Language Technologies and Digital Humanities

Speech Analysis - Speech and Voice

1. The phonetic and phonological representation of the speech sounds
1.1. Language Sciences and ICT
1.2. The model of audio-verbal communication
1.3. Phonetics and phonology
2. The Sounds of Italian
2.1. Speech, utterance vs. Text, sentences
2.2. Connecting speech chunks: phonosyntactic rules
2.3. Suprasegmental features
3. Suprasegmental organisation of linguistic messages
3.1. Local prominences: word accent hierarchies
3.2. Rhythmic-melodic organisation: tones and pitch accents
3.3. Intonation
3.3.1. The intonation mode
3.3.2. Intonation & focus
3.3.3. The prosodic parsing: major and minor boundaries
4. Sound inventories, IPA symbols and speech labelling
4.1. Sound inventory of Italian, English and other languages
4.2. IPA / SAMPA tables
4.3. Tools for labelling and guidelines
5. Instrumental phonetic analysis
5.1. Narrowband and broadband spectrograms
5.2. The Source-Filter theory
5.3. Spectral cues of articulatory activities
6. Digital signals and online services
6.1. LPC = linear predictive analysis
6.2. Vowel qualities, transitions, acoustic loci and spectral moments
6.3. Tools for assisted segmentation and annotation
7. Perceptual phonetic analysis
7.1. Perceptual tasks: Identification vs. Discrimination
7.2. Notes on the acquisition of speech sounds
7.3. Theories of perception of speech sounds
7.4. Bottom-up and top-down perception
8. Phonological features, auditory objects and illusions
8.1 Acoustic and perceptual correlates of distinctive features
8.2. "Creative" perception and categorisation
8.3. Auditory illusions and expectations
8.4. Multimodal perception and Adaptive resonance theory
9. Recent developments and practical issues
9.1. Transdisciplinary challenges
9.2. Voice analysis/classification
9.3. Speech synthesis, Speech recognition, Conversational agents…

The aim of this module shares the general goals of the linguistic training and offers a basic insight into the use of technological tools for spoken language analysis. Utterance labelling methods are highlighted in reference to speech archives and in relationship to written language rules.

At the conclusion of this module, students are expected to have reached a better knowledge of theoretical notions and developed practical skills for the use of technological tools for the representation and transposition of spoken and written messages in Italian and other languages. 

The module contents deal with the traditional description of graphic and phonetic systems with reference to experimental methods for the (articulatory, acoustic and auditory) study of functional distinctions, the acquisition of phonological categories and their matching with writing solutions. An introduction to the experimental analysis of speech properties and to the study of the relationships between acoustic cues in the utterances and labelling solutions.

The module aims at developping the discussion about general concepts in reference to traditional handbooks and authors' views and ends by focusing specific scientific papers. 

Students' knowledge in this field is assessed by means of an oral examination based on graphic representations of speech (displayed on screen) and an oral exam.

Students are welcome to the phonetic lab. every Wednesday 11:00-13:00 (please write to the course teacher if you need a private call for a Webex meeting)

Speech Processing - Speech and Voice

1. The phonetic and phonological representation of the sound elements of a language
1.1. Language Sciences and ICT
1.2. The model of audio-verbal communication
1.3. Phonetics and phonology
2. Sounds of Italian
2.1. Speech, utterance vs. Text, sentences
2.2. Connecting speech chunks: phonosyntactic rules
2.3. Suprasegmental features
3. Suprasegmental organisation of linguistic messages
3.1. Local prominences: word accent hierarchies
3.2. Rhythmic-melodic organisation: tones and pitch accents
3.3. Intonation
3.3.1. The intonation mode
3.3.2. Intonation & focus
3.3.3. The prosodic parsing: major and minor boundaries
4. Sound inventories, IPA symbols and speech labelling
4.1. Sound inventory of Italian, English and other languages
4.2. IPA / SAMPA tables
4.3. Tools for labelling and guidelines
5. Instrumental phonetic analysis
5.1. Narrowband and broadband spectrograms
5.2. The Source-Filter theory
5.3. Spectral cues of articulatory activity
6. Digital signals and online services
6.1. LPC linear predictive analysis
6.2. Vowel qualities, transitions, acoustic loci and spectral moments
6.3. Tools for assisted segmentation and annotation
7. Perceptual phonetic analysis
7.1. Perceptual tasks: Identification vs. discrimination
7.2. Notes on the acquisition of linguistic sounds
7.3. Theories of perception of linguistic sounds
7.4. Bottom-up and top-down perception
8. Phonological features, auditory objects and illusions
8.1 Acoustic and perceptual correlates of distinctive features
8.2. "Creative" perception and categorisation
8.3. Auditory illusions and expectations
8.4. Multimodal perception and Adaptive resonance theory
9. Recent developments and practical issues
9.1. Transdisciplinary challenges
9.2. Voice analysis/classification
9.3. Speech synthesis, Speech recognition, Conversational agents…

Inserire qui il testo in italiano (massimo 4000 caratteri). Non eliminare l’indicazione “Italiano” tra le parentesi quadre; è necessaria per la creazione dell’etichetta di visualizzazione del testo in italiano. Una volta inseriti i testi eliminare queste indicazioni in modo che non risultino visibili agli studenti.

Inserire qui il testo in italiano (massimo 4000 caratteri). Non eliminare l’indicazione “Italiano” tra le parentesi quadre; è necessaria per la creazione dell’etichetta di visualizzazione del testo in italiano. Una volta inseriti i testi eliminare queste indicazioni in modo che non risultino visibili agli studenti.