Elements Of Acoustic Phonetics

This revised and expanded edition of a classic textbook provides a concise introduction to basic concepts of acoustics and digital speech processing that are important to linguists, phoneticians, and speech scientists. The second edition includes four new chapters that cover new experimental techniques in acoustic phonetics made possible by the use of computers. Assuming no background in physics or mathematics, Ladefoged explains concepts that must be understood in using modern laboratory techniques for acoustic analysis, including resonances of the vocal tract and the relation of formants to different cavities; digital speech processing and computer storage of sound waves; and Fourier analysis and Linear Predictive Coding, the equations used most frequently in the analysis of speech sounds. Incorporating recent developments in our knowledge of the nature of speech, Ladefoged also updates the original edition's discussion of the basic properties of sound waves; variations in loudness, pitch, and quality of speech sounds; wave analysis; and the hearing and production of speech. Like its predecessor, this edition of Elements of Acoustic Phonetics will serve as an invaluable textbook and reference for students and practitioners of linguistics and speech science, and for anyone who wants to understand the physics of speech.

This book presents a theory of speech-sound generation in the human vocal system. This book presents a theory of speech-sound generation in the human vocal system. The comprehensive acoustic theory serves as one basis for defining categories of speech sounds used to form distinctions between words in languages. The author begins with a review of the anatomy and physiology of speech production, then covers source mechanisms, the vocal tract as an acoustic filter, relevant aspects of auditory psychophysics and physiology, and phonological representations. In the remaining chapters he presents a detailed examination of vowels, consonants, and the influence of context on speech-sound production. Although he focuses mainly on the sounds of English, he touches briefly on sounds in other languages. The book will serve as a reference for speech scientists, speech pathologists, linguists interested in phonetics and phonology, psychologists interested in speech perception and production, and engineers concerned with speech processing applications.

Fully revised and expanded, the third edition of Acoustic and Auditory Phonetics maintains a balance of accessibility and scholarly rigor to provide students with a complete introduction to the physics of speech. Newly updated to reflect the latest advances in the field Features a balanced and student-friendly approach to speech, with engaging side-bars on related topics Includes suggested readings and exercises designed to review and expand upon the material in each chapter, complete with selected answers Presents a new chapter on speech perception that addresses theoretical issues as well as practical concerns

This popular and accessible introduction to phonetics has been fully updated for its third edition, and now includes an accompanying website with sound files, and expanded coverage of topics such as speech technology. Describes how languages use a variety of different sounds, many of them quite unlike any that occur in well-known languages Written by the late Peter Ladefoged, one of the world's leading phoneticians, with updates by renowned forensic linguist, Sandra Ferrari Disner Includes numerous revisions to the discussion of speech technology and additional updates throughout the book Explores the acoustic, articulatory, and perceptual components of speech, demonstrates speech synthesis, and explains how speech recognition systems work Supported by an accompanying website at www.vowelsandconsonants3e.com featuring additional data and recordings of the sounds of a wide variety of languages, to reinforce learning and bring the descriptions to life

This book, A Field Manual of Acoustic Phonetics, provides a practical and easy-to-understand introduction to acoustic speech analysis, primarily aimed at those involved in linguistic analysis and description in the field and at those preparing for such fieldwork. It explains commonly used methods for displaying aspects of a speech wave, such as waveform graphs, spectra, spectrograms, fundamental frequency graphs (pitch graphs), and intensity graphs. It illustrates how the results of acoustic analysis can be interpreted and used to improve the objectivity, accuracy and precision of phonetic descriptions of speech sounds. The book assumes basic knowledge of articulatory phonetics. It can be used to teach introductory courses in acoustic phonetics at the undergraduate level. Hey, isn't this interesting; it presents a different slant on the same material I have covered. I don't think it hurts to have two different ways of looking at things. Some people will find one more helpful than the other. The late Peter Ladefoged

This analysis of speech ranges from clarifying physiological, biological and neurological bases of speech through defining the principles of electrical and computer models of speech production.

In their comprehensive new introduction to phonetics, Ball and Rahilly offer a detailed explanation of the process of speech production, from the anatomical initiation of sounds and their modification in the larynx, through to the final articulation of vowels and consonants in the oral and nasal tracts. This textbook is one of the few to give a balanced account of segmental and suprasegmental aspects of speech, showing clearly that the communication chain is incomplete without accurate production of both individual speech sounds (segmental features) and aspects such as stress and intonation (suprasegmental features). Throughout the book the authors provide advice on transcription, primarily using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Students are expertly guided from basic attempts to record speech sounds on paper, to more refined accounts of phonetic detail in speech. The authors go on to explain acoustic phonetics in a manner accessible both to new students in phonetics, and to those who wish to advance their knowledge of key pursuits in the area, including the sound spectrograph. They describe how speech waves can be measured, as well as considering how they are heard and decoded by listeners, discussing both physiological and neurological aspects of hearing and examining the methods of psychoacoustic experimentation. A range of instrumentation for studying speech production is also presented. The next link is acoustic phonetics, the study of speech transmission. Here the authors introduce the basic concepts of sound acoustics and the instrumentation used to analyse the characteristics of speech waves. Finally, the chain is completed by examining auditory phonetics, and providing a fascinating psychoacoustic experimentation, used to determine what parts of the speech signal are most crucial for listener understanding. The book concludes with a comprehensive survey and description of modern phonetic instrumentation, from the sound spectrograph to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).