Expression in Speech: Analysis and Synthesis

by Mark Tatham, Katherine Morton

Overview

All human speech has expression. It is part of the 'humanness' of speech, and is a quality listeners expect to find. Without expression, speech sounds lifeless and artificial. Remove expression, and what's left is the bare bones of the intended message, but none of the feelings which surround the message. The purpose of this book is to present research examining expressive content in speech with a view to simulating expression in computer speech. Human beings communicate expressively with each other in conversation: now in the computer age there is a perceived need for machines to communicate expressively with humans in dialogue.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199250677
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/18/2003
Series:	[Oxford Linguistics] Ser.
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Mark Tatham is Professor in the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. He researches the theory of the production and perception of speech within the general theory of linguistics. He has taught phonology, computational modelling, and speech aspects of neuro-psychology at the University of California and the University of Ohio.
Katherine Morton is a Fellow in the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. She has published research in modelling speech production and perception within the overall framework of human communication, constrained by linguistic theory. She has taught experimental linguistics/phonetics at the University of Cambridge and the University of California.

Table of Contents

Introduction1 Expression in Speech1. Natural Speech2. Speech Synthesis3. Expression in Natural Speech4. Expression in Synthetic Speech5. The Perception of Expression2 Transferring Natural Expression to Synthesis6. The State of the Art7. Emotion in Speech Synthesis8. Recent Developments in Synthesis Models3 Expression and Emotion: The Research9. The Biology and Psychology Perspectives10. The Linguistics, Phonology, and Phonetics Perspective11. The Speech Technology Perspective12. The Influence of Emotion Studies4 Development of an Integrated Model of Expression13. The Beginnings of a Generalized Model of Expression14. All Speech is Expression Based15. Expressive Synthesis - The Longer Term16. An Expression and Prosody Based Model of Speech ProductionConclusionReferences

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Tamara Stone, MS, CCC-SLP(Communication Consultations)
Description: This book explores expression in speech as a component of communication, reviewing current research and proposing potential research ideas to be completed in this area.
Purpose: The authors work to propose a system of analyzing speech expression from "planning stage followed by a rendering stage." The research communities in speech and language sciences and linguistics will find themselves called to continue this work. Mark Tathan and Katherine Morton have completed a thoughtful compilation laying out the groundwork for future research efforts in this area.
Audience: A well written, scholarly voice on the subject, the book is written for research communities interested in the components of speech expression.
Features: It covers the current research in expression and prosody of speech, and proposes further research in the field. This volume does a wonderful job of thoroughly describing speech affect and the interdependence of the speaker and listener in the process of creating speech expression. They remind us of the inability due to human nature to speak in the total absence of expressive tone. The writers explain their proposal to break down speech expression to be interpreted and reproduced by synthesizer.
Assessment: This book offers communication experts ideas and hypotheses in the area of speech expression. It is well organized and sets up researchers for taking the next steps in this area.

Doody's Review Service

3 Stars from Doody

"Extremely useful as a guide to anyone working on the interface between emotion in speech and speech synthesis. Tatham and Morton offer a far-sighted perspective to this topic and make explicit many issues the developer of synthesis systems might not think about at all. In this sense the book is also a very good example of how the linguist and phonetician can make valuable contributions to speech technology, and that in the end the best results will be obtained if speech technologists and linguists/phoneticians work together."—Linguist List

From the Publisher