Reiterant speech: An acoustic and perceptual validation

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Abstract
Reiterant speech, or nonsense syllable mimicry, was proposed as a way to study prosody, particularly syllabel and word durations, unconfounded by segmental influences. Segmental influences on durations can be neutralized in reiterant speech. If it is to be a useful tool in the study of prosody, it must be shown that reiterant speech preserves the suprasegmental duration and intonation differences relevant to perception. Syllable durations for nonreiterant and reiterant ambiguous sentences were measured [in humans] to seek evidence of the duration differences which can enable listeners to resolve surface structure ambiguities in nonreiterant speech. These duration patterns were found in both nonreiterant and reiterant speech. A perceptual study tested listeners'' perception of these ambiguous sentences as spoken by 4 good speakers, speakers who neutralized intrinsic duration differences and whose sentences were independeltly rated by skilled listeners as good imitations of normal speech. The listeners were able to choose the correct interpretation when the ambiguous sentences were in reiterant form as well as they did when the sentences were spoken normally. Apparently, reiterant speech is like nonreiterant speech in aspects which are important in the study of prosody.

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