Investigation of the component distributions of pause duration in spontaneous speech: Constraints for models of language production [ 2004-01-05 - 2007-12-31 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: A/Prof Kathryn Hird (Chief Investigator) ,  John Dunn (Chief Investigator) ,  Prof Kim Kirsner (Chief Investigator)

Brief description Investigation of the component distributions of pause duration in spontaneous speech: Constraints for models of language production. We have discovered that the distribution of pause durations in spontaneous speech of individual speakers can be decomposed into at least two log-normal distributions. Our project will investigate this finding and provide a foundation for new research relevant to language production models. This will be achieved by determining the semantic, lexical, psycholinguistic, physiological, and acoustic concomitants of each component distribution and by investigating the impact of selected variables on the shape and location of each. The project has important implications for models of language production and applied problems involving automatic speech recognition, forensic speaker identification, and human communication disorders.

Funding Amount $117,000

Funding Scheme Discovery Projects

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