Swiss German Intonation Patterns

Swiss German Intonation Patterns
Author: Adrian Leemann
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2012
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027234906

Switzerland is renowned for having a diverse linguistic and dialectal landscape in a comparatively small and confined space. Possibly, this is one of the reasons why Swiss German dialects have been investigated thoroughly on various linguistic levels. Nevertheless, natural speech intonation has, until today, not been examined systematically. The aim of this study is to analyze natural Swiss German fundamental frequency behavior according to linguistic, paralinguistic, and extralinguistic variables, using statistical tests against the backdrop of detecting dialect-specific patterns as well as cross-dialectal differences. The intonation analyses were conducted with the mathematically-formulated Command-Response model. This is the first large-scale study that applies this framework on a large corpus of natural, dialectal speech. This contribution provides a holistic account of the truly multilayered features of natural speech intonation and brings to light detailed underlying patterns of Swiss German dialectal fundamental frequency behavior. The book is mainly targeted at linguists, speech scientists, as well as dialectologists.

Speech Production and Speech Modelling

Speech Production and Speech Modelling
Author: W.J. Hardcastle
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 474
Release: 1990-06-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780792307464

Speech sound production is one of the most complex human activities: it is also one of the least well understood. This is perhaps not altogether surprising as many of the complex neurological and physiological processes involved in the generation and execution of a speech utterance remain relatively inaccessible to direct investigation, and must be inferred from careful scrutiny of the output of the system -from details of the movements of the speech organs themselves and the acoustic consequences of such movements. Such investigation of the speech output have received considerable impetus during the last decade from major technological advancements in computer science and biological transducing, making it possible now to obtain large quantities of quantative data on many aspects of speech articulation and acoustics relatively easily. Keeping pace with these advancements in laboratory techniques have been developments in theoretical modelling of the speech production process. There are now a wide variety of different models available, reflecting the different disciplines involved -linguistics, speech science and technology, engineering and acoustics. The time seems ripe to attempt a synthesis of these different models and theories and thus provide a common forum for discussion of the complex problem of speech production. Such an activity would seem particularly timely also for those colleagues in speech technology seeking better, more accurate phonetic models as components in their speech synthesis and automatic speech recognition systems.

The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics

The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics
Author: Michael T. Putnam
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1176
Release: 2020-04-16
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1108386350

The first comprehensive overview of the structure of modern Germanic languages. Written by a team of internationally-renowned experts, it is a vital resource for students and researchers investigating the Germanic family of languages and dialects, covering key topics such as phonology, morphology, syntax, heritage and minority languages.

Prosodic Features and Prosodic Structure

Prosodic Features and Prosodic Structure
Author: Anthony Fox
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2002-04-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0191589764

Prosodic Features and Prosodic Structure presents an overall view of the nature of prosodic features of language - accent, stress, rhythm, tone, pitch, and intonation - and shows how these connect to sound systems and meaning. It is a work of great scholarship and learning, expressed in way that will be accessible to all linguists from advanced undergraduates to postdoctoral researchers. The last substantial overview was published over 20 years ago. Since then the subject has been transformed by linked advances in phonological and phonetic theory and accoustic technology. This book will interest phonologists, phoneticians, and researchers in related applied fields such as speech pathology and speech synthesis.

The Phonology/paraphonology Interface and the Sounds of German Across Time

The Phonology/paraphonology Interface and the Sounds of German Across Time
Author: Irmengard Rauch
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2008
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781433101151

The Phonology / Paraphonology Interface and the Sounds of German Across Time is an excursion into the phonology of the German language in the present, the remote prehistoric past (Indo-European and Germanic), and throughout the almost thousand-year historical era. It accordingly addresses all eras pertaining to the study of the German language in its innermost core, namely, its phonology. This book makes accessible to linguists and non-linguists alike the elements of acoustic and articulatory phonetics. It provides the reader with insight into phonological methods from the Prague Structuralism and Chomskyan Generativism of the last seventy-five years to an array of today's non-linear approaches by applying them to given phonological changes that act as leitmotifs in the research of German sounds through time. The dynamic acts that infuse the structure of German phonology, such as ablaut, umlaut, and various other assimilations, diphthongizations, monophthongizations, and consonant shifts, are all woven into the book. In each of the three time frames, the interface with ample paraphonological data allows the reader to experience flesh and blood phonology, that is, how it occurs and to what purpose in the mouth / ear of the speaker / listener of the German language. Not least, the reading of a piece of literature, be it a Runic inscription, the Old High German Otfrid, a Middle High German dawn song, the Early New High German Ackermann aus Böhmen, or a Rilke poem, adds delight to the understanding of the sounds that belong to our most vital and prized human possessions.

German dialects

German dialects
Author: Rudolf Ernst Keller
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 474
Release: 1961
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9780719007620

The Oxford Gothic Grammar

The Oxford Gothic Grammar
Author: D. Gary Miller
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2019-04-24
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0192543091

This volume provides a comprehensive reference grammar of Gothic, the earliest attested language of the Germanic family (apart from runic inscriptions), dating to the fourth century. The bulk of the extant Gothic corpus is a translation of the Bible, of which only a portion remains, and which has been the focus of most previous works. This book is the first in English to also draw on the recently discovered Bologna fragment and Crimean graffiti, original Gothic texts that provide more insights into the language. Following an overview of the history of the Goths and the origin of the Gothic language, Gary Miller explores all the major topics in Gothic grammar, beginning with the alphabet and phonology, and proceeding through subjects such as case functions, prepositions and particles, compounding, derivation, and verbal and sentential syntax. He also presents a selection of Gothic texts with notes and vocabulary, and ends with a chapter on linearization, including an overview of Gothic in its Germanic context. The Oxford Gothic Grammar will be an invaluable reference for all Indo-Europeanists, Germanic scholars, and historical linguists, from advanced undergraduate level upwards.

Germanic and its Dialects

Germanic and its Dialects
Author:
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 554
Release: 1977-12-31
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027274142

Germanists have long lamented the lack of comprehensive bibliographies of past and present literature, particularly in the areas of Frisian, Old English, Old High German, and, most notably, Old Saxon. The compilers of this bibliography deem it crucial to fill this lacuna before embarking on two further volumes project to complete this series: I. Texts, and II. Maps and Commentaries. NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: The publication of the two further volumes (I. Texts; II. Maps and Commentaries) has been canceled.

The Phonological Spectrum: Suprasegmental structure

The Phonological Spectrum: Suprasegmental structure
Author: Jeroen Maarten van de Weijer
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2003
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781588113528

A comprehensive overview of current developments in phonological theory, by providing a number of papers in different areas of current theorizing which reflect on particular problems from different angles. This volume deals with phonological structure above the segmental level, in particular with syllable structure, metrical structure and sentence-level prosodic structure.