William J. Poser
Tools for Fundamental Frequency Modelling
Abstract:Numerical modelling of fundamental frequency (F0) is hampered by the
lack of suitable tools. This memorandum describes two tools intended to
facilitate the exploration of numerical models of F0 and other phrase-level
phenomena. One is a modelling program with some unusual characteristics, including input in the form of a description of the prosodic tree, runtime control over parameter settings and rule application, and provision of analysis-by-synthesis facilities that allow analysis-by-synthesis to be carried
out using arbitrary mixtures of any utterance types for which the model is
defined. The second is an interactive interface to the model that allows it to
be manipulated using a programmable time series editor. This allows the
user to see immediately the result of changing parameters and enabling and
disabling rules, and also allows easy visual comparison of computed values
with data.