LINGUIST List 3.36

Wed 15 Jan 1992

Qs: Computer Transcription, Wordstar, Verlan

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Directory

1. Barbara Ruth Campbell, IPA and Computer Transcription
2. Vicki Fromkin, Wordstar and IPA
3. Hilary Sachs, Verlan

I don't know if this question will sound too unrealistic or not but after
seeing segments on computer voice recognition systems I was wondering
whether anyone has worked or plans on working on a computer system that
would have people speak into a recorder and then the computer would
encode the phonetic "bits" into IPA so that:

Person A with Regional Accent from Place X reads a 1000 word passage

Computer transcribes speech using IPA

Person B learning English as a Second Language reads the same 1000 word passage

Computer transcribes speech using IPA

Transcriptions are compared for differences between speaker A and Speaker B
in the hopes that Speaker B can see the phonetic differences in graphic
form between his/her own speech and that of the target speaker. Or Speaker A
tries to modify his/her speech to match that of a someone speaking
Standard American Network English.

Any comments? Is there such a system? If not, could one be devised?
Does anyone think that such a system might help in accent modification or
learning a target language or teaching an actor to emulate the accent of
a target area?

Barbara Ruth Campbell
Ph.D. student in Information and Communication Science
Rutgers University
CampbellZodiac.Rutgers.Edu

Is there anyone out there who uses Wordstar and knows about IPA fonts for it?

Would be very very grateful. (or even Word for Windows?) Vicki Fromkin

I'm looking for some info on Verlan, the French word game. What
I'd really like are some examples, say in popular texts/magazines,
rather than scholarly articles (this is for a French class I'm
teaching).

Thanks,

Hilary Sachs

(direct email is best: sachsutkvx.utk.edu)