Acoustic Correlates of Prosodic Boundaries in French  A Review of Corpus Data / Correlatos acústicos de fronteiras prosódicas em francês: uma revisão de dados de corpora

George Christodoulides

doi:10.17851/2237-2083.26.4.1531-1549

Acoustic Correlates of Prosodic Boundaries in French A Review of Corpus Data / Correlatos acústicos de fronteiras prosódicas em francês: uma revisão de dados de corpora

George Christodoulides

Abstract

Abstract: In this article we investigate the acoustic correlates of prosodic boundaries in French speech. We compare the prosodic structure annotation performed by experts in two multi-genre corpora (Rhapsodie and LOCAS-F). A uniform analysis procedure is applied to both corpora. The results show that the main acoustic correlates of prosodic boundaries are silent pauses and pre-boundary syllable lengthening. Pitch movements contribute to the perception of boundaries but are essentially correlates of boundary function, rather than boundary strength. Two levels of four-level annotation of boundary strength in the Rhapsodie corpus (periods and packages) correspond to the two-levels of strength in the LOCAS-F corpus.

Keywords: prosody; speech segmentation; prosodic boundaries; corpus linguistics; French.

Resumo: Neste artigo investigamos os correlatos acústicos de fronteiras prosódicas da fala em língua francesa. Comparamos a anotação da estrutura prosódica efetuada por anotadores experts em dois corpora multigêneros (Rhapsodie e LOCAS-F). Um procedimento de análise uniforme é aplicado a ambos os corpora. Os resultados indicam que os principais correlatos acústicos de fronteiras prosódicas são pausa silenciosa e alongamento da sílaba pré-fronteira. Movimentos de pitch contribuem para a percepção de fronteiras mas são essencialmente correlatos de funções de fronteira, e não de força de fronteira. Dois dos níveis de anotação dos quatro níveis de anotação de força de fronteira do corpus Rhapsodie (períodos e pacotes) correspondem aos dois níveis de intensidade do corpus LOCAS-F.

Palavras-chave: prosódia; segmentação da fala; fronteiras prosódicas; linguística de corpus; francês.

Keywords

prosody; speech segmentation; prosodic boundaries; corpus linguistics; French.

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17851/2237-2083.26.4.1531-1549