Musical Speech: A New Methodology for Transcribing Speech Prosody

Abstract

Musical Speech is a new methodology for transcribing speech prosody using musical notation. The methodology presented in this paper is an updated version of our work [12]. Our work is situated in a historical context with a brief survey of the literature of speech melodies, in which we highlight the pioneering works of John Steele, Leoš Janáček, Engelbert Humperdinck, and Arnold Schoenberg, followed by a linguistic view of musical notation in the analysis of speech. Finally, we present the current state-of-the-art of our innovative methodology that uses a quarter-tone scale for transcribing speech, and shows some initial results of the application of this methodology to prosodic transcription.

Notating disfluencies and temporal deviations in music and arrhythmia

“…Recent forays into the transcription of speech melody and timing have turned to the direct use of music notation in a literal fashion. Leveraging commonalities between expressive speech and music, Simões and Meireles (2016) and Meireles, Simões, Ribeiro, and de Medeiros (2017) explored the use of music notation to represent the melody and rhythms of spoken language. In this work, the transcriptions are treated as literal expressions of the spoken pitches and durations.…”