Topics in the Study of the Pragmatic Functions of Phonetic Reduction in Dialog

TL;DR

This paper investigates the acoustic properties and pragmatic functions of phonetic reduction in dialog, highlighting differences from read speech and providing a baseline model for prediction.

Contribution

It introduces new insights into the acoustic correlates of reduction in dialog and offers a baseline predictive model using simple prosodic features.

Findings

Reduction correlates include high pitch, wide pitch range, and intensity in dialog.

Baseline model achieves correlations of 0.24 (English) and 0.17 (Spanish) with human perception.

Annotated lessons learned about perceived reduction in dialog.

Abstract

Reduced articulatory precision is common in speech, but for dialog its acoustic properties and pragmatic functions have been little studied. We here try to remedy this gap. This technical report contains content that was omitted from the journal article (Ward et al. 2024, submitted). Specifically, we here report 1) lessons learned about annotating for perceived reduction, 2) the finding that, unlike in read speech, the correlates of reduction in dialog include high pitch, wide pitch range, and intensity, and 3) a baseline model for predicting reduction in dialog, using simple acoustic/prosodic features, that achieves correlations with human perceptions of 0.24 for English, and 0.17 for Spanish. We also provide examples of additional possible pragmatic functions of reduction in English, and various discussion, observations and speculations