NAME:EBINABOSUCCESSERIAKUMA

MATNO:ART1901347

COURSECODE:311

COURSETITLE:EXPERIMENEXPERIMENTALPHONETICS

Manylinguistsuserecordedspeechintheirresearch.Indescriptivework,visualrepresentationsofsuchrecordin
g(mostlyoscillograms)areoftenannotatedwithIPAsymbolsandotherlabels,andthenusedtoillustrateapheno
menonordefendacertainpositionregardingthenatureofsomephoneticorphonologicalpropertyofthelangua
geinquestion.Theintroductionofthecomputerhasbroughtaboutavirtualrevolutioninthelinguisticsciencesw
ithrespecttotheusageofspeechrecordings.Asaresult,agrowingnumberofcolleaguesfinduseforfileswithspe
echsoundsintheirlinguisticexplorations.Theneedsofthisgroupareservedbyarathersmallnumberofsoftware
packagesdesignedfortherepresentation,annotationandanalysisofspeech(andmuchmoreinmanycases).In
myopinion,oneofthesestandsoutinmanyways.Itiscalled``PRAAT’’;theimperativeformoftospeakinDutch.Si
ncethispackageisrapidlygaininginpopularity,wehavedecidedtodevotesomeattentiontoitinthisissue.First,o
neoftheauthors,PaulBoersma,introducesthepackageandoutlinesitsImpressivefunctionality.Then,anexperi
enceduser,VincentvanHeuven,highlightssomeoftheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofusingPRAATineveryda
yPhoneticresearch.

Praatisafreewareprogramfortheanalysisandreconstructionofacousticspeechsignals.Youcananalyze,synth
esize,manipulatespeechandcreatehigh-qualitypicturesforyourarticlesandthesiswithit.

ORIGINOFPRAAT

Praat(/prɑːt/;Dutch:[praːt]
(listen),“talk”)isafreecomputersoftwarepackageforspeechanalysisinphonetics.PRAATisacomputerprogra
mforanalysing,synthesizing,andmanipulatingspeech.IthasbeenDevelopedandcontinuestobedevelopedby
PaulBoersmaandDavidWeeninkattheInstituteofPhoneticSciencesoftheUniversityofAmsterdamsince1992.
Thereareversionsformostofthecommonoperatingsystems:Macintosh,Win-
Dows,Linux,andseveralUnixworkstations(Solaris,SiliconGraphics,Hewlett-
Packard).BySeptember2001,thereweremorethan5,000registeredusersin99countries.Hi

DEVELOPMENTOFPRAAT

PRAATstartedoutasacollectionofprogramsthatwerespecificallydesignedtoproducetop-
qualitygraphicrepresentationsofspeech,i.e.oscillograms,spectra,spectrograms,fundamentalfrequencyan
dintensityplots,etc.However,the¯exibleandwellplannedstructureoftheprogramalloweditsmaker(s)toexte
ndPRAAT’sfunctionalityalmostindefinitely.Praatwasdesignedtocaterfordifferentneedswitheasyinterface,
manydefaultoptionstolearnbytrying,searchablemanual,andvariouspossibilitiesofanalysis,manipulationan
dlabeling(Goldman,2004:1).

TherearemanyPraattutorialsavailableforhelpingwiththePraatapplication.However,themajorityoftheexisti
ngPraatmanualsweredesignedforsoftwaredocumentationandassumesastrongphoneticsorprogrammingb
ackgroundofreaders.Thecurrentmanualiscompiledfromavarietyofelaboratemanualswithaspecialfocusont
hosemost-
frequentlyusedfunctionsandtechniquesforacousticanalysis.Thetargetreadersofthisarethosebeginnerswh
oarenotequippedwithastrongphoneticsorprogrammingbackground.

WORKINGPRINCIPLES

Workingprinciplessimplymeanstheproceduresthatenabletheworktobedone.

OftenthesametaskscanbedonebyPRAATusingdifferentmoduleswithdifferentalgorithms.Pitchextraction,fo
rexample,canbedonewiththeaidofatleastfourdifferentalgorithms:autocorrelation,cross-
correlation,SPINET,andsubharmonicsummation.Help®lesareavailableforeachofthealgorithms,explainigth
emeaningofthemanyparametervaluesthatcanbespecifiedinforeachalgorithmandprovidingreferencestoth
eliterature.Eachalgorithmcomeswithasetofdefaultparametersettingsthatcanbeoverridenbytheuser.

Tobegin

•Gotohttp://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/Praat,aversionthatis

AppropriateforyourOS.

•Getsomespeechsample(availableonSakai)

Verybasics

Openingsoundfiles

Toopensoundfiles:

1. OpenPraat.
2. Open→Readfromfile…
3. Findandchoosethesoundfile
4. Youcanalsoclickonafileandopenthefilebyright-
clicking(thiswouldbeeasierifyouwanttoopenmultiplefiles).
5. Ifyoulike,youcanassociate.wavfileswithPraat,sothatdoublingclicking.wavfileswillautomaticallyop
enthefilesinPraat.

HOWPRAATISOPERATED

THEPRAATMANUALLY

PRAATcomeswithanextensivetutorial,whichyoucanstartbychoosing``IntroductiontoPRAAT’’fromthe``Hel
p’’menu.Theentirereferencemanualiscontainedintheprogramaswellandconsistsofabout800pagesthatare
connectedviahyperlinks(seefigure).Helpbuttonsareavailableinmostwindowsanddialogboxes,andclickingt
hemwilltakeyouintothepartofthemanualthatismostappropriateinthecurrentcontext
Praatisavailableatpraat.organdcanrunonavarietyofoperatingsystems.Toinstallit,simplygotopraat.organda
ttheupperleftofthesite,clickonyourcomputer’soperatingsystem.Theprogramisrelativelysmallandsimpletor
un.ToopenPraat,clickonitsiconlikeanyotherprogramonyourcomputer.

PraatBasics

WhenyoufirstopenPraat,therewillbetwowindowsthatappear.Theoneontherightiswherevisualizationswill
occur.Fornow,wedon’tneedtoworryaboutit,andyoucanjustcloseit.

Figure1:TheObjectsWindow
Thewindowontheleftiscalledtheobjectwindow.ItiswhereyourPraatobjectswillappear.Praatobjectscanbeof
manydifferenttypes,suchasSound,TextGrid,orFormant(we’llgettotheselater).Strictlyspeakingthesearecon
tainedinyourcomputer’smemoryandarenotautomaticallysaved.ThismeansthatifPraatcrashes,everythingi
nyourobjectwindowislost.Sosaveoften!

Themenuisrelativelystraightforward.Isaythatbecausewhilethebasicfunctionsareclear,Iamnotfamiliarwith
mostoftheoptionsineachofthesemenus.HerearewhateachofthemenuitemsdoandtheonesIuse:

New:Thisiswhereyoucancreatenewobjectsfromscratch,suchasrecordingamonoorstereosound.Ihavenever
neededtouseanyoftheotheroptionsandsubmenusinthismenu.

Open:Thisiswhereyoucanloadfilesalreadystoredonyourcomputer,suchasarecordingdownloadedfromthei
nternetorsomeotherPraat-
specificfileyou’vecreatedinthepast.WhilePraatcanhandleprettylongsoundfiles,buttheytakeupalotofmemo
ry.Soifyou’reworkingwithasoundfilelongerthanacoupleminutes,itmightbebettertoopenitasaLongSoundfil
e.

Save:Thismenuallowsyoutosavefilesinoneofmanyformats,dependingonthekindofPraatobject.Ialmostalwa
yssaveaudioasaWAVfileandeverythingelseasatextfile.

Asyoucansee,therearemanyotheroptions,justincreating,loading,andsavingfiles,butthesebasicoptionswills
erveyoujustfine.

Movingdowntheobjectswindow,nextisthelistofobjects.ThisiswhereyoucanseethenamesofthePraatobject
scurrentlyinmemory.Asmentionedpreviously,theseobjectscantakeseveralforms,andFigure1aboveshowed
justfourofthem:Sound,TextGrid,Formant,andIntensity.Foreachobject,theobjectswindowdisplayswhatkin
dofobjectitis,followedbyitsname.Inthiscase,objectnumber1isa“Sound””thatisnamed“hello”.

Atthebottomoftheobjectswindowyouwillfindthefixedbuttons.Theseare“fixed”becausetheyarealwaysther
eandavailable,regardlessofwhatisinthelistofobjects.TheutilityoftheRename,Copy,andRemovebuttonsissel
f-
explanatory,andtheInspectandInfobuttonsshowvariouspropertiesandinformationabouttheselectedobject
s.

Finally,ontherightsideofthewindowweseethedynamicmenu.Thissidewilldisplaybuttonsformanyfunctions
availabletowhateverPraatobject(s)is/
areselected.SomethingscanbeperformedonSoundfiles,otherareonlydoneonTextGrids.We’llgetintowhatth
esefunctionsdoinalaterworkshop

FUNCTIONSOFPRAAT

1.Generatewaveforms,wideandnarrowbandspectrograms,intensitycontourandpitchtracks;

2.Makerecordings,editarecordedsound,andextractindividualsoundsforfurtheranalysis;

3.Getinformationaboutpitch,intensity,formants,pulsesandetc;

4.Enhancecertainfrequencyregions;segmentandlabelwords,syllables,orindividualphonemes;

5.Putyourworkingraphicform(‘drawaplot’)forprinting.
STRENTHANDWEAKNESSESOFPRAAT

I’llbethefirsttosaythatPraatdefinitelyhassomenegativeaspects:

1.Praatisnotthemostvisuallyappealingprogram.Theicon,whichissupposedtolooklikeanearandlips,probably
hasn’tchangedsincethe90’swhenthesoftwarewasfirstcreated.

2.Itisalsonotthemostintuitivesoftware.Everythingishiddenbehindmenusandbuttonsandeverythingtakesal
otofclicks.

3.It’snottheeasiestsoftwaretolearnhowtouse.Thedocumentationonlineisverybriefandneverhasenoughde
tail.TherearenobooksonhowtousePraat.And—thisonestillbogglesmymind—
noonehaswrittenadecenttutorial.

STRENGTHS

Withthatsaid,Praatisstillahighlysophisticatedpieceofsoftwareunder-the-
hood.TherearesomedefiniteprosforusingPraat:

1.It’sthestandard.NearlyeverylinguisthasusedPraatatsomepoint.Thisisespeciallytrueofphoneticians,phon
ologists,andsociolinguists.

2.Itisfree

 3.Itactuallyhasitsownscriptinglanguageanditalso

ThenextsoftwareanalysisiscalledWAVESURFER

ORIGIN

 WaveSurferisanaudioeditorwidelyusedforstudiesofacousticphonetics.Itisasimplebutfairlypowerf
ulprogramforinteractivedisplayofsoundpressurewaveforms,spectralsections,spectrograms,pitcht
racksandtranscriptions.Itcanreadandwriteanumberoftranscriptionfileformatsusedinindustrialspe
echresearchincludingTIMIT.WaveSurfergrewoutofourneedsforaunifying,flexibleandextensibleto
olforresearchandeducationalpurposesattheCentreforspeechtechnologyatKTH

DEVELOPMENTOFWAVESURFER
WavesurferiswritteninTcl/
TkusingtheSnackaudiolibrary.Itthereforerunsonmostplatforms,includingMicrosoftWindows,MacOSX,Linu
x,Solaris,HP-
UX,FreeBSD,andIRIX.Itisscriptableandsupportsplugins.AmoredevelopedversionofWaveSurferwasmadeav
ailableinJanuary2000forpublicdownloadathttp://www.speech.kth.se/wavesurfer/
Wavesuferhasseenmultiplerevisionssincethoseearlydays.

WORKINGPRINCIPLES

Wavesurferdoesn’thavetobeinstalled;youjustdownloaditandunzipintoafolderofyourchoice.

TodostuffwithWavesurfer,youeitherfirstuseittomakearecording,oryouopenupanexistingdigitalrecording

HOWITOSOPERATED

Popupmenus

Right-
clickingonthedifferentpartsoftheinterfacebringsupapopupmenuwithchoicesthatareapplicabletothatpart.
(UseCtrl-MousebuttonontheMacintosh.)

WaveBar

TheWaveBarisusedtonavigateinasoundfile.Theleftmousebuttonisusedforscrollingandthemiddlemousebu
tton(orshift-leftbutton)isusedforzooming.

Play/Record

Usethetaperecordercontrolstoplayandrecordaudio.Ifacurrentselectionexistsonlythatsegmentisplayed.Yo
ucanusethespacebartotogglebetweenplayandpause.Right-
clickingontheplaybuttonbringsupapopupmenuwithdifferentplayoptions.

Addingpanes

Formoresophisticatedtasks,asinglewaveformviewofthewholesoundmightnotbesufficient.Youmightwantt
ozoomintolookatsmallportions,youmightwantotherrepresentationssuchasspectrogramsorpitch-
curves,ormaybeyouhaveamulti-
channelsoundandwanttolookateachchannelindividually.Toallowforthisandmanyothertasks,WaveSurfergi
vesyouthepossibilityofaddingpanes.

Panepropertiesdialog

ItispossibletomodifyvariouspropertiesofapanebyselectingPopup|
Properties.Dependingonthespecifictypeofpane,therewillbedifferenttabsinthedialog.Forexample,itwillallo
wyoutomodifythecolorscaleandanalysisparametersofaspectrogram.

Configurations

Foracertaintask,youmightwantaspecificset-
upofpanes,withspecificproperties.WaveSurfercomeswithasetofready-to-
usepaneconfigurations,fortranscription,speechanalysis
Selection

Allpanessharethecurrentselection.Theselectioncanbeadjustedbydraggingthebarsmarkingtheendpoints.Cl
ickingtheplaybuttoncausesthemarkedregiontobeplayed.Theendpointsofthecurrentselectioncanbeadjust
edtothenearestzerocrossingusingEdit|ZeroCrossAdjust.

Waveformeditingandprocessing

TheEditandTransformmenuscontainbasiceditingandtransformationfunctionssuchascut,copy,paste,amplif
y,andnormalization.

Soundconversion

Youcanconvertpropertiessuchasfrequency,numberofchannels,andsampleencodingformatusingthedialogi
nPopup|Properties|Sound.

Printing

WaveSurfercreatespostscriptfilesforprinting.SeetheFAQforinformationonhowtoprinttheseonWindows.

FUNCTION

1.Usedforeditingandlabellingdata

2.Itreadsandwritenumberoftranscriptionetc.

STRENGTHANDWEAKNESS

1.Wavesuferhandlesmultiplesimultaneoussounds

2.Eachsoundfilecanbeviewedusingpanes

3.Itiseasyforuserstocustomizeinterface

Cons

1.Waveformcanbeconfiguredinmasterslavefashion

 2.Itisveryflexible