Linguistic aspects of speech synthesis.

The conversion of text to speech is seen as an analysis of the input text to obtain a common underlying linguistic description, followed by a synthesis of the output speech waveform from this fundamental specification. Hence, the comprehensive linguistic structure serving as the substrate for an utterance must be discovered by analysis from the text. The pronunciation of individual words in unrestricted text is determined by morphological analysis or letter-to-sound conversion, followed by specification of the word-level stress contour. In addition, many text character strings, such as titles, numbers, and acronyms, are abbreviations for normal words, which must be derived. To further refine these pronunciations and to discover the prosodic structure of the utterance, word part of speech must be computed, followed by a phrase-level parsing. From this structure the prosodic structure of the utterance can be determined, which is needed in order to specify the durational framework and fundamental frequency contour of the utterance. In discourse contexts, several factors such as the specification of new and old information, contrast, and pronominal reference can be used to further modify the prosodic specification. When the prosodic correlates have been computed and the segmental sequence is assembled, a complete input suitable for speech synthesis has been determined. Lastly, multilingual systems utilizing rule frameworks are mentioned, and future directions are characterized.

Integration of speech with natural language understanding.

The integration of speech recognition with natural language understanding raises issues of how to adapt natural language processing to the characteristics of spoken language; how to cope with errorful recognition output, including the use of natural language information to reduce recognition errors; and how to use information from the speech signal, beyond just the sequence of words, as an aid to understanding. This paper reviews current research addressing these questions in the Spoken Language Program sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). I begin by reviewing some of the ways that spontaneous spoken language differs from standard written language and discuss methods of coping with the difficulties of spontaneous speech. I then look at how systems cope with errors in speech recognition and at attempts to use natural language information to reduce recognition errors. Finally, I discuss how prosodic information in the speech signal might be used to improve understanding.

Functional activation of the human ventrolateral frontal cortex during mnemonic retrieval of verbal information.

Regional cerebral blood flow was measured with positron emission tomography during the performance of a verbal free recall task, a verbal paired associate task, and tasks that required the production of verbal responses either by speaking or writing. Examination of the differences in regional cerebral blood flow between these conditions demonstrated that the left ventrolateral frontal cortical area 45 is involved in the recall of verbal information from long-term memory, in addition to its contribution to speech. The act of writing activated a network of areas involving posterior parietal cortex and sensorimotor areas but not ventrolateral frontal cortex.

An Independent Art Movement: The Independent Artist, Community Television, and the Age of Information

The history of community television shows that it has been a home to activist and non-profit organizations that have created programs focused on freedom of speech. This project proposes that community television is also a place where artists can have freedom of artistic expression. The reflective paper reviews the creation of my film designed to inform and attract artists to community television. In it I critically reflect on the artistic, technical, artistic/technical, and production changes made throughout my journey from being a visual artist to becoming a video-artist. The reflective paper, along with the film, act as a wake-up call to artists who are unaware of community television and the advantages it has to offer them.

The press and freedom of speech in Ukraine ahead of parliamentary elections. OSW Commentary No. 90, 2012-09-20

The independence of the mass media has been regularly restricted over the past two years in Ukraine. Following a period of relative freedom in 2005–2010, the scope of direct and indirect government control of the press has increased, cancelling out the achievements of the Orange Revolution in this area. The press in Ukraine is less and less able to perform its role as watchdog on the government and politicians and as a reliable source of information on the situation in the country to the public. This is mainly due to: (1) the concentration of the most important mass media in the hands of Ukraine’s most powerful oligarchs, whose business interests depend on the government; (2) the use of the press as instruments in political and business competition; (3) the ruling class’s subordination of the institutions which supervise the press; (4) repression used against media critical of the government and (5) the lack of an independent public broadcasting corporation. As a consequence, the press has hardly any impact on the political processes taking place ahead of the parliamentary election scheduled for 28 October. This is also an effect of a passiveness present in the Ukrainian public, who are tired of politics and are focused on social issues. Cases of abuse or corruption scandals revealed by the press do not provoke any response from the public and are rarely investigated by the public prosecution authorities. The more popular a given medium is, the more strongly it is controlled by the government. At present, television has to be recognised as the least reliable of the mass media. In turn, Internet news journals are characterised by the greatest pluralism but also have more limited accessibility. The political conditions in which the mass media operate in Ukraine lead to various forms of pathology. The most serious of them are censorship by the owners and self-censorship performed by journalists, and a great share of political advertorials. As the parliamentary election is approaching, the pathologies of the Ukrainian media market have been showing up with greater intensity.

John F. Kennedy on the Michigan Union steps--Peace Corps speech

On verso: John F. Kennedy proposing the Peace Corps during the presidential campaign speech at 2 a.m. Oct. 14, 1960, on the steps of the Michigan Union at the University of Michigan (Daybook, image #58)