Constrained tone transformation technique for separation and combination of Mandarin tone and intonation

This paper addresses a classical but important problem: The coupling of lexical tones and sentence intonation in tonal languages, such as Chinese, focusing particularly on voice fundamental frequency (F1) contours of speech. It is important because it forms the basis of speech synthesis technology and prosody analysis. We provide a solution to the problem with a constrained tone transformation technique based on structural modeling of the F1 contours. This consists of transforming target values in pairs from norms to variants. These targets are intended to sparsely specify the prosodic contributions to the F1 contours, while the alignment of target pairs between norms and variants is based on underlying lexical tone structures. When the norms take the citation forms of lexical tones, the technique makes it possible to separate sentence intonation from observed F0 contours. When the norms take normative F0 contours, it is possible to measure intonation variations from the norms to the variants, both having identical lexical tone structures. This paper explains the underlying scientific and linguistic principles and presents an algorithm that was implemented on computers. The method's capability of separating and combining tone and intonation is evaluated through analysis and re-synthesis of several hundred observed F0 contours.     

Categorical perception of intonation contrasts: effects of listeners' language background

Intonation perception of English speech was examined for English- and Chinese-native listeners. F0 contour was manipulated from falling to rising patterns for the final words of three sentences. Listener's task was to identify and discriminate the intonation of each sentence (question versus statement). English and Chinese listeners had significant differences in the identification functions such as the categorical boundary and the slope. In the discrimination functions, Chinese listeners showed greater peakedness than English peers. The cross-linguistic differences in intonation perception were similar to the previous findings in perception of lexical tones, likely due to listeners' language background differences.     

Chironomic stylization of intonation

Intonation stylization is studied using "chironomy," i.e., the analogy between hand gestures and prosodic movements. An intonation mimicking paradigm is used. The task of the ten subjects is to copy the intonation pattern of sentences with the help of a stylus on a graphic tablet, using a system for real-time manual intonation modification. Gestural imitation is compared to vocal imitation of the same sentences (seven for a male speaker, seven for a female speaker). Distance measures between gestural copies, vocal imitations, and original sentences are computed for performance assessment. Perceptual testing is also used for assessing the quality of gestural copies. The perceptual difference between natural and stylized contours is measured using a mean opinion score paradigm for 15 subjects. The results indicate that intonation contours can be stylized with accuracy by chironomic imitation. The results of vocal imitation and chironomic imitation are comparable, but subjects show better imitation results in vocal imitation. The best stylized contours using chironomy seems perceptually indistinguishable or almost indistinguishable from natural contours, particularly for female speech. This indicates that chironomic stylization is effective, and that hand movements can be analogous to intonation movements.     

Perception of intonation in Mandarin Chinese

There is a tendency across languages to use a rising pitch contour to convey question intonation and a falling pitch contour to convey a statement. In a lexical tone language such as Mandarin Chinese, rising and falling pitch contours are also used to differentiate lexical meaning. How, then, does the multiplexing of the F(0) channel affect the perception of question and statement intonation in a lexical tone language? This study investigated the effects of lexical tones and focus on the perception of intonation in Mandarin Chinese. The results show that lexical tones and focus impact the perception of sentence intonation. Question intonation was easier for native speakers to identify on a sentence with a final falling tone and more difficult to identify on a sentence with a final rising tone, suggesting that tone identification intervenes in the mapping of F(0) contours to intonational categories and that tone and intonation interact at the phonological level. In contrast, there is no evidence that the interaction between focus and intonation goes beyond the psychoacoustic level. The results provide insights that will be useful for further research on tone and intonation interactions in both acoustic modeling studies and neurobiological studies.     

Sentence intonation in textual context--supplementary data

The experiment presented here is a sequel to a previous investigation [N. G. Thorsen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 77, 1205-1216 (1985)] and was designed to show whether a sequential fundamental frequency lowering of individual sentence components is present in a semantically, but not necessarily syntactically, coherent sequence (a text), when the number of sentences exceeds three. The results show that such a sequential lowering may appear, though it is not evenly distributed across the text. However, the textual intonation contour is sensitive not only to the number of sentences that make up the text, but also to the length of individual sentence components.     

汉语语调降阶的实验研究

采用设计特定声调组合的实验室语句的方法,研究了汉语普通话语调降阶的规律。结果发现,在普通话语调中,同样存在自动降阶和非自动降阶两种音高现象。在有低音介入的非自动降阶中,低音对后音节音域的影响表现在使音域上限降低,音域的下限保持不变;因此汉语中的降阶是语调高音特征的表现;低音特征声调会使低音后的高音发生正向降低和低音前高音的逆向提高,并且这两种作用是可以相互包容的。在自动降阶中,高音线的下降趋势是线性的,它受重音位置及重读程度的影响,在发音人中有较大差异。与已有的其他语言降阶研究的结果相比,汉语的降阶率不是固定的,且降阶的作用范围并不只局限于同低音相邻的音节。     

Experimental study on declination in Chinese intonation

The aim of designing sentences with special tone combinations is to investigate the declination tendency of intonation in Chinese Putonghua.The result shows that baselines of prosodic phrases(PP),as the basic declination units,show the phenomena of declination clearly,and the declination slope is in inverse proportion to the length of PP.Different tone combinations of PP have different declination slopes.The primary conclusions are as follows: (1) If low points are at the beginning of prosodic word(PW),the absolute value of baseline slope is larger than those at the end;(2) The declination of PP is larger,if it is at the beginning of sentences than that at the end;(3) When there are several PPs in sentences,although in different syntactic relations the degree of declination is different,they have the common ground of PP declination.     

Experimental study on downstep in Chinese intonation

Downstep in pitch contour of Chinese Putonghua is examined using subtly designed sentences by controlling tone combinations. The results show both automatic and nonautomatic downstep phenomena exist in Chinese. In non-automatic downstep, low tones compress downwards the pitch range of the following syllables. and the main influence of downstep is on topline. Low tone not only lower the topline behind it, but also raise the high tones before it, the effects are compatible with each other. In automatic downstep, the topline of pitch contour in intonational phrase is presented as a linear downtrend, but it differs among speakers due to the effect of personal stress practice. In comparison with downstep phenomenon in other tone or non-tone languages, the downstep ratio in Chinese is not constant, and the domain of downstep is not limited within the adjacent tones.     

汉语语调音高下倾的实验研究

通过提取和分析特定声调组合的实验室语句的音高曲线,探讨了确定条件下的汉语语句音高下倾趋势。分析结果表明,在不同类型声调组合的陈述句中,低音线清晰地呈现出以韵律短语为基本单元的下倾现象,下倾的斜率与韵律短语长度成反比.声调组合不同,以及承载下倾特征点的音节在韵律词中的位置不同,都会导致低音线下倾的斜率不同。具体表现为:(1)当低音点处于韵律词词首时,低音线斜率的绝对值大于低音点处于韵律词词末时的绝对值;(2)韵律短语音高下倾程度还受其在句中所处位置的影响,句首韵律短语的下倾程度大于旬末韵律短语的下倾程度;(3)主句包含多个韵律短语时,它们的低音线起点可以是依次单调递降的,具体的下倾模式受短语之间句法语义关系的制约。     

Testing one-body density functionals on a solvable model

There are several physically motivated density matrix functionals in the literature, built from the knowledge of the natural orbitals and the occupation numbers of the one-body reduced density matrix. With the help of the equivalent phase-space formalism, we thoroughly test some of the most popular of those functionals on a completely solvable model.     

Transportation noise annoyance: Testing of a probabilistic model

This analysis extends the development and testing of a probabilistic model of noise annoyance proposed in an earlier paper [1]. In the model, noise, measured as the level and number of specific events, leads to annoyance through its interference with activities. Testing of the model is based on noise and survey data collected at 56 sites around Toronto International Airport. Logit analysis is used to estimate equations to predict the probabilities of activity interference and annoyance due to road traffic noise and aircraft noise at each site. From these equations, probabilities of high annoyance are predicted and are compared with the proportion of respondents at each site reporting being highly annoyed. For this comparison, the sites are grouped on the basis of having the same 24 hour L_eq. Both predicted and reported annoyance values are consistently higher for aircraft noise than for road traffic noise at the same 24 hour L_eq. The results support the underlying argument of the model that previously reported source differences in dose-response relationships can be explained by using a model based on single event rather than daily average noise measures.     

The frequency scale of speech intonation.

In intonation research, prominence-lending pitch movements have either been described on a linear or on a logarithmic frequency scale. An experiment has been carried out to check whether pitch movements in speech intonation are perceived on one of these two scales or on a psychoacoustic scale representing the frequency selectivity of the auditory system. This last scale is intermediary between the other two scales. Subjects matched the excursion size of prominence-lending pitch movements in utterances resynthesized in different pitch registers. Their task was to adjust the excursion size in a comparison stimulus in such a way that it lent equal prominence to the corresponding syllable in a fixed test stimulus. The comparison stimulus and the test stimulus had pitches running parallel on either the logarithmic frequency scale, the psychoacoustic scale, or the linear frequency scale. In one-half of the experimental sessions, the test stimulus was presented in the low register, while the comparison stimulus was presented in the high register, and, conversely, for the other half of the sessions. The result is that, in all cases, stimuli are matched in such a way that the average excursion sizes in different registers are equal on the psychoacoustic scale.     

The perception of intonation questions and statements in Cantonese

In tone languages there are potential conflicts in the perception of lexical tone and intonation, as both depend mainly on the differences in fundamental frequency (F0) patterns. The present study investigated the acoustic cues associated with the perception of sentences as questions or statements in Cantonese, as a function of the lexical tone in sentence final position. Cantonese listeners performed intonation identification tasks involving complete sentences, isolated final syllables, and sentences without the final syllable (carriers). Sensitivity (d' scores) were similar for complete sentences and final syllables but were significantly lower for carriers. Sensitivity was also affected by tone identity. These findings show that the perception of questions and statements relies primarily on the F0 characteristics of the final syllables (local F0 cues). A measure of response bias (c) provided evidence for a general bias toward the perception of statements. Logistic regression analyses showed that utterances were accurately classified as questions or statements by using average F0 and F0 interval. Average F0 of carriers (global F0 cue) was also found to be a reliable secondary cue. These findings suggest that the use of F0 cues for the perception of intonation question in tonal languages is likely to be language-specific.