segmentation, POS tagging, and dependency parsing [28] with the pre-training method of the Burmese character, syllable, and word embedding with BiLSTM-CRF-based neural layers. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed model, experiments are carried out on Burmese benchmark datasets, and we fine-tune the model of multilingual BERT. Obtained results show that the proposed joint model can result in an excellent performance.

Constructing the Mandarin Phonological Network: Novel Syllable Inventory Used to Identify Schematic Segmentation

The purpose of this study was to construct, measure, and identify a schematic representation of phonological processing in the tonal language Mandarin Chinese through the combination of network science and psycholinguistic tasks. Two phonological association tasks were performed with native Mandarin speakers to identify an optimal phonological annotation system. The first task served to compare two existing syllable inventories and to construct a novel system where either performed poorly. The second task validated the novel syllable inventory. In both tasks, participants were found to manipulate lexical items at each possible syllable location, but preferring to maintain whole syllables while manipulating lexical tone in their search through the mental lexicon. The optimal syllable inventory was then used as the basis of a Mandarin phonological network. Phonological edit distance was used to construct sixteen versions of the same network, which we titled phonological segmentation neighborhoods (PSNs). The sixteen PSNs were representative of every proposal to date of syllable segmentation. Syllable segmentation and whether or not lexical tone was treated as a unit both affected the PSNs’ topologies. Finally, reaction times from the second task were analyzed through a model selection procedure with the goal of identifying which of the sixteen PSNs best accounted for the mental target during the task. The identification of the tonal complex-vowel segmented PSN (C_V_C_T) was indicative of the stimuli characteristics and the choices participants made while searching through the mental lexicon. The analysis revealed that participants were inhibited by greater clustering coefficient (interconnectedness of words according to phonological similarity) and facilitated by lexical frequency. This study illustrates how network science methods add to those of psycholinguistics to give insight into language processing that was not previously attainable.

FormantPro as a Tool for Speech Analysis and Segmentation / FormantPro como uma ferramenta para a análise e segmentação da fala

This paper introduces FormantPro, a Praat-based tool for large-scale, systematic analysis of formant movements, especially for experimental data. The program generates a rich set of output metrics, including continuous contours like time-normalized formant trajectories and formant velocity profiles suitable for direct graphical comparisons, and discrete measurements suitable for statistical analysis. It also allows users to generate mean trajectories and discrete measurements averaged across repetitions and speakers. As an illustration of its usage, data from a preliminary study of syllable segmentation in Mandarin were presented. The alignment of continuous formant trajectories enabled by FormantPro provides evidence that the temporal scopes of consonants and vowels are very different from those based on conventional views, and that acoustic and articulatory boundaries of segments are fundamentally similar.Keywords: FormantPro; formant trajectories; syllable segmentation.Resumo: Este artigo apresenta o FormantPro, uma ferramenta que roda no Praat, dedicada à análise sistemática e em larga escala dos movimentos de formantes, especialmente para dados de natureza experimental. O programa gera um rico conjunto de métricas de saída, incluindo contornos contínuos, como as trajetórias de formantes normalizadas temporalmente e perfis de velocidade de formantes adequados para comparações gráficas diretas, bem como medidas discretas adequadas para a análise estatística. O programa também permite aos usuários gerar médias de trajetórias e medidas discretas calculadas a partir das médias de repetições e de falantes. Como ilustração da sua usabilidade, dados preliminares de um estudo sobre segmentação silábica em mandarim foram apresentados. O alinhamento de trajetórias contínuas de formantes geradas pelo FormantPro oferecem evidência de que os escopos temporais de consoantes e vogais são muito diferentes daqueles baseados em visões convencionais, e de que as fronteiras acústicas e articulatórias dos segmentos são fundamentalmente semelhantes.Palavras-chave: FormantPro; trajetórias dos formantes; segmentação silábica