Thanks to Saurav for his inquiry on Kamrupi; will attend in a subsequent email let me complete the experiments on the phonemes of native Assamese speakers.
(Kamrupi is an endangered language - it is merging into native Assamese from east; merging into Bengali from west and merging into Bangali from south) Out of the two experiments designed in the past (see link http://groups.yahoo.com/group/assamonline/message/2366 ) here is the solution for EXPERIMENT 1. PURPOSE OF EXPERIMENT 1: To demonstrate that the two phonemes in xex (/x/ and /x/ are the two phonemes) produced by a native speaker are not same. This experiment is subjective but gives an accurate analysis as the recorded phonemes are swapped in order to create words. EXPERIMENT 1: xex = S01ES03 -------------------------> (1) sasadhar = S01S01DH01R01 --------------> (2) S01ES03 <--------> http://www.geocities.com/rabindeka/data/phonemes/S01ES03.wav S01S01DH01R01 <--> http://www.geocities.com/rabindeka/data/phonemes/S01S01DH01R01.wav now we will swap S01 with S03, in other words, lets set S01 = S03 so the equation (1) and (2) can be rewritten as follows xex = S03ES03 -------------------------> (3) sasadhar = S03S03DH01R01 --------------> (4) S03ES03 <--------> http://www.geocities.com/rabindeka/data/phonemes/S03ES03.wav S03S03DH01R01 <--> http://www.geocities.com/rabindeka/data/phonemes/S03S03DH01R01.wav LISTENING: The experiment is performed and the related audio files that created new words are in Equations (3) and (4) respectively. Now what will you hear for playing the sequence, i.e., S03ES03, in Equation (3)? Will you hear same, i.e, S01ES03 as in Equation (1)? Take a headphone and play the audio files and listen to it. I am sure a very ordinary native speaker will make it out that they are different. SIMILARLY What will you hear for playing the sequence, i.e., S03S03DH01R01, in Equation (4)? Will you hear same, i.e, S01S01DH01R01 as in Equation (2)? Take a headphone and play the audio files and listen to it. I am sure a very ordinary native speaker will make it out that they are different phonemes. SUGGESTION: Would encourage native speakers, who got computers with audio software, to record your own phonemes and conduct the same experiment. I am sure you will be smart enough to make the same assessment like I did, without the knowledge of fundamentals of sound and digital signal processing. While you can conduct this experiment without the knowledge of fundamentals of sound and digital signal processing in order to make an assessment make it what is called subjective analysis. EXPERIMENT 2: This experiment is designed in order to conduct objective analysis. This will give accurate results on frequency and lot other statistics. The solution to this experiment will follow later, thanks to all who tried the experiments. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF ONE EQUATE S01 to S03? a range of voice-activity related equipment/product will fain that are used in digital signal processing discipline in general -- including telecommunications, wireless, voice over IP, speech recognition, biomedical ... --- this is what is something IIT GUWAHATI should talk! (see link - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/assamonline/message/2361 ) ========================================================= DATA PREPARATION: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/assamonline/message/2366 /xex/ lets give a name for first /x/ form left as S01 and second /x/ as S03. so we call /xe/ equals S01E, and /xex/ equals S01ES03. Now lets take the word /xaxadhar/, i.e., sasadhar. in sasadhar, /sa/ equals S01, and lets define /dha/ equals DH01 and /r/ equals R01. so we can write S01S01DH01R01 instead of sasadhar or xaxadhar. lets record DH01, R01, S01, S01E and S03 respectively ( i have recorded DH01.wav, R01.wav, S01.wav, S01E.wav and S03.wav that can be downloaded form link http://www.geocities.com/rabindeka/data/phonemes/ ) EXPERIMENT 1: xex = S01ES03 -------------------------> (1) sasadhar = S01S01DH01R01 --------------> (2) lets set S01 = S03 so the equation (1) and (2) can be rewritten as follows xex = S03ES03 -------------------------> (3) sasadhar = S03S03DH01R01 --------------> (4) now what will you hear for playing the sequence, i.e., S03ES01, in Equation (3)? will you hear same, i.e, S01ES03 as in Equation (1)? similarly, what will you hear for playing the sequence, i.e., S03S03DH01R01, in Equation (4)? will you hear same, i.e, S01S01DH01R01 as in Equation (2)? Note: in order to create a word from phonemes, one would need sophisticated digital signal processing (DSP) tools. such tools are not cheap, e.g., MATLAB is a seven thousand dollar tool set. so you would need to rely on observation. EXPERIMENT 2: the PRAAT tool is developed using digital signal processing principles/algorithms (though no way to validate its performance accuracy). this tool can be used to assess the frequency bandwidth for S01.wav and S03.wav (you might as well record your won voice for S01 and S03 respectively). use PRAAT to measure frequency-bandwidth for S01.wav and S03.wav -------------> (5) now use fundamental science in order to find frequency-bandwidth for human voice, then compare this frequency-bandwidth with the results found in Equation (5). SUMMARY: the above two experiments would enable one to assess whether S01 equal S03 or not. the second experiment will give a scientific account whether S01 and S03 are voiceless or not. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF ONE EQUATE S01 to S03? a range of voice-activity related equipment/product will fain that are used in digital signal processing discipline in general -- including telecommunications, wireless, voice over IP, speech recognition, biomedical ... --- this is what is something IIT GUWAHATI should talk!
