@inproceedings{572426, author = {Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja and Volín, Jan}, title = {{Ultrasound tongue imaging for vowel remediation in Czech English}}, booktitle = {{Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences}}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Increasing comprehensibility is a common desire of many speakers of a foreign language. However, most learners have troubles improving the articulation of already acquired foreign sounds despite continuing language learning. Czech speakers of English typically struggle with the contrast between English vowels /e/ and /ӕ/. The present study employed ultrasound tongue imaging as a visual feedback for vowel remediation and two methods of articulatory practice. Eight adult speakers of Czech English received three 40-minute ultrasound training sessions practicing articulation of the two vowels in isolation, syllables and minimal pairs. Half were practicing only articulation of the two vowels while the other half was first practicing lingual articulatory setting for English, followed by vowel practice. Perceptual evaluation comparing pre- to post-training production shows an improvement in minimal pair contrast for most speakers but no clear difference between the training methods.}, keywords = {ultrasound tongue imaging; vowel remediation; articulatory setting; Czech English;}, publisher = {{Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.}}, address = {{Canberra, Australia}}, isbn = {978-0-646-80069-1}, pages = {3651-3655}, language = {English} } @inproceedings{572432, author = {Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja and Tivadar, Hotimir}, title = {{Ultrazvočni pogled na artikulacijo slovenskih samoglasnikov}}, booktitle = {{Slovenski javni govor in jezikovno-kulturna (samo)zavest. Obdobja 38}}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Dosedanji opisi slovenskih samoglasnikov so temeljili večinoma na akustičnih lastnostih, predvsem na formantih in trajanju. V prispevku je predstavljena artikulacijska analiza slovenskih samoglasnikov, opravljena s pomočjo ultrazvočnega snemanja jezika. Analiza petih govorcev potrjuje obstoj osmih samoglasnikov, ki se ne razlikujejo v trajanju, ter opazne razlike med govorci in znotraj njih.}, keywords = {slovenščina; samoglasniki; artikulacija; ultrazvok jezika; glasoslovje;}, publisher = {{Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete}}, address = {{Ljubljana, Slovenia}}, isbn = {978-961-06-0259-0}, pages = {71-79}, language = {Slovene} } @inproceedings{645529, author = {Svoboda, Michaela and Chládková, Kateřina and Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja and Paillereau, Nikola and Slížková, Petra}, editor = {Skarnitzl, Radek and Volín, Jan}, title = {{Vowel length in infant-directed speech: the realisation of short-long contrasts in Czech IDS}}, booktitle = {{Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences}}, series = {20}, year = {2023}, abstract = {When interacting with young children, talkers across many languages use a speech style that reflects positive affect, draws infants' attention, and supposedly facilitates language acquisition. As for the latter, a well-documented feature of infant-directed speech is an exaggeration of spectrally-cued vowel contrasts. Here we tested whether talkers exaggerate also durationally cued contrasts. Sixty-three mothers, native speakers of Czech, were recorded while playing with their infant (4- to 10-month-olds, IDS) and while speaking to an adult (ADS). The durations of the five Czech phonemically short vowels were compared to their long counterparts. Vowel duration (normalised for word duration) was longer in IDS than in ADS more for phonemically long vowels at the younger infant ages, indicating a developmentally specific early exaggeration of length contrasts in Czech infant-directed speech. The present finding suggests that in a language with phonemic length, caregivers' realisation of speech sounds may go beyond merely being longer and slower overall.}, keywords = {infant-directed speech; vowel length; development of early input; Czech}, publisher = {{FF UK/Guarant International}}, address = {{Praha}}, isbn = {978-80-908114-2-3}, pages = {2363-2367}, language = {English} } @article{576178, author = {Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja and Pillot-Loiseau, Claire and Kamiyama, Takeki}, title = {{The effectiveness of real-time ultrasound visual feedback on tongue movements in L2 pronunciation training}}, journal = {Journal of Second Language Pronunciation}, number = {1}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The purpose of this study was to test the usability of ultrasound as a visual feedback tool in L2 pronunciation training. Six Japanese-speaking learners, aged 28-33 years, participating in a course in French phonetics for L2 learners, took part in the study. Four of them received three individual 45-minute lessons of ultrasound pronunciation training. The other two participants did not. Articulatory and acoustic data of French isolated /y/ and /u/ and Japanese [ɯ] were recorded before and after the ultrasound training, as well as two months later for the learners receiving the training. The analysis of the articulatory data revealed that three speakers with ultrasound feedback improved in the production of the French vowels, the contrast between them, as well as the contrast between the two French vowels and the Japanese [ɯ], suggesting that ultrasound may be a useful tool in second language pronunciation learning.}, keywords = {French vowel contrasts; high rounded vowels; Japanese-speaking learners; L2; pronunciation training; tongue position; ultrasound and visual feedback;}, volume = {5}, issn = {2215-1931}, doi = {10.1075/jslp.16022.ant}, pages = {72-97}, language = {English} } @article{647525, author = {Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja and Bořil, Tomáš and Hofmann, Susanna}, title = {{Acoustic and Articulatory Visual Feedback in Classroom L2 Vowel Remediation}}, journal = {Language and Speech}, number = {May 2024}, year = {2024}, abstract = {This paper presents L2 vowel remediation in a classroom setting via two real-time visual feedback methods: articulatory ultrasound tongue imaging, which shows tongue shape and position, and a newly developed acoustic formant analyzer, which visualizes a point correlating with the combined effect of tongue position and lip rounding in a vowel quadrilateral. Ten Czech students of the Swedish language participated in the study. Swedish vowel production is difficult for Czech speakers since the languages differ significantly in their vowel systems. The students selected the vowel targets on their own and practiced in two classroom groups, with six students receiving two ultrasound training lessons, followed by one acoustic, and four students receiving two acoustic lessons, followed by one ultrasound. Audio data were collected pre-training, after the two sessions employing the first visual feedback method, and at post-training, allowing measuring Euclidean distance among selected groups of vowels and observing the direction of change within the vowel quadrilateral as a result of practice. Perception tests were performed before and after training, revealing that most learners perceived selected vowels correctly already before the practice. The study showed that both feedback methods can be successfully applied to L2 classroom learning, and both lead to the improvement in the pronunciation of the selected vowels, as well as the Swedish vowel set as a whole. However, ultrasound tongue imaging seems to have an advantage as it resulted in a greater number of improved targets.}, keywords = {L2 vowel remediation; real-time visual feedback; ultrasound tongue imaging; formants; Swedish}, issn = {0023-8309}, doi = {10.1177/00238309231223736}, pages = {1-22}, language = {English} }