Browsing by Person "Mennen, Ineke"

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A methodological study into the linguistic dimensions of pitch range differences between German and English.
(2008) Mennen, Ineke; Schaeffler, Felix; Docherty, Gerard; ESRC
The aim of this paper is to develop the methodology that would allow us to investigate the nature of variability in pitch range across speakers of different languages. In particular, we wanted to investigate whether by using linguistically based pitch range measures, such as those proposed by [1-3], we are able to characterise differences in pitch range across languages. We investigated Southern Standard British English (SSBE) and Northern Standard German (NSG), as it is often assumed that speakers of SSBE have a wider pitch range than speakers of NSG [4]. Using the linguistic measures suggested by [3], we found no such differences between NSG and SSBE, although a difference in the predicted direction was found with another linguistically based measure. Our study highlights the difficulty of using the previously suggested linguistic measures for cross-language comparisons, as some tonal structures are not equally distributed across the two languages. We therefore suggest that more suitable linguistic measures of pitch range may need to take the tonal distribution in the different languages into account.
Acquisition of Dutch phonology: an overview
(2006) Mennen, Ineke; Levelt, Clara; Gerrits, Ellen
Dutch is a West-Germanic language spoken by most inhabitants of the Netherlands(approximately 16 million speakers). It is the official language of the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Aruba, and the Dutch Antilles. It is thought to be spoken by around 24 million people worldwide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_language). Dutch has many dialects which differ from Standard Dutch in their vocabulary, syntax,morphology and phonology. The Netherlands has a heterogeneous population with people from many different nationalities and as a consequence a wide variety of languages is spoken. The majority of the immigrant population is from Turkish descent, followed by Surinam, and Moroccan descent (source: Statistics Netherlands,www.cbs.nl).
Acquisition of Greek phonology: an overview
(2006) Mennen, Ineke; Okalidou, Areti
Modern Greek (henceforth Greek) is the descendent of Ancient Greek. It is spoken by most inhabitants of Greece (approximately 11 million speakers) and is the official language of Greece. The linguistic situation in Greece has been characterized by diglossia from the middle of the 19th century until 1976. The two varieties of Greek diglossia are called Katharevousa and Dhimotiki. Katharevousa was created during the early 19th century and was the midpoint between Ancient and Modern Greek. It had many archaized forms of modern words and an archaic grammar. Dhimotiki was the variety spoken by Greeks in their daily lives and it became the official language in 1976 when Katharevousa was officially abolished. However, remnants of Katharevousa have remained in the Greek language, particularly in its written form.
Age-related effects on the separateness of bilinguals' phonetic systems.
(2002) Mennen, Ineke
An autosegmental-metrical investigation of intonation in people with Parkinson's Disease
(2008-12) Mennen, Ineke; Schaeffler, Felix; Watt, N.; Miller, N.
This study investigates the intonation in the read speech of two males with hypokinetic dysarthria resulting from idiopathic Parkinson's disease and compares them with two age-matched male controls. The investigation was carried out within the autosegmental-metrical framework (AM), which analyzes intonational contours as a sequence of abstract, discrete pitch targets (high or low tones) and permits analysis on two levels: the intonational phonology and its phonetic realisation. Despite its potential for revealing patterns of disordered usage, the AM approach has seldom been deployed in the analysis of disordered speech, and has never been used to investigate the intonation patterns of people with Parkinson's disease. Results showed that there were no differences between the participants with parkinsonian dysarthria and the healthy controls in the inventory of pitch accents and boundary tones (i.e., the phonological elements of intonation). Both groups used the same range of pitch accent types and boundary tones. However, there were differences in the phonetic realization of them. In particular, the speakers with parkinsonian dysarthria on average produced shorter intermediate and intonational phrases, used fewer pitch accents per intonational phrase, and had a narrower pitch range. Furthermore, their boundary tones did not always coincide with syntactic boundaries. The finding of preserved categorical elements of intonation suggests that the abstract representations of intonation are unaffected in these participants with parkinsonian dysarthria. However, the findings of problems with the distribution and phonetic realization suggests that there may be a disruption in the instantiation of those abstract representations either at the initial planning level or at the level of phonetic implementation.
An Evaluation of Inter-Speech Postures for the Study of Language-Specific Articulatory Settings.
(2008) Schaeffler, Sonja; Scobbie, James M.; Mennen, Ineke
We present a methodological study evaluating Inter-Speech Postures, i.e. vocal-tract configurations achieved in the silent preparation for speech which have been claimed to be indicative of articulatory settings. The term articulatory setting refers to a characteristic use of the articulators believed to shape the overall phonetic realisation of a language and with that, possibly, its 'typical sound' [3].
Are we meeting the challenge? An evaluation of SLT services for bilingual children in 3 centres of population.
(2003) Mennen, Ineke; Johnston, Sally; Stansfield, Jois
This study investigates the current speech and language therapy (SLT) service to bilingual children within three cities in the United Kingdom (UK), i.e. two in Scotland (S1 and S2) and one in England (E1), and specifically addresses whether speech and language therapists (SLTs) believe that their service meets the professional guidelines of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT). Through a combination of interviews, postal questionnaires, and Census data, information was gathered about the SLT paediatric service provision in each of these cities. For each of the three centres we established: (i) the % of monolingual and bilingual children in the population, (ii) the % of bilingual and monolingual children on the SLT caseload, (iii) the languages spoken by the bilingual children on the caseload, and (iv) whether SLTs in these cities believe that their service is currently meeting the RCSLT guidelines.
Audible aspects of speech preparation
(2011-08) Scobbie, James M.; Schaeffler, Sonja; Mennen, Ineke; ESRC (RES-000-22-3032)
Noises made before the acoustic onset of speech are typically ignored, yet may reveal aspects of speech production planning and be relevant to dis-course turn-taking. We quantify the nature and tim-ing of such noises, using an experimental method designed to elicit naturalistic yet controlled speech initiation data. Speakers listened to speech input, then spoke when prompt material became visible onscreen. They generally inhaled audibly before uttering a short sentence, but not before a single word. In both tasks, articulatory movements caused acoustic spikes due to weak click-like articulatory separations or stronger clicks via an ingressive, lingual airstream. The acoustic onset of the sen-tences was delayed relative to the words. This does not appear to be planned, but seems a side-effect of the longer duration of inhalation.
Bi-directional interference in the intonation of Dutch speakers of Greek.
(Elsevier, 2004-10) Mennen, Ineke
This study examines how speakers who are fluent in (Modern) Greek and Dutch realize cross-linguistic differences in the timing of a phonologically identical rise. Greek and Dutch share the same phonological structure in nonfinal or prenuclear rises. However, the rise is realized in different ways: Firstly, it is timed differently, with an earlier peak in Dutch than in Greek. Secondly, in Dutch the peak timing is influenced by the phonological length of the vowel of accented syllables (i.e., it is earlier when the vowel is long, and later when it is short), whereas no such influence exists in Greek. Two experiments compared the production of peak alignment by Dutch non-native speakers of Greek with that of a native Dutch and a native Greek control group. Evidence was found for bi-directional interference in four out of the five speakers who produced peak alignment which differed from the native control groups in both languages. The fifth speaker managed to produce peak alignment with native-like values in both the L1 and L2. These results mirror findings of bi-directional interference at the segmental level, although the nature of the intonational interference appears different than segmental interference. The results suggest that it is difficult-although not impossible-to realize the full set of tonal phones necessary to maintain contrast both within as well as across languages.
Child speech and emotions: a cross-linguistic perspective.
(Plural Publishing., 2007-10) Grichkovtsova, I.; Mennen, Ineke
Cross-language differences in fundamental frequency range: a comparison of English and German
(Acoustical Society of America, 2012-03) Mennen, Ineke; Schaeffler, Felix; Docherty, Gerard
This paper presents a systematic comparison of various measures of f0 range in female speakers of English and German. F0 range was analysed along two dimensions, level (i.e. overall f0 height) and span (extent of f0 modulation within a given speech sample). These were examined using two types of measures, one based on 'long-term distributional' (LTD) methods, and the other based on specific landmarks in speech that are linguistic in nature ('linguistic' measures). The various methods were used to identify whether and on what basis or bases speakers of these two languages differ in f0 range. Findings yielded significant cross-language differences in both dimensions of f0 range, but effect sizes were found to be larger for span than for level, and for linguistic than for LTD measures. The linguistic measures also uncovered some differences between the two languages in how f0 range varies through an intonation contour. This helps shed light on the relation between intonational structure and f0 range.
Dynamic systems, maturational constraints and L1 phonetic attrition
(Sage, 2012-09-10) de Leeuw, Esther; Mennen, Ineke; Scobbie, James M.; ESRC
The present study comprises a phonetic analysis of the lateral phoneme /l/ in the first (L1) and second language (L2) of 10 late German-English bilinguals. The primary objective of the study was to compare the predictive power of dynamic systems theory with that of maturational constraints through a phonetic investigation of L1 attrition in the lateral phoneme /l/ of the late bilinguals.The results revealed L1 attrition in the lateral phoneme /l/, as well as a high degree of interpersonal and intrapersonal variation. These patterns are discussed in relation to dynamic systems theory and maturational constraints. Moreover, the degree of permanency of L1 attrition is discussed in relation to methodological considerations in studies on L1 attrition. It is proposed that maturational constraints are insufficient in explaining the results and that bilingual language development can be more adequately explained through dynamic systems theory, which explicitly incorporates a multitude of predictor variables across the lifespan, in addition to age constraints.
Global foreign accent in native German speech
(2007-08) de Leeuw, Esther; Schmid, Monika; Mennen, Ineke
The results of this study suggest that German monolingual listeners were more likely to perceive a global foreign accent in the native German speech of consecutive bilinguals in Anglophone Canada and the Dutch Netherlands than in the speech of a control group of monolingual Germans in Germany. The results furthermore suggest that contact with the native German language may have a more significant effect on predicting global foreign accent in native speech than age of arrival or length of residence. More specifically, for both English and Dutch second language groups, a global foreign accent was more likely to be perceived in immigrants who had less contact with their native German language than in those who had more contact, although this effect was more evident in consecutive bilinguals who immigrated after 22 years of age.
Greek speech acquisition.
(Delmar Thomson, 2007) Mennen, Ineke; Okalidou, Areti
InterPHACE - internetworked links for phonetic analysis in clinical education.
(1999-04) Beck, Janet M.; Alistair, Lawson; Mennen, Ineke
This collaborative project addresses two key issues. The first is the need for Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) students to develop skills in analysis of a wide range of speech disorders and to apply these to clinical practice. The second is the lack of opportunities for utilising instrumental speech analysis techniques in many SALT clinics. Computerised links between Queen Margaret College and a variety of Health Care Trust clinics have been established which allow SALT clinic sessions to be monitored and speech data collection controlled remotely from QMC. Speech data is transmitted to the QMC Speech Laboratory for analysis and compilation of results. QMC staff and students are then able to discuss the results by teleconference with the SALT responsible for each client_s management, thus learning about the impact of analysis results on diagnosis and management. A data-base of clinical speech material is also being developed as a teaching/learning resource. A novel form of curricular design and delivery is thus being developed, which allows college staff and students access to speech from disordered clients in SALT clinics, and allows students to be actively involved in the process of clinical speech analysis of a range of current cases. Evaluation of the educational value of this project is ongoing, but it should enhance both undergraduate education in clinical phonetics and continuing professional development.
Measuring language-specific phonetic settings
(2010-01) Mennen, Ineke; Scobbie, James M.; de Leeuw, Esther; Schaeffler, Sonja; Schaeffler, Felix
While it is well known that languages have different phonemes and phonologies, there is growing interest in the idea that languages may also differ in their 'phonetic setting'. The term 'phonetic setting' refers to a tendency to make the vocal apparatus employ a language-specific habitual configuration. For example, languages may differ in their degree of lip-rounding, tension of the lips and tongue, jaw position, phonation types, pitch range and register. Such phonetic specifications may be particularly difficult for second language (L2) learners to acquire, yet be easily perceivable by first language (L1) listeners as inappropriate. Techniques that are able to capture whether and how an L2 learner's pronunciation proficiency in their two languages relates to the respective phonetic settings in each language should prove useful for second language research. This article gives an overview of a selection of techniques that can be used to investigate phonetic settings at the articulatory level, such as flesh-point tracking, ultrasound tongue imaging and electropalatography (EPG), as well as a selection of acoustic measures such as measures of pitch range, long-term average spectra and formants. The Author(s), 2010.
Phonetic and phonological influences in non-native intonation: an overview for language teachers.
(2006) Mennen, Ineke
Just as poor pronunciation can make a foreign language learner very difficult to understand, poor prosodic and intonational skills can have an equally devastating effect on communication and can make conversation frustrating and unpleasant for both learners and their listeners. Language teachers have lately become more aware of this and have shifted the focus of their pronunciation teaching more towards the inclusion of suprasegmentals alongside segmentals with a view of improving general comprehensibility (Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin 1996). It is therefore crucial for language teachers to be aware of current research findings in the area of foreign (second) language learning of prosody and intonation, the type of prosodic and intonational 'errors' second language (L2) learners are likely to make, and in particular where these 'errors' stem from. The focus of this paper will be on intonation in L2 learning, but some related prosodic phenomena such as stress and rhythm will be touched upon.
Phonetic effects of focus and ''tonal crowding'' in intonation: Evidence from Greek polar questions.
(Elsevier, 2006-06) Arvaniti, Amalia; Ladd, D. Robert; Mennen, Ineke
This paper deals with the intonation of polar (yes/no) questions in Greek. An experiment was devised which systematically manipulated the position of the focused word in the question (and therefore of the intonation nucleus) and the position of the last stressed syllable. Our results showed that all questions had a low level stretch associated with the focused word and a final rise-fall movement, the peak of which aligned in two different ways depending on the position of the nucleus: when the nucleus was on the final word, the peak of the rise fall co-occurred with the utterance-final vowel, irrespective of whether this vowel was stressed or not; when the nucleus was on an earlier word, the peak co-occurred with the stressed vowel of the last word. In addition, our results showed finely-tuned adjustments of tonal alignment and scaling that depended on the extent to which tones were ''crowded'' by surrounding tones in the various conditions we set up. These results can best be explained within a model of intonational phonology in which a tune consists of a string of sparse tones and their association to specific elements of the segmental string. 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Intonation; Focus; Tonal alignment; Phrase accent; Tonal crowding
Pitching it differently : a comparison of the pitch ranges of German and English speakers
(2007-08) Mennen, Ineke; Schaeffler, Felix; Docherty, Gerard; This study was funded by the UK Economic & Social Research Council (RES-000-22-1858)
This paper presents preliminary findings of a largescale systematic comparison of various measures of pitch range for female speakers of Southern Standard British English (SSBE) and Northern Standard German (NSG). The purpose of the study as a whole is to develop the methodology to allow comparisons of pitch range across languages and regional accents, and to determine how they correlate with listeners' perceptual sensitivity to cross-language/accent differences. In this paper we report on how four measures of pitch range in read speech (text, sentences) compare across the two groups of female speakers. Preliminary results show that the measures of the difference between the 90th and 10th percentile (in semitones), and +/- 2 standard deviations around the mean in ST differentiate the groups of speakers in the direction predicted by the stereotypical beliefs described in the literature about German and English speakers. Furthermore, these differences are most obvious in the read text and longer sentences and the effect disappears in sentences of a short duration.
Quantity contrast contrasted.
(Blackwell Publishing, 2003) Mennen, Ineke