This paper describes a very fine, suprasegmental linguistic feature - anticipation. An 'anticipation nucleus' is a speech signal that refers to the uniquely modulated part of an utterance that indicates continuation, it also allows for reduced semantic content in the utterance. The extent that anticipation can be expressed relies on the phonetic, syntactic, and semantic capacity of a language. In this work the special attention to the prosodic structure of speech signal was paid regarding to this issue. The work provides information about performed perceptual detection of anticipation nuclei, describes the measurement of key prosodic parameters and presents obtained results of statistical analysis.
Understanding what another is telling us is crucial to
human civilization as we know it. Usually, we can grasp
meaning without great effort; however, some situations
require us to focus and check that our understanding is as
intended. In conversation, we control the importance that
we attribute to information, especially when it appears
inconsistent or unbelievable. In some situations, we could
take over for a moment from the person speaking to us,
or finish the sentence that another has started. That such
situations are possible, indicates that we have the ability
to anticipate what another is about to say. Furthermore, if
the speech utterance is consistent at all speech levels, the
anticipation will be able to be performed without a
significant burden [
In a foreign language, the ability to anticipate relies
on an awareness of multiple levels of language,
including non-verbal expressions. An interpreter will use all the
information available to construct the resulting statement
in their mind [
Anticipation in simultaneous interpreting means that an
interpreter is able to complete the statement at the same
time as the speaker, or knows in advance the content of the
future statement [
This paper has the following structure, in Section 2 the prosodic definition of anticipation nucleus is presented. Section 3 describes the research design, participants (interpreters) and the used sound data. The statistical analysis and its results are also presented. Section 4 focuses on the detected anticipation moments; it describes the parameters extracted from the anticipation nuclei and discusses the results. The final conclusion and discussion follows in Section 5 2
To explain the essence of the phenomenon examined we highlight that: If in the last one or last two syllables (their sonantic nuclei) of the rhythmic group, the fundamental tone, F0, rises, and is then followed by a pause filled with silence, a hesitation sound, or an intake of breath, it is likely that the following rhythmic group contains important information.
The last one or last two syllables of the rhythmic group modulated in this way and followed by a pause, constitute an anticipation nucleus.
The mention two realizations of anticipation nucleus is depicted in Fig. 1. The realization of anticipation nucleus in the same syllables can occur in ’diftong’ or ’hijat’. 3
The aim of the perceptual identification was to obtain the information about rhythmic groups, time of anticipation and a type of anticipation event.
Four interpreters participated in the present research; all had a university degree in French, two also had a degree in linguistics. Three had been interpreters at conferences for more than 10 years, and one for more than five years; one was also an interpreter for the European Union. 3.1
Analysed data include speeches of European Parliament members delivered in French (74 speakers; males and females). From a total of 7366 sentences consisting of rhythmic groups, a representative sample of 200 (100 + 100) sentences was randomly selected. From MP4 format, sound data in mono mode at 44100 Hz sampling frequency, 16-bit were extracted. 3.2
Each sentence was thoroughly assessed by the four
interpreters who recorded the number of rhythmic groups,
the order number of the rhythmic group with the
anticipatory nucleus, the time of the anticipation nucleus and
the anticipation events (type). The rhythmic group refers
to the melodically characteristic part of a compound
sentence [
The aim of recording interpreters’ perceptions was to define the anticipation nucleus on the oscillogram (Fig. 2, upper part); this refers to defining the saturation point at which the participant has detected an anticipatory hint, and can anticipate one or several possible trajectories that the following speech could address.
Interpreters did not receive any advanced notice of the
anticipation events. They described in their own words
what information they anticipated and their expectations
for the continuation of the sentence (anticipatory
trajectory), see Tab.1.. Finally, in studies [
Data gathered from the interpreters’ perceptions were statistically evaluated. Findings indicate how compound sentences and anticipation moments are perceived.
Results revealed that in 70% of cases (A),
linguistinterpreters were in agreement on the number of rhythmic
groups that comprised a compound sentence (Fig. 3). In
the remaining 30% of cases, they differed on one (B), two
(C), or more (D) of the rhythmic groups. The majority
of disagreements occurred in compound sentences, which
have more than five rhythmic groups; it should be noted
that these sentences are particularly interesting for
interpreters, as their high number of anticipatory moments
create many opportunities for new speech utterances [
Next, statistical evaluation focused on the extent to which the interpreters could identify syllables with anticipation nuclei (Fig. 4). The degree of discord is higher than in the previous evaluation. At only 9% of the time were all four participants in agreement on when the anticipation nucleus occurred; in other cases, one participant (B), two participants (C) or more (D), disagreed on the point of the anticipation nucleus.
Given that each anticipation nucleus is not clearly confirmed by agreement in the perception tests, results indicate that anticipation perception is largely individual. The presence of the anticipation nucleus is not a logical value but rather the opposite. The anticipation phenomenon could be better described as a grade of anticipation. This corresponds to the reality, that not each anticipation nucleus is confirmed clearly by the perceptions tests. The anticipation moment detected only one has the low grade of anticipation, or in other words it has a low probability of anticipation. Conversely, the anticipation moment which was confirmed several times through perception identifications, had a higher probability of anticipation. In both evaluations, the stochastic character of the anticipation phenomenon was confirmed.
In the next phase, standard deviations [
According to the data obtained from four linguistsinterpreters, measurements of time, fundamental tone and intensity were performed in Speech Analyzer 3.0.1. First, rhythmic group (n) rhythmic group (n+1)
At the penultimate syllable, the extraction of time T 1, fundamental tone F01 and intensity I1 were performed. The same three parameter were extracted in the ultimate syllable ( T 2, F02, I2). The measurement on the one syllable was performed in the case of the anticipation nucleus being identified on the same syllable (diftong, hijat). The pause duration (T 3) and the time of next utterance beginning (T 4) were also recorded. Tab.2 shows an example of extracted parameters from several sentences; F0 difference (F02 - F01) is calculated in the last column.
The first example (6-29m) in Tab.2 represents a
common linguistic setting to identify an anticipation nucleus
(similar to Fig. 2); the F0 increase from the sonantic
nucleus of penultimate to ultimate syllable is in the normal
range. The second example (138-28f) represents the
hyperprosody [
In the next phase of investigating the anticipation
phenomenon, statistical evaluation of identified anticipatory
nuclei was performed. From a total of 140 detected
anticipation nuclei, six were excluded owing to extreme values.
The Shapiro-Wilk test [
First, the difference in the fundamental tone F0 [Hz] of the last or last two syllables: F02-F01 was analyzed. Results show that at a significance level of 5%, the mean value of the selected difference of the fundamental tone F02-F01 is greater than 31.84 Hz and less than 40.11 Hz (Tab. 3).
Differences in the effective value of the intensity (measured in dB) between the last two syllables: I2-I1 were calculated. Results show that at the 5% significance level, the mean value of the selective distribution of the effective value of intensity I2-I1 is more than 0.83 dB and less than 2.54 dB (Tab 3).
Pauses are measured in seconds. The results presented in Tab. 3 show that at the 5% significance level, the average pause length of the sample is more than 360 milliseconds and less than 420 milliseconds. The pause can be filled with silence, hesitation sounds or an intake of breath. Pauses of longer duration (approximately more than one second) indicate the interruption of the anticipation process.
Of the above mentioned suprasegmental parameters, fundamental tone is the most relevant to anticipation nucleus detection, followed by pause duration, and finally, intensity change. 5
This paper contributes useful information to the topic of anticipation, particularly as it is used in simultaneous interpreting. It describes a process of perceptual identification of anticipation nuclei, evaluation of perception results, and then reports the extraction of relevant prosodic parameters (fundamental tone, intensity, time). It additionally contributes statistical evaluation parameters for measuring anticipation nuclei.
Although interpreting requires multiple skills and is largely individual, the results of the current study indicate that interpreters have the ability to identify the same anticipatory moment at which they can estimate the same content of future statements (anticipation type).
This research demonstrates a research model for collecting data for future studies on simultaneous interpreting. For such phonetics and linguistics research, data acquisition depends on the results of perception tests in which a group of people indicate their perceptions. This study therefore contributes to the body of literature on anticipation nuclei, which is currently being prepared in the French language covering 1000 sentences, which will also be perceptually evaluated by the same four linguist – interpreters. Their perceptions represent the probability of anticipation being used in analyzed sound data in the future and their contribution will be the foundation for further measurements of anticipation nuclei.
This analysis of key suprasegmental parameters indicates how anticipation nuclei are detected. In the future the parameters extracted here could be used to create a software tool able to detect the presence of anticipation nuclei.
This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contracts No. APVV-150492 and No. APVV-15-0307.