Plug, L, Lennon, R and Gold, E (2021) Articulation rates’ inter-correlations and discriminating powers in an English speech corpus. Speech Communication, 132. pp. 40-54. ISSN 0167-6393
Abstract
Studies that quantify speech tempo on acoustic grounds typically use one of various rate measures. The availability of multiple measurement techniques yields ‘researcher degrees of freedom’ which call the robustness of generalisations across studies into question. However, explicit assessments of the possible impact of researchers’ choices amongst the available measures are rare. In this study we attempt such an assessment by comparing the distributions of five common rate measures―canonical and surface syllable and phone rates, and CV segment rate―calculated over fluent stretches of unscripted speech produced by 100 English speakers. We assess the measures’ inter-correlations across the corpus as a whole as well as in relevant data samples to simulate multiple analysis scenarios. We also report on deletion rates in our corpus, as they determine the relationship between canonical and surface rates; we assess the impact on rate figures of variable assumptions as to what constitutes deletion; and we compare the measures’ discriminating powers in a forensic analysis context using Bayesian likelihood ratios. Our results suggest that in a sizeable English corpus with normal deletion rates, the five rates are closely inter-correlated and have similar discriminating powers; decisions as to the segmental make-up of canonical forms also have limited impact on distributions. Therefore, for common analytical purposes and forensic applications the choice between these measures is unlikely to substantially affect outcomes.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of an article published in Speech Communication. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Articulation rate; Speaker comparison; Correlations |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures & Societies (Leeds) > Linguistics & Phonetics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Leverhulme Trust RPG-2017-060 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 Mar 2021 15:09 |
Last Modified: | 17 Nov 2022 01:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.specom.2021.05.006 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:172033 |