Search for dissertations about: "accent"

Showing result 1 - 5 of 44 swedish dissertations containing the word accent.

2. 1. Nuclear Intonation in Swedish : Evidence from Experimental-Phonetic Studies and a Comparison with German

   Author : Gilbert Ambrazaitis; Fonetik; []
   Keywords : HUMANIORA; HUMANITIES; parallel encoding; contrastive topic; new information; given information; focus; information structure; pragmatics; nucleus; sentence accent; prosody; word accent; F0; early peak; perception; reaction time;

   Abstract : This thesis investigates Swedish intonation patterns and their interaction with word accent realisation in various pragmatic conditions, using German as a reference language. The point of departure is the wide-spread assumption that Swedish, as a language with a tonal word accent distinction, has a considerably smaller repertoire of nuclear intonation contours than German and other so-called intonation languages. READ MORE

4. 2. That voice sounds familiar : factors in speaker recognition

   Author : Erik J. Eriksson; Kirk P. H. Sullivan; Christopher Darwin; Umeå universitet; []
   Keywords : NATURVETENSKAP; NATURAL SCIENCES; speaker recognition; accent; emotions; hearing; spectral moments; formant transitions; dialect; Cognitive science; Kognitionsvetenskap;

   Abstract : Humans have the ability to recognize other humans by voice alone. This is important both socially and for the robustness of speech perception. This Thesis contains a set of eight studies that investigates how different factors impact on speaker recognition and how these factors can help explain how listeners perceive and evaluate speaker identity. READ MORE

5. 3. Robots Beyond Borders : The Role of Social Robots in Spoken Second Language Practice

   Author : Ronald Cumbal; Olov Engwall; Tony Belpaeme; KTH; []
   Keywords : TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY; NATURVETENSKAP; NATURAL SCIENCES; Conversations; gaze; backchannels; multi-party; accent; culture; Samtal; blick; återkoppling; gruppdynamik; brytning; kultur; Speech and Music Communication; Tal- och musikkommunikation;

   Abstract : This thesis investigates how social robots can support adult second language (L2) learners in improving conversational skills. It recognizes the challenges inherent in adult L2 learning, including increased cognitive demands and the unique motivations driving adult education. READ MORE

6. 4. Professionally Speaking - The prosodic and discourse structure of professional monologue in English

   Author : Bryan D C Mosey; Engelska; []
   Keywords : HUMANIORA; HUMANITIES; paragraph; paratone; referential continuities; theme; discourse topic; fundamental frequency; finality; nucleus; accent; pause; speech-rate; tone-unit; discourse analysis; intonation; prosody; monologue; speech; spoken English; corpus; neural network; English language and literature; Engelska språk och litteratur ;

   Abstract : This thesis combines corpus-based, experimental and instrumental methods to investigate how professional speakers of English use prosody to signal important textual boundaries above the sentence level. In an initial study, prosodic features included in the transcriptions of the Spoken English Corpus, or readily derivable from these, are investigated. READ MORE

7. 5. Phonetic Imitation, Accent, and the Learner

   Author : Duncan Markham; Allmän språkvetenskap; []
   Keywords : HUMANIORA; HUMANITIES; sociolinguistics; talent; language acquisition; phonetics; Linguistics; Lingvistik;

   Abstract : This work is concerned with the acquisition of the phonetic characteristics of languages and dialects, and with the issue of learner talent or individual achievement in learning second languages. Following a survey of the literature on language learning limits, it is argued that the concentration on group trends in most of the existing literature, whilst convenient, serves more to obscure the reasons for the difficulties experienced by most non-child language learners than to explain them. READ MORE