2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research on the function of Linguistic Rhythm and an Application to the "Productive" language Education
| Project/Area Number |
12610549
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
言語学・音声学
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
MIZOKOSHI Akira Tohoku Univ., Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Professor, 大学院・国際文化研究科, 教授 (80109123)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SANDERS Robert Tohoku Univ., Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Associate Professor, 大学院・国際文化研究科, 助教授 (60311552)
SHIGAKI Mitsuhiro Tohoku Univ., Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Professor, 大学院・国際文化研究科, 教授 (60215960)
NAKAMURA Tadao Tohoku University, Graduate School of Information Science, Professor, 大学院・情報科学研究科, 教授 (80005454)
SASAKI Masako Tohoku Univ., Research Center for Higher Education, Lecturer, 大学教育研究センター, 講師 (80005793)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2002
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| Keywords | linguistic rhythm / speech parsing / productive language education / speech cognition / message chunk / pidgin English |
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| Research Abstract |
First, the project aimed at identifying the function of linguistic rhythm by extracting its universal functional characteristic through the comparison of languages that have different rhythmic patterns (English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Pidgin English, etc.) One of the findings is that English and its "kinship" language, pidgin English, are totally different in linguistic rhythm as well as vocabulary and grammar. The conclusion about the function of linguistic rhythm is that it plays an important role in structuring a speech into regular informative units; in short, it can be defined as a "pace maker" for parsing speeches. We modified speech rhythms in various ways with a computer and examined understandability of the speeches. The series of experiment showed that speeches with irregularized rhythm drop in understandability markedly.
Second, the project studied the relationship between linguistic rhythm and accompanying rhythm of the body and examined how effective the accompanying rhythms is in effective communication.
Third, as an application, the project designed a training system for learning linguistic and physical rhythms of a foreign language using computers and video cameras so that learners can monitor their performance and develop the ability to communicate productively and persuasively.
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