Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:26:58.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Is the Portuguese version of the passage ‘The North Wind and the Sun’ phonetically balanced?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2015

Luis M. T. Jesus
Affiliation:
Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA), University of Aveiro, Portugal & School of Health Sciences (ESSUA), University of Aveiro, Portugal [email protected]
Ana Rita S. Valente
Affiliation:
Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA), University of Aveiro, Portugal & Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Portugal [email protected]
Andreia Hall
Affiliation:
Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA), University of Aveiro, Portugal & Department of Mathematics, University of Aveiro, Portugal [email protected]

Abstract

There is no standard phonetically balanced short passage for Portuguese research and clinical practice. This paper presents results of a novel analysis of ‘The North Wind and the Sun’ (NWS) passage that aims to determine if it is phonetically balanced for European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP), based on new transcriptions resulting from algorithms developed for grapheme–phone transcription in these two varieties of Portuguese. These algorithms (based on standard EP and São Paulo BP varieties) are the same as those used to collect the frequency data, which is central to determining if a text is phonetically balanced. Results showed that neither transcription violates phonotactic rules, i.e. permissible combinations of speech sounds. The NWS is not phonetically balanced for BP if the phonemes are considered individually but is evenly distributed in terms of manner of articulation. The EP version of the NWS passage is a phonetically balanced text for EP.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Phonetic Association 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abercrombie, David. 1964. English phonetic texts. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Baken, Ronald J. & Orkiloff, Robert F.. 2000. Clinical measurement of speech and voice, 2nd edn. San Diego, CA: Singular.Google Scholar
Barbosa, Filipe, Pinto, Guilherme, Resende, Fernando G., Gonçalves, Carlos A., Monserrat, Ruth & Rosa, Maria C.. 2003. Grapheme–phone transcription algorithm for a Brazilian Portuguese TTS. In Mamede, Nuno, Baptista, Jorge, Trancoso, Isabel & Nunes, Maria (eds.), Computational processing of the Portuguese language, 2330. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Barbosa, Plínio A. & Albano, Eleonora C. 2004. Brazilian Portuguese. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34.2, 227232.Google Scholar
Behlau, Mara. 2001. Voz: O livro do especialista. Rio de Janeiro: Revinter.Google Scholar
Bland, John M. & Altman, Douglas G.. 1986. Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement. Lancet 1, 307310.Google Scholar
Callou, Dinah M. I., Moraes, João A. & Leite, Yonne. 1996. Variação e diferenciação dialetal: a pronúncia do /r/ no Português do Brasil. In Ingedore G. V. Koch (ed.), Gramática do Português falado. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp.Google Scholar
Cirigliano, Ricardo J. R., Monteiro, Clarisse, Barbosa, Filipe, Resende, Fernando G. V., Couto, Letícia R. & Moraes, João A.. 2005. Um Conjunto de 1000 Frases Foneticamente Balanceadas para o Português Brasileiro Obtido Utilizando a Abordagem de Algoritmos Genéticos. XXII Simpósio Brasileiro de Telecomunicações (SbrT 2005), Campinas, Brazil, 110–114.Google Scholar
Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena. 1999. Portuguese (European). In IPA (ed.), 126–130.Google Scholar
Deterding, David. 2006. The North Wind versus a Wolf: Short texts for the description and measurement of English pronunciation. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36.2, 187196.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, Grant. 1960. Voice and articulation drillbook, 2nd edn. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Frota, Sónia, Vigário, Marina, Martins, Fernando & Cruz, Marisa. 2013. FrePOP frequency patterns of phonological objects in Portuguese: Research and applications. frepop.fl.ul.pt (retrieved 19 June 2013).Google Scholar
Gibbon, Dafydd, Moore, Roger & Winski, Richard (eds.). 1997. Handbook of standards and resources for spoken language systems. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Guimarães, Isabel. 2007. A Ciência e a Arte da Voz Humana. Alcabideche: Alcoitão, Escola Superior de Saúde do Alcoitão (ESSA).Google Scholar
Guitar, Barry. 2014. Stuttering: An integrated approach to its nature and treatment, 4th edn. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Howell, Peter, Sackin, Stevie & Glenn, Kazan. 1997. Development of a two-stage procedure for the automatic recognition of dysfluencies in the speech of children who stutter, II: ANN recognition of repetitions and prolongations with supplied word segment markers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 40.5, 10851096.Google Scholar
IPA [International Phonetic Association] (ed.). 1999. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jesus, Luis M. T., Barney, Anna, Couto, Pedro S., Vilarinho, Helena & Correia, Ana. 2009a. Voice quality evaluation using CAPE-V and GRBAS in European Portuguese. 6th International Workshop on Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications (MAVEBA 2009), Florence, Italy, 61–64.Google Scholar
Jesus, Luis M. T., Barney, Anna, Santos, Ricardo, Caetano, Janine, Jorge, Juliana & Couto, Pedro S.. 2009b. Universidade de Aveiro's voice evaluation protocol. Interspeech 2009, Brighton, UK, 971–974.Google Scholar
Linguateca. 2002. Corpus de Extractos de Textos Electrónicos Nilc/Folha de São Paulo (CETENFolha). http://www.linguateca.pt/cetenfolha/ (retrieved 3 June 2013).Google Scholar
MacMahon, Michael K. C. 1991. The woman behind Arthur. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 21.1, 2931.Google Scholar
Markham, Duncan & Hazan, Valerie. 2002. Speech, Hearing and Language Work in Progress (The UCL Speaker Database) 14, 1–17. London: University College London.Google Scholar
Martins, Fernando, Vigário, Marina & Frota, Sónia. 2013. FreP frequency patterns of phonological objects in Portuguese: Research and applications. Laboratório de Fonética Do Centro de Linguística Da Universidade de Lisboa. http://ww3.fl.ul.pt/LaboratorioFonetica/FreP/ (retrieved 3 June 2013).Google Scholar
Mateus, Maria H. M. & Andrade, Ernesto. 2000. The phonology of Portuguese. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mendes, Ana P., Costa, Alexandra N., Martins, Alexandra D., Fernandes, André F. O., Vicente, Sara M. D. R. & Freitas, Tânia C. S.. 2012. Contributos para a construção de um texto foneticamente equilibrado para o Português-Europeu. Revista CEFAC 14.5, 910917.Google Scholar
Oliveira, Luis C., Viana, Maria C. & Trancoso, Isabel M.. 1992. A rule-based text-to-speech system for Portuguese. IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP 92), vol. 2, 73–76.Google Scholar
Riley, Glyndon D. 2009. Stuttering Severity Instrument: Fourth Edition (SSI-4), examiner's manual. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.Google Scholar
Segura, Luisa 2013. Variedades dialetais dos Português Europeu. In Raposo, Eduardo Bozaglo Paiva, do Nascimento, Maria Fernanda Bacelar, da Mota, Maria Antónia Coelho, Segura, Luísa, Mendes, Amália, Vicente, Graça & Veloso, Rita (eds.), Gramática do Português, vol. 1, 85142. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.Google Scholar
Sweet, Henry 1895. A primer of spoken English. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Viana, Maria C., Trancoso, Isabel M., Silva, Fernando M., Marques, Gonçalo, Andrade, Ernesto & Oliveira, Luis C.. 1994. Sobre a pronúncia de nomes próprios, siglas e acrónimos em Português Europeu. 1° Congresso Internacional sobre o Português Europeu, Lisboa, Portugal, vol. 3, 481--519.Google Scholar
Vigário, Marina, Freitas, Maria J. & Frota, Sónia. 2006. Grammar and frequency effects in the acquisition of prosodic words in European Portuguese. Language and Speech 49.2, 175203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed