13.592, Qs: Vowel Normalisation Procedures

LINGUIST List linguist at linguistlist.org
Mon Mar 4 15:49:57 UTC 2002


LINGUIST List:  Vol-13-592. Mon Mar 4 2002. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 13.592, Qs: Vowel Normalisation Procedures

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U.<aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry, Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>
            Andrew Carnie, U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org):
	Simin Karimi, U. of Arizona
	Terence Langendoen, U. of Arizona

Editors (linguist at linguistlist.org):
	Karen Milligan, WSU 		Naomi Ogasawara, EMU
	James Yuells, EMU		Marie Klopfenstein, WSU
	Michael Appleby, EMU		Heather Taylor-Loring, EMU
	Ljuba Veselinova, Stockholm U.	Richard John Harvey, EMU
	Dina Kapetangianni, EMU		Renee Galvis, WSU
	Karolina Owczarzak, EMU

Software: John Remmers, E. Michigan U. <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
          Gayathri Sriram, E. Michigan U. <gayatri at linguistlist.org>

Home Page:  http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.



Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karen at linguistlist.org>
 ==========================================================================

We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually
best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is
then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was
instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we
would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.

In addition to posting a summary, we'd like to remind people that it
is usually a good idea to personally thank those individuals who have
taken the trouble to respond to the query.


=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Thu, 28 Feb 2002 17:25:52 +0000
From:  Dom Watt <djlw1 at york.ac.uk>
Subject:  Vowel normalisation procedures

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 28 Feb 2002 17:25:52 +0000
From:  Dom Watt <djlw1 at york.ac.uk>
Subject:  Vowel normalisation procedures



There is a bewildering choice of vowel formant normalisation
algorithms available which aim to eliminate, among other things, vocal
tract length-related effects between speakers that result from age and
gender differences. Some are based on warpings of F1/F2 space using
frequencies of higher formants, relationships between formants and F0,
or on logarithmic transforms of values in linear Hz. Others (Barks,
mels, critical bandwidths, etc.) use psychoperceptual criteria
deriving from the non-linear response characteristics of the auditory
system.

What, in the opinion of anyone who's had to choose one (or has
developed one themselves), would be the criterion/criteria by which
the successfulness, utility and reliability of a normalisation routine
for formant frequency measurements could be estimated? Do Disner's
(1980) conclusions about the value of a procedure lying in the degree
to which it can trade off scatter reduction against 'linguistic
realism' still hold?

I'll post a summary of responses.
Dom Watt.

Reference:
Disner, S.F. (1980) Evaluation of vowel normalization procedures. Journal of
the Acoustical Society of America 67(1): 253-261.


Dominic Watt
Department of Language & Linguistic Science
University of York
Heslington
York YO10 5DD
UK
Tel 01904 432665
Fax 01904 432673
www.york.ac.uk/depts/lang/webstuff/people/dw.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-13-592



More information about the LINGUIST mailing list