Work

Which Prosodic Features Matter Most for Pragmatics?

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: We investigate which prosodic features matter most in conveying pragmatic functions. We use the problem of predicting human perceptions of pragmatic similarity among utterance pairs to evaluate the utility of prosodic features of different types. We find evidence that the duration-related features are most important, that pitch-related features are much less important and less adequate, and that complete modeling will require additional acoustic and prosodic features, including nasality and phonetic reduction. These findings can guide future basic research in prosody, and suggest how to improve speech synthesis evaluation, among other applications.

Source: IEEE International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing

DOI: 10.1109/icassp49660.2025.10889382

Authors: Nigel G. Ward, Divette Marco, Olac Fuentes

Institution: The University of Texas at El Paso

Language: English

Topic: Phonetics and Phonology Research

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences

Awards: RI: Small: Modeling Prosody for Speech-to-Speech Translation, G2464345056, AI Institute for Transforming Education for Children with Speech and Language Processing Challenges, G962119475