Subject: Re: Statistics for word rate in natural speech From: David Jackson Morris <dmorris@xxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2016 11:52:54 +0000 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Hi Jont, To get Big Boi's speech rate in cs we should probably multiply 100*60/x and not 1000*60/y. That aside, I always thought that the use of cs in earlier instrumental phonetics was due to the temporal resolution of analogue recording devices. Interesting to hear that that the cs unit may also have a perceptual basis. David ________________________________________ From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception [AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx on behalf of Jont Allen [jontalle@xxxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2016 2:03 PM To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Statistics for word rate in natural speech 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@xxxxxxxx on behalf of Bruno L. Giordano [brungio@xxxxxxxx >> Sent: Friday, June 17, 2016 8:32 AM >> To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx >> 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 >> Email charter: http://www.emailcharter.org/ >>