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sn#059722 filedate 1973-08-24 generic text, type T, neo UTF8
00100 These are some random thoughts on the problem of a satisfactory
00200 code for acoustic segments.
00250
00300 We need to recognize several levels in our segment classification.
00400 In the first place we should be able to specify such broad groupings as
00500 VOICED, FRICATION, and STOPS. Then we want to be able to tag subdivisions
00600 such as VOWEL GLIDE and NASAL. Finally we want to be able to specify
00700 specific segments in as much detail as is possible and quite independent
00800 of the usual phonemic classification. That is, we should be able to
00900 identify transition regions in vowels preceding stop consonants, the
01000 stop, the burst, the aspiration and the following vowel transition, all
01100 as related parts, perhaps independent of the actual preceding or following
01200 vowel. At the same time we should be able to classify a vowel transition
01300 as an entity by itself quite without regard to its association with a
01400 specific consonant or vowel.
01450
01500 At first glance it seems that we should use symbols that are
01600 related to the usual phonemic symbols or to orthographic symbols for
01700 the general type of sounds. This does cause some confusion, however, and
01800 it might be argued that we should invent a quite independent set of
01900 symbols that will never be confused with their phonemic counterparts. An
02000 independent set poses a problem of learning to use it and of resistance to
02100 its use by people with linguistic or phonetic backgrounds. Several possible
02200 types of symbols with some intrinsic meaning might be proposed. The
02300 trouble with this suggestion seems to be that the symbols would have to
02400 each consist of several letters for them to be easily recognized and
02500 this poses a problem of their use on charts and in tables. Also if they
02600 are simply abbreviations of names there would be a tendency for users to
02700 invent abbreviations that are not in the accepted list with the attending
02800 confusion.
02900
03000 Another aspect of the problem has to do with the way data is to be
03100 stored in the header which is associated with the acoustic data itself.