Disfluencies Flashcards
ToBI
tones and break indices
a linguistic model of phrasing that refers to the highs and lows you produce over a phrase, as well as the breaks you use
—English does not use tones to make lexical/phonological meaning, but we use intonational tones; we modulate our pitch using high and low f0
—break indices are numbers we assign in the ToBI system to indicate a perceived juncture (separability) between words
common disfluencies in speech
- abruptly cutting off a word
- repair
—misspeaking and correcting the mistake - pauses/prolongations
- filler words
fluency disorders
- stuttering
- cluttering
stuttering
a fluency disorder causing abrupt disruptions in fluency
- characterised by sound blocks, repetitions, and prolongations
- is a developmental speech disorder, but can be acquired: can be the result of brain trauma from stroke, injury, or drugs
- stutterer is (typically) aware of their stutter
- ~70% of developmental stuttering in children show spontaneous remission
—5% occurrence in children
cluttering
a fluency disorder causing rapid, dysrhythmic, often unintelligible speech
- clutterer is oftentimes unaware of cluttering
sex/gender difference for stuttering
- In early childhood (2-5), men and women stutter in equal amounts
- Later on and & in adulthood, men outnumber women 3~5 to 1
—spontaneous recovery is more common in women - no known cause for sex/gender difference in occurrence:
—social factors? genetic factors?
phrasing
how strings of sounds get grouped together to form larger units (phrases)
—words, prosodic words (lexical items + clitics or contractions), small intonational phrases, larger intonational phrases
—phrases can be “broken up” with a change in intonation (rising or lowering pitch, pausing or elongating words)
—phrasing can be indicated by means of punctuation in orthography/written convention; phrasing can be predicted by syntax, but it can differ (it doesn’t always make sense to break up constituents)
chunking of phrases
can be indicated by a change in intonation (rising or lowering pitch, or elongating words)
—chunking of phrases isn’t necessary; it can vary depending on speed of speech, communication intention, etc.
—we typically don’t pause in between smaller intonational phrases; we typically lengthen WF sounds
—long pauses can indicate the end of a larger intonational phrase
disfluencies in phrasing
We might insert pauses/breaks or elongate sounds where we typically wouldn’t in phrases…
- if we’re thinking or trying to remember
- if we’re unsure or hesitant
- if we’re trying to correct or backtrack
break indices in ToBI
0: no juncture
—i.e. for clitics
—we do not perceive a junction between the words (glued together)
1: normal juncture between words of the same phrase
—note that breaks with a rating of “1” do not necessarily have a pause
3: small intonational phrase juncture
—perceivable break between words, but not necessarily the signal of the end of a phrase
4: large intonational phrase juncture
—we mark pauses after large intonational phrases (i.e. full sentences) with 4
Why is there no 2?
—There is a 2 rating in ToBI, but it is not relevant for this class
tone marking in ToBI
H: high pitch
L: low pitch
- phrase final lowering is common in English (i.e. creaky voice)
- “hat” intonation pattern: pitch rises then falls, i.e. LHHL
- L-: low pitch target at the end of a small intonational phrase
- L-L%: low pitch target at the end for a break index of 4
