Publications

Speech has been an integral part of human communication. However, the use of facemask during the Covid-19 pandemic has posed some challenges on humans’ ability and freedom to use this medium effectively. This study compares speech with and without facemask to ascertain, the physical differences and the factors responsible for these differences. Eight monosyllabic root verbs in Igbo language serve as data. 7 respondents are used in this study; 2 males and 2 females between the ages of 19-40 rendered voice recordings while 3 normal hearing males and females each of 10-25 age range listened to the data for perceptual assessment. Surgical and double-layered fabric facemasks are used. Recorded data are analyzed using Praat software while respondents for perceptual assessment underwent a hearing test using Marcin Masalski’s Hearing Test App. version 1.2.4. The results show that the mean of F1 and F2 of speech without facemask is slightly higher than those with the type3 facemasks used. The surgical and some double-layered fabric facemasks have similar formants with that of normal speech, while there is no significant perceptual difference in the perception of speeches from the different types of facemasks. However, perception and spectrogram indicate muffled nasal voiced speech and completely blurred spectrograms with strong overlapping formants of respondents wearing tightly-fitted facemasks also, there isgross low value inthe physical properties of respondents with tightly-fitted facemasks (at the nose region)marking acul-de-sac resonance disorder. Findings show that properly spaced facemasks do not hinder speech rather unlike tightly-fitted facemasks.

15 Jul, 2023

There have been speculations among scholars in the past on the reason for the perceptible difference in the tonal pattern of the Abankeleke Igbo. Prominent among these is that there is a feature of the upstep tone in this dialect group especially in Izii and Ezaa dialects that is absent in most other Igbo dialects. This paper therefore sets out to investigate the truth or otherwise of this claim in Izii and Ezaa dialects by analyzing the tone levels operational in these dialects and in the Standard Igbo and to compare them with those of the Standard Igbo. The data are collected through personal interview. Three respondents are randomly selected; one for Izii, Ezaa and Standard Igbo respectively. An adapted version of the Ibadan wordlist of 400 Basic Items was used and the data were recorded electronically. The data were transcribed and analyzed electronically using the Speech Tools Analyzer version 3, 0.1 and the Phonology Assistant version 2.2 software packages developed by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) International. The result of the perceptual analysis, which is confirmed by the instrumental analysis reveals that there is a feature of the high raising tone in Izii and Ezaa which is absent in most other Igbo dialects (among other factors) that contributes to the peculiar tonal phenomenon perceptible in the speech form of this dialect group.

15 Jul, 2023