Phoneme Recognition

and Lexical Access

LING 285
Spring 2020
Mary Byram Washburn
  The Problem of Invariance
 A speech recognition program can’t use the same acoustics for every
phoneme/word but must take into account interspeaker and
intraspeaker variation.

Interspeaker Variation
fundamental frequency
phonemic inventory
Invariance phonemes in a given word
range of acoustics acceptable for a phoneme

Intraspeaker Variation
suprasegmental features
acoustic manifestation of a phoneme
allophones
  The Problem of Invariance
 A speech recognition program can’t use the same acoustics for every
phoneme/word but must take into account interspeaker and
intraspeaker variation.

Invariance  However:
 A lot of variation is predictable!
 Interspeaker Variation: Dialectology
The study of who uses which linguistic features and why.
 Phonemic Inventory:
 Milwaukee, WI Front Vowels

/ɪ, e, a/

 Los Angeles, CA
/i, ɪ, ɛ, e, æ/
Dialectology

 Conway, AR

/i, ɪ, e, æ/
 Phonemic Inventory:
 Milwaukee, WI Consonants

White Black
/t, d, θ, ð/ /t, d/
/læst/  /læs/

 Los Angeles, CA

Dialectology White Black, Hispanic

/t, d, θ, ð/ /t, d/
/læst/  /læs/

 Conway, AR

Higher Class Lower Class

/t, d, θ, ð/ /t, d/
/læst/  /læs/ /læst/  /læs/
  The Problem of Invariance
 A speech recognition program can’t use the same acoustics for every
phoneme/word but must take into account interspeaker and
intraspeaker variation.

Invariance  However:
 A lot of variation is predictable!
 Interspeaker Variation: Dialectology
The study of who uses which linguistic features and why.
  The Problem of Invariance
 A speech recognition program can’t use the same acoustics for every
phoneme/word but must take into account interspeaker and
intraspeaker variation.

Invariance  However:
 A lot of variation is predictable!
 Interspeaker Variation: Dialectology
 Intraspeaker Variation: Phonological Rules
  Some variation is predictable.

allophones

Phonological
Rules [th] [t] [t]

/t/
  In French, are nasalized vowels and oral vowels:
 allophones of the same phoneme
 or separate phonemes?


Allophones vs. 
Beau
Bon
[bo] beautiful
[bõ] good
Phonemes  Seau [so] bucket Minimal Pairs
 Son [sõ] his
 Laine [lɛn] wool
 Lin [lɛ]̃ linen
 tuɛidifɑiviz
pronunciation English pronunciation English
translation translation

1 [phif] horse [pif] look

2 [nɛm] house [nɛn] house

Minimal Pairs 3 [fop] door [pof] cup

4 [fin] tissue [fɛn] spoon
5 [sop] snow [top] printer

Phonemes?
  Phonology:
 The study of which allophone a phoneme manifests as

Phonological
Rules [sæ̃nd]
/sand/
Rule: Nasalize vowels before
a nasal consonant
 Word IPA Environment
Cabs
Caps
Dogs
Docks
Phonological
Rule for
Plurals
 Word IPA Environment
Cabs [kæbz]
Caps [kæps]
Dogs [dɑgz]
Docks [dɑks]
Phonological
Rule for
Plurals
 /sandbox/ [sæ̃mbɑks]
Phonological Rules:
Rules Nasalize vowels before a nasal
Delete /d/ from coda consonant
clusters
Pronounce nasals with the
place of the next consonant
  The Problem of Invariance
 A speech recognition program can’t use the same acoustics for every
phoneme/word but must take into account interspeaker and
intraspeaker variation.

Invariance  However:
 A lot of variation is predictable!
 Interspeaker Variation: Dialectology
 Intraspeaker Variation: Phonological Rules for Allophones

How do humans recognize speech?

  Humans use:
 Dialectology

Human
Speech
Recognition
I sez I ain’ neva seen nothin’ like it.
  Humans use:
 Dialectology
 Phonological Rules
Human
Speech
 What word to you hear?
Recognition  Dough [doʊ]
 Stow [stoʊ]
 Tow [thoʊ]
  Humans use:
 Dialectology
 Phonological Rules
Human  Categorical Perception

Speech
Recognition  Categorical Perception:
 We only attend to acoustic differences that are phonemic in our
language.
 /l/ and /ɹ/ are on a continuum acoustically

[lei] [ɹei]
Categorical
Perception 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
  Will a speaker:
 Hear acoustic differences within a phoneme category?

 Hear allophones as being acoustically distinct?

Categorical
Perception
 Hear phonemic differences in a language they are learning if their
own language doesn’t make those distinctions?
  Categorical Perception:
 We only attend to acoustic differences that are phonemic in our
language.

 Simplifies comprehension!
 By converting all acoustic signals into phonemes.

Categorical
Perception =ð

the
=ʌ
  Categorical Perception:
 We only attend to acoustic differences that are phonemic in our
language.

 Simplifies comprehension!
Categorical  By converting all acoustic signals into phonemes.

Perception
You vs. a Baby
What a baby hears: [ʔœɾmh]
What you hear: /ætʌm/

Categorical Perception makes it easier

to understand words!
  Categorical Perception:
 We only attend to acoustic differences that are phonemic in our
language.

 Simplifies comprehension!
 By converting all acoustic signals into phonemes.
 Can be adjusted
Categorical  Fatigue

Perception
  Categorical Perception:
 We only attend to acoustic differences that are phonemic in our
language.
Categorical
Perception  Simplifies comprehension!
 By converting all acoustic signals into phonemes.
 Can be adjusted
 Fatigue
How does Fatigue help human phoneme comprehension?
  Humans use:
 Dialectology
 Phonological Rules
Human  Allophones

Speech  Categorical Perception

 Fatigue
Recognition
 What do you hear?

Human
Speech
Recognition
 What do you hear?

You don’t hear the gap

Your brain supplies the
well because you think
[s].
you heard an /s/…
Human What are we using
Speech to determine that
it was an /s/ that
Recognition was missing?

Phoneme Restoration Effect

  Humans use:
 Dialectology
 Phonological Rules
 Allophones
 Categorical Perception
 Fatigue
Human  Word Context
Speech  Phoneme Restoration Effect

Recognition  Phoneme Restoration Effect:

 Human perception supplies any missing/degraded phonemes
 Using the word context
 And then we really think we heard them
 Lexicon

Word Context
 have
has
hello
helen
heck
hat

[h]

Word Context
 have
has
hello
helen
heck
hat

[h] [??]

Word Context
 have
has
hello
helen
heck
hat

[h] [??] [l]

Word Context
 have
has
hello
helen
heck
hat

[h] [ɛ] [l]

[??]

Word Context
 have
has
hello
helen
heck
hat

[h] [ɛ] [l]

[??] [o]

Word Context
  Humans use:
 Dialectology Humans:
• Use the rules of the
 Phonological Rules
Human  Allophones
language/culture to decide
what to ignore
Speech  Categorical Perception
 Fatigue
• Ignore a lot of acoustic variation
• Actively compensate for a
Recognition  Word Context
 Phoneme Restoration Effect
degraded signal
 Word IPA Environment
School [ɛs.kul]
Suited [sud.ɪd]
Steep [ɛs.tip]
Seep [sip]
Phonological Second Language Transfer
Rule for
Plurals
 Word IPA Environment
Set /sɛt/
Said /sɛ:d/
Coat /kot/
Code /ko:d/
Phonological Says /sɛ:z/
Seth /sɛθ/
Rule for
Long Vowels [V:] is a long vowel