Speech Prosody 2008 Campinas, Brazil May 6-9, 2008

A Systematic Framework for Studying the Contribution of F0 and Duration to the Perception of Accented Words in Hebrew

Noam Amir (1), Bat-Chen Almogi (1), Hansjörg Mixdorff (2)

(1) Department of Communication Disorders, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
(2) TFH Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Germany

In this study we defined a methodology for examining the combined effect of F0 and duration in accenting a syllable, leading to the perception of narrow focus in a short sentence. The F0 and duration variables were manipulated independently in one word in each of three four-word sentences. F0 was manipulated through use of the Fujisaki model of intonation, whereas duration was manipulated using Praat software. Subjects were asked indirectly to determine whether any word was accented. Initial results showed that perception was influenced by changes in F0 more than by changes in duration, with some degree of interplay between the two variables. Identification curves show a categorical perception of accent as a function of F0.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Amir, Noam / Almogi, Bat-Chen / Mixdorff, Hansjörg (2008): "A systematic framework for studying the contribution of F0 and duration to the perception of accented words in Hebrew", In SP-2008, 285-288.