Praat scripting is like cooking… This book deals with everything about Praat. The author, however, does not know everything about it. The more you know, the more you see, as the old saying goes. I wrote it to the best of my knowledge. During the long years with Praat, I've written many scripts and given many talks and presentations. I collected them all here in this book. I'd be very happy if researchers from a variety of majors could get help. Any errors or mistakes are mine, so please let me know. This book is just a beginning. A lot of room for improvement, I admit. Since I didn't write it at one sitting, it could be more organized and focused. Let me know via my contact so that I can supplement this book. Writing about Praat and scripts, I felt that scripting is like cooking a luxury cuisine. Input files are like good ingredients, variables and objects are like containers such as dishes and plates, functions and operators are like cooking utensils, cooking is like running script commands and finished cuisine is like output files. It could be difficult and boring to beginners, but I tried to be as easy and fun as possible. It's a thick book, but reading from time to time, you could become a scripting expert in no time and feel the joy, just like finishing a delicious cuisine... I hope that what's in this book would satisfy advanced learners as well as beginners. For beginners, I tried to introduce basic techniques of making a recording and doing analyses and resynthesis, e.g. manipulating pitch and durations. For advanced learners, I tried my best to introduce the basics and advanced topics of Praat scripting with real scripts from my own papers and works and to explain how scripting can help you with your various linguistic works. Lastly, I introduce how you can extract various linguistic information from speech corpora, e.g. the Buckeye corpus and Seoul corpus, using Praat and scripting. Particularly, I open to the public the scripts I used to build the Seoul corpus, which I hope will help you understand that scripting can help you work with a speech corpus. This book is for people who know the least about computers, such as launching an installed application and handling files in their computer. Don't worry, however, you're not good at computers. I tried to be as kind as possible as if I'm dealing with beginners. Most operating systems are largely divided into Windows and Macs. I wrote this book on my MacOS machine, but I also added descriptions for Windows systems. Also, I assume that readers have the basic knowledge on phonetics, e.g. a sound file being displayed on a spectrogram as well as on a waveform display. For professional knowledge, consult books on phonetics. Nonetheless, I use some professional terms necessary for our readers to perform tasks related to phonetics and linguistics in general. The book is organized as three parts. Part A Praat Basics teaches you the basics of Praat and scripts. Part B Praat Advanced encourages you to start writing scripts based on what you learned earlier with sample and real scripts. Part C Praat for Corpus has two areas; Area 1 introduces the Buckeye corpus and Area 2 the Seoul corpus. You learn that Praat and scripts can be useful in your research with speech corpora. So much for the official stuff. Now, what I'd really liked to say to readers. Software such as Praat may be easy for engineering students or people familiar with computers. Those of you who know one or two programming languages may think Praat scripting is a piece of cake. A couple of days or weeks later, you'd write basic and advanced scripts. A couple of months, you could lead a big project like building a speech corpus. However, this book is not for those computer experts. Rather, the book is for those not familiar with computers and afraid of coding or scripting. If you think, "Is scripting worth my precious time?", "I would rather ask some Praat expert I know to do this job for me", "I give up this topic. Let's find another topic", this book is for you. I told some of my friends that I would some day write this book so that ordinary people could write a basic script. After reading this book and if you still cannot write a simple script, it means my book is not doing what it's meant for. I'd have to keep improving it until it does. I kept my end of the bargain, so it's your, readers' turn. I plan to revise this book to its 2nd version, 3rd version, and so on. As Rome was not built in a day, I'll be waiting for your feedbacks. I've used Praat and scripts for a long time, but as I said, I do not know everything about them. It's not why I wrote this book either. Rather, I wrote this book to tell you, among the huge number of wonderful features of Praat, which ones are frequently used in works related to phonetics, speech synthesis and linguistics in general. The features not frequently used and I know little about, I did not even mention them. For beginners, I think it's equally important to know even the basic features and use them well. Not all the features of Praat are equally important and are equally used frequently. I intended to introduce to readers the most frequent and necessary features of Praat so that they understand the relative importance of all the features and can use them in their daily research works. My job is to let them enter the wonderful world of Praat. Once you get in, sit tight and enjoy your ride! A single step toward a journey of a thousand miles. 2021.02.28 Kyuchul Yoon, Ph.D. Professor in Phonetics

The English language as spoken in Namibia has virtually been overlooked in most textbooks, handbooks, and surveys of varieties of English around the world, or else has only been mentioned in passing. However, this variety of English has recently attracted the attention of several researchers and the present volume brings together most scholars actively involved in the research on English in Namibia from various linguistic fields to present their current research. It covers a wide range of linguistic issues, such as empirical analyses on various levels of linguistic description and use, as well as the application of diverse methodologies, from questionnaire surveys, sociolinguistic interviews and focus group discussions, to corpus linguistics, linguistic landscaping, and digital ethnography. This book represents the first comprehensive collection of articles and in-depth discussions of this emerging variety of World Englishes.

This book presents cutting-edge research on the production and perception of speech rhythm by speakers of English in countries where it is used as a foreign language or an institutionalised second language (also sometimes known as the Expanding and Outer Circles). It contributes to a better understanding of speech rhythm, which has long been recognised as an important supra-segmental category of speech, focusing on its relevance in World Englishes, Second Language Acquisition and learner varieties of English, as well as the sociolinguistic and perceptual significance of this phonological variable.

Discover the intricate dynamics of L2 prosody with this pioneering study, which examines how advanced learners from Czech, German, and Spanish backgrounds engage with British and American English intonation. By employing a multidimensional approach - spanning phonetic, phonological, discourse-pragmatic, and sociolinguistic perspectives - this book provides a comprehensive overview of L2 prosodic features, highlighting patterns of intonational phrasing, f0 range, and the use of tones and uptalk. Building on foundational works by Pierrehumbert, Mennen, and Gut, this work bridges significant gaps in the field by comparing different L1 and L2 varieties, integrating diverse linguistic variables, and proposing a multifactorial model of L2 prosody. Relevant for linguists, language educators, and researchers in SLA, the findings offer valuable insights for reducing foreign accents and enhancing intelligibility, making it an essential resource for improving language teaching methodologies and learner outcomes. Dive into this essential guide and elevate your understanding of L2 prosody and its impact on effective communication.

The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Corpora is a state-of-the-art collection of cutting-edge scholarship at the intersection of second language acquisition and learner corpus research. It draws on data-driven, statistical analysis to outline the background, methods, and outcomes of language learning, with a range of global experts providing detailed guidelines and findings. The volume is organized into five sections: Methodological and theoretical contributions to the study of learner language using corpora – setting the scene Key aspects in corpus design, annotation, and analysis for SLA Corpora in SLA theory and practice SLA constructs and corpora Future directions This is a ground-breaking collection of essays offering incisive and essential reading for anyone with an interest in second language acquisition, learner corpus research, and applied linguistics.

The latest volume of OLINCO proceedings is a selected set of papers that grew from presentations at OLINCO 2021 - the international Olomouc Linguistics Colloquium held at Palacky University in June 2021. The nineteen papers collected here are unified by the topic of the colloquium: Language Use and Linguistic Structure, in that they all, in one way or the other, address the central questions of the study of human language. They all use standard scientific methodology and theory and solidly researched empirical evidence in favor of formalized structural representations of the language system.

This comprehensive collection is the first full book-length volume to bring together writing focused around and inspired by the work of John Rickford and his role in sociolinguistic research over the last four decades. Featuring contributions from more than 40 leading scholars in the field, the volume integrates both historical and current perspectives on key topics in Rickford’s body of work at the intersection of language and society, highlighting the influence of his work from diverse fields such as sociolinguistics, stylistics, creole studies, and language and education. The volume is organized around four sections, each representing one of the fundamental strands in Rickford’s scholarship over the course of his career, bookended by short vignettes that feature stories from the field to more broadly contextualize his intellectual legacy: • Language contact from a sociolinguistic and sociohistorical point of view • The political ramifications of linguistic heterogeneity • The stylistic implications of language variation and change • The educational implications of linguistic heterogeneity and social injustice Taken together, The Routledge Companion to the Work of John R. Rickford serves as a platform to showcase Rickford’s pioneering contributions to the field and, in turn, to socially reflective linguistic research more generally, making this key reading for students and researchers in sociolinguistics, creole studies, language and style, and language and education.

The book is concerned with the acquisition of English phonology, both segmental and suprasegmental, by learners of English as a second language, as a third language and by speakers of a postcolonial (“new”) variety of English. It focuses on the acquisition process and factors influencing it, based on insights from all three disciplines.

Drawing on data from well-known actors in popular films and TV shows, this reference guide surveys the representation of accent in North American film and TV over eight decades. It analyzes the speech of 180 film and television performances from the 1930s to today, looking at how that speech has changed; how it reflects the regional backgrounds, gender, and ethnic ancestry of the actors; and how phonetic variation and change in the 'real world' have been both portrayed in, and possibly influenced by, film and television speech. It also clearly explains the technical concepts necessary for understanding the phonetic analysis of accents. Providing new insights into the role of language in the expression of North American cultural identity, this is essential reading for researchers and advanced students in linguistics, film, television and media studies, and North American studies, as well as the larger community interested in film and television.