Re: Statistics for word rate in natural speech

[Jont Allen <jontalle@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

A comment that I hope is helpful.

In our speech work we have learned, from extensive analysis, that the 
fastest temporal resolution that speech is processed at, by the auditory 
system, is about 10 [ms].
That means that the natural temporal units for talking about speech (or 
singing) is in centiseconds [cs]. For example, the plosive burst of say 
/ka/ is about 1-2 [cs].
I have not found very many examples of less than 1 [cs], as the 
perception deteriorates quickly when you go below (shorter that) 1 [cs].

Based the numbers below for rapper Big Boi, 379 syllables/m is about 16 [cs]
1000*60/379 = 15.8

This seems like a nice way to quantify this rate. Its close to the 
perceptual lower limit of 1 [sc]. A full syllable (CV, VC) of 16 seems 
pretty short.

Jont Allen

On 06/18/2016 11:39 PM, Arun Chandra wrote:
> In Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro", Bartolo sings his revenge aria at
> about quarter == 112mm, which means the syllables are going by in
> triplets at about 336 per minute.
>
> in Rossini's "Barber of Seville", the character Bartolo (the same
> character, again) sings his accusing aria to Rosina (his ward) at about
> quarter == 116mm, which means the sixteenth note syllables are going by
> at about 464 per minute.
>
> the "Modern Major General's Song" by Gilbert and Sullivan goes by at
> about 184mm, so it's syllables are about 368 per minute.
>
> arun
>
>
>
> On 6/18/16 4:07 AM, Huron, David wrote:
> > We have a wide tolerance for speech with "normal" paces ranging between 170 and 260 syllables per minute.
> > (Yuan, Liberman & Cieri, 2006; Towards an integrated understanding of speaking rate in conversation. INTER SPEECH conference Proc.)
> >
> > Music exhibits an enormous range of lyrical pace. Judy Garland's rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" clocks in at a leisurely 64 syllables per minute. By contrast, in "Ms. Jackson" by OutKast, rapper Big Boi reaches an extraordinary 379 syllables per minute.
> >
> > -David Huron with Nat Condit-Schultz
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception [AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] on behalf of Bruno L. Giordano [brungio@xxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent: Friday, June 17, 2016 8:32 AM
> > To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Statistics for word rate in natural speech
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am looking for published statistics on average word rate in natural
> > speech (words/minute).
> >
> > Is there some golden standard reference for this?
> >
> > Thank you!
> >
> >          Bruno
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Bruno L. Giordano, PhD
> > Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology
> > 58 Hillhead Street, University of Glasgow
> > Glasgow, G12 8QB, Scotland
> > T +44 (0) 141 330 5484
> > Www: http://www.brunolgiordano.net
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