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Addis Ababa University Libraries Electronic Thesis and Dissertations: AAU-ETD! >
Institute of Language Studies >
Thesis - Teaching English as a Foreign Language >
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http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1908
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| Title: | AN ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF A PATHOLOGICAL SPEECH: THE CASE OF AN AMHARIC SPEAKING PERSON WITH FLACCID DYSARTHRIA |
| Authors: | ABEBAYEHU, MESSELE |
| Advisors: | Moges Yigezu |
| Copyright: | 2008 |
| Date Added: | 13-Jan-2009 |
| Publisher: | Addis Ababa University |
| Abstract: | It is an established fact that language is the chief distinctive feature of humans.
Unfortunately, there are a number of individuals missing usage of language and/or speech
partially or entirely, from the beginning or lately, momentarily or for a long time, usually
for defined reasons or for reasons which cannot yet be explained. This work particularly
attempts to investigate the extent of abnormality of the speech of an individual with
Flaccid Dysarthria. The subject was diagnosed as a Primary Lateral Sclerosis patient,
which is a progressive degenerative motorneuron disease, that is, nerve cells in the body
gradually die off. It affects only some of the nerve cells in the body--those that control
voluntary movement of muscles. The main objective of this study is to acoustically
analyze the patient’s vowels, consonants, intonation contours and duration.
Acoustic methods were employed to examine the speech of the patient. More specifically,
the data were from solicitation and spontaneous utterances of the subject. They were
digitally recorded, sampled and quantized, then fed into a speech analyzer software called
Praat. The interpretations of the data were done on the basis of the facts revealed by the
software.
Accordingly, the patient’s vowels were found to be confined to the center of his oral
cavity and have a hypernasal quality. The qualities of his consonants also showed how
the problem is serious. Most of the consonants are so distorted that it is difficult to
identify them on spectrograms. The suprasegmental aspects of his utterances also exhibit
deviant patterns. Hence, the patient’s speech lacks intelligibility. |
| Description: | A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE
STUDIES OF ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL
FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1908 |
| Appears in: | Thesis - Teaching English as a Foreign Language
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