A signal processing perspective of Chinese learners´ phonation in English narrow focus syllable “-/a//C_(C)”

Author

Jin Yang ; Jiangping Kong

Author_Institution

Dept. of Foreign languages, Univ. of Shanghai for Sci. & Technol., Shanghai, China

fYear

2013

fDate

23-25 July 2013

Firstpage

1255

Lastpage

1262

Abstract

This paper conducts acoustic experiments from a signal processing perspective, to examine the English “-/a/ /C_ (C)” narrow focus syllable processing strategy of Chinese L2 learners of English. The research discusses OQ and SQ as key phonatory acoustic parameters. A result of “tight” Chinese CV structure in contrast with a “loose” English CV(C) structure obtained from our previous study has been verified in the current research. Male speakers control their glottis to a much lower position to lengthen the vocal tract and produce more energy, which is represented by higher SQ, for a narrow focus token. The matrix distance reflects L1´s traces in the interlanguage system.

Keywords

acoustic signal processing; linguistics; natural languages; speech processing; Chinese L2 learner phonation; English narrow focus syllable processing strategy; OQ; SQ; glottis control; interlanguage system; loose-English CV structure; male speakers; matrix distance; narrow focus token; phonatory acoustic parameters; signal processing perspective; tight-Chinese CV structure; vocal tract; Acoustics; Physiology; Power harmonic filters; Production; Shape; Speech; Vibrations; OQ; SQ; f0; narrow focus; phonation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Natural Computation (ICNC), 2013 Ninth International Conference on

Conference_Location

Shenyang

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICNC.2013.6818171

Filename

6818171